Wellness counseling includes many factors that a counselor must consider when providing their services to a client. Although counseling predominantly focuses on health care, a professional WC should also have extensive knowledge in other areas. Counseling areas can differ, so a proficient wellness counselor cannot be guided only by the furnished instructions while providing services. Wellness counseling should be based on personal morality, theoretical understanding, law knowledge, organizational policies, and ethical framework. That is why there can be no clear instructions or scripts for the expert to act in every particular situation. However, jurisprudence often conflicts with personal morality and professional ethics during counseling. Therefore, it is crucial to assess how it is possible to apply jurisprudence in wellness counseling so that it does not contradict other components of the counselor’s professional activity.
To illustrate a point, consider a scenario where a woman is accused of sexual offenses. Even though, according to the law, both the provision of sexual services and the use of these services are illegal in South Africa, prostitution and brothels are very common in this region. Within a wellness consultant’s professional activity framework, the specialist’s personal beliefs regarding the morality of the client’s actions are insignificant. According to professional ethics, the wellness counselor must take the client’s side and ensure their general well-being.
Thus, the WC’s first concern is not the general morality of the client’s choices but the reason for the actions. There are several options for the development of the scenario in this case. In the first option, a woman is held in a brothel or other place to provide sexual services against her will. In such a case, under the Sexual Offences Act (Previously the Immorality Act) 23 of 1957 and Act 32 of 2007, the woman is innocent and requires social protection. However, it is necessary to provide appropriate evidence of the female’s innocence.
Another scenario develops if a woman deliberately and willfully engages in prostitution. In this case, according to the above laws, the female will be found guilty of sexual offenses. However, the reasons for the client’s decisions are still crucial to the wellness counselor. It involves personal morality and professional ethics, including empathy, unity, and an unconditional positive attitude towards the client, free from prejudice. Depending on the reasoning of the client’s actions, it is also possible to involve a social worker to help provide social protection for the client. In this case, the wellness consultant may have an internal conflict between the law of South Africa and the need to help the client.
However, in both cases, the WC must warn the client about the possible consequences of her actions and accusations. In addition, a wellness counselor must help the client achieve holistic well-being of body, mind, and spirit. A WC can provide the necessary assistance to the client independently, using various techniques and types of therapy. In addition, it is also possible to involve professionals from other fields to ensure maximum benefit for the client.
To conclude, the example of this scenario shows that jurisprudential reflection in wellness counseling is possible, but with certain reservations. There are situations where the need to comply with the law may conflict with other components of the wellness counselor’s work. It, in turn, can lead to the impossibility of fulfilling the WC’s primary task, which is to provide wellness for the client. Each situation is unique, and there are no clear instructions for automating the wellness consultant’s work. Therefore, personal qualities are essential for professional WC since they may help to unite personal morality, ethics, and jurisdiction in professional activities.