Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs 1
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs
Nicole Matlock
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
Author Note
Nicole Matlock
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nicole Matlock.
Email: [email protected]
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs 2
Abstract
Biases is a prevalent topic for counselors and counselors-in-training. Personal values and beliefs
sometimes obscure perceptions and tarnish the relationship between client and professional. To
further explore biases an Attitude and Beliefs Inventory was completed. Based on the results of
that inventory, the three scenarios that furnished the strongest negative reaction were used. The
scenarios were then dissected to get a better understanding of the underlying reasoning for the
bias against a specified population.
Keywords: bias, attitudes and beliefs, counseling, personal values, ethics
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs 3
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs
Personal biases can hinder a counselor from doing their job effectively and efficiently.
Having these biases and acting on them can impede a counselor from providing their client with
adequate treatment. The ACA Code of Ethics states that, “Counselors respect the diversity of
clients, trainees, and research participants and seek training in areas in which they are at risk of
imposing their values onto clients, especially when the counselor’s values are inconsistent with
the client’s goals or are discriminatory in nature”(American Counseling Association, 2014). As
counselors our focus is the client and their best interest. Our own personal values and beliefs
should not prevent us from exemplary professionalism. Use of the five foundational principles
outlined in the Practitioner’s Guide to Ethical Decision Making, can allow room for clarification
of situations we may encounter as counselors.
Reaction
While completing the attitudes and beliefs inventory, at first, I did not feel I would have
any biases towards the scenarios presented. There were, however, a few that did receive a
different reaction from me. I realized that I would be minimally uncomfortable working with
certain individuals. To be more specific, the scenarios that I displayed a negative reaction
towards were working with a man convicted of pedophilia and court-ordered for counseling, a
man recently released from jail after serving a sentence for rape and a man with terminal cancer
who wants to discuss stopping all treatment to hasten his death.
The first scenario that acquired a reaction was a man convicted of pedophilia and court-
ordered for counseling. This scenario conflicts with my belief that any act of sexual nature
performed with or on a child is inappropriate and not to be tolerated. I could not imagine myself
helping an individual that has committed such a heinous crime. In my mind an individual that is
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs 4
capable of such an act is potentially hopeless and could potentially never change. After reading a
journal about pedophilia, it has been brought to my attention that the term pedophilia does not
imply that an individual has committed a sexual offense with a child (Heron et al., 2021). In fact,
pedophilia is having an attraction to a person that has not endured puberty.
The second scenario that I found would be uncomfortable was a man recently released
from jail after serving a sentence for rape. This scenario conflicts with my belief that causing
harm to another human is unjust and inhumane. According to the Practitioner’s Guide to Ethical
Decision Making one of the foundational principles is nonmaleficence (Forester-Miller & Davis,
2016). This is the act of not causing intentional harm to others. Forcing a person to have
nonconsensual sexual relations is an act of intentional harm. To think about what the victim had
to and still must endure.
The last scenario that conflicted with my belief systems was a man with terminal cancer
who wants to discuss stopping all treatment to hasten his death. This scenario conflicts with my
belief that giving up is a sign of weakness and selfishness.
Response
Many of my values have been bestowed upon me by my immediate family. My
grandmother has always provided me with some sort of wisdom and experiences that she has
undergone. I was taught how to be a good person and how to distinguish between something that
was right and something that was wrong from a youthful age by my mother and father. I am a
mixed individual that grew up with my Caucasian family members, so I have encountered certain
biases and interactions that have shaped my personal values and beliefs as well. Society and
culture have also formulated my biases especially on the first and second scenario about
pedophilia and rape. In the American culture these to acts are considered criminal and shameful.
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs 5
When it comes to the last scenario of a man with terminal cancer who wants to discuss stopping
all treatment to hasten his death, my personal bias is due to mentally envisioning this as my
grandmother. I would never want her to have to decide something like this. I also personally
could not imagine myself having to be a family member of an individual that was making this
decision. My grandmother always taught me to be strong and never give up on anything. She
would always state that you only fail if you quit, and I look at this scenario as giving up.
Action/Christian World View
Reflecting on my own personal biases is beneficial and helps me understand why I have
the value and beliefs that I have and where that bias originates from. According to a journal that I
read, “Counselors bring their professional, personal, and cultural values into their relationships
with clients and are not expected to be value-free in their counseling practice. They must strive
to integrate their values and beliefs into their ethical practice (Evans, Kincade, & Seem, 2011),
yet, at the same time, they must avoid imposing those values and beliefs onto their clients”
(Kocet & Herlihy, 2014). This means to me that we will always have our personal values, we
must not persuade or manipulate a client into sharing our personal beliefs. To counsel ethically I
must put my personal biases to the side when dealing with a client. In the Practitioner’s Guide to
Ethical Decision Making, one of the five foundational principles is autonomy. The guide states
that, “The essence of this principle is allowing an individual the freedom of choice and action. It
addresses the responsibility of the counselor to encourage clients, when appropriate, to make
their own decisions and to act on their own values” (Forester-Miller & Davis, 2016). Allowing
the client to come to a decision based on their own values is in the client’s best interest and
ethically correct. I also must view the situation from the client’s perspective and do what is in the
best interest of the client. In an article I read it states that, “Humility, and the freedom to be
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs 6
imperfect, does not only make us relatable to our clients, but it also makes our clients more
relatable to us” (Jake, 2020). The best counselors are the ones that can put all biases away and
look at the situation from the client’s worldview. Sometimes our personal beliefs are incorrect.
We have a great deal to learn from our clients.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as a counselor, one will always have their own personal values and beliefs.
A counselor must always maintain a professional and ethical relationship. Personal beliefs must
not be forced on a client. The client’s development and growth are our focus. Exploring personal
values and beliefs allows counselors to understand factors that may hinder their ability to assist
certain clients. Acknowledging these factors provides counselors with opportunities for growth
and the ability to incorporated multiples tools and techniques to eliminate the biases.
Counselor Biases: Immaterial Personal Beliefs 7
References
American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics.
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ethics/2014-
aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
Forester-Miller, H., & Davis, T. E. (2016). Practitioner’s guide to ethical decision making (Rev.
ed.). http://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/practioner’s-guide-
toethical-decision-making.pdf
Heron, R. L., Schwiekert, L., & Karsten, J. (2023). Meeting a person with pedophilia: Attitudes
towards pedophilia among psychology students: A pilot study. Current Psychology, 42(2),
1022+. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01384-5
Jake Johnson (2020) A Hermeneutic of Divine Relationship: Implications for the Education and
Training of Christian Marriage and Family Therapists, Christian Higher Education, 19:4,
235-253, DOI: 10.1080/15363759.2019.1687051
Kocet, M.M. and Herlihy, B.J. (2014), Addressing Value-Based Conflicts Within the Counseling
Relationship: A Decision-Making Model. Journal of Counseling & Development, 92: 180-
186. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00146.
