Mental Health Counseling and Ethical Standards Essay

Code of Ethics Appropriate for the Specialty of Mental Health Counseling

Ethical issues associated with mental health counseling are crucial aspects to take into account when organizing activities to help the target audience. Relevant codes contribute to following the necessary rules to communicate and interact with clients and meeting the standards of professional collaboration. For instance, in the area of mental health counseling, specialists resort to technology-assisted counseling as a methodology to introduce relevant innovations as auxiliary tools to help clients (American Counseling Association, n.d.; Newsome & Gladding, 2017).

Utilizing this practice responsibly is an essential task since, from an ethical perspective, the interaction process should not allow the target audience’s data leakage caused by undeveloped algorithms for storing and processing personal information. In the field of multicultural competence, as Ratts et al. (2016) state, ethical norms imply meeting “racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, socioeconomic, age, religious, spiritual, and disability identities” to provide ethically sound mental health counseling (p. 29). Flexible approaches to interaction with clients involve taking into account various individual factors (Ratts et al., 2015). They are crucial criteria for successful interpersonal communication between counselors and the target audience.

From a practical perspective, ethical standards in mental health counseling aim to provide an adequate framework for the successful implementation of communication approaches (American Counseling Association, 2018). According to Iarussi and Shaw (2016), for instance, during the referral process, specialists obtain relevant data about the features and personal characteristics of their clients, which, in turn, stimulates closer contact and more successful counseling. In addition, with regard to practical goals, mental health counselors need to take into account not only traditional working concepts but also appropriate conditions and situations to apply professional competencies adequately (Hurt-Avila & Castillo, 2017). All these factors contribute to meeting ethical standards and relevant professional codes when interacting with the target clients.

Professional Articles Related to Ethical Practice Within the Profession and Multicultural Competencies

Lustgarten, S. D., & Elhai, J. D. (2018). Technology use in mental health practice and research: Legal and ethical risks. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 25(2), e12234.

The article discusses different ethical aspects of working in the field of medical health counseling by combining practical and legal nuances. Lustgarten and Elhai (2018) pay particular attention to how specialists can prevent harm to clients and maintain not only effective but also ethically sound activities during their collaboration with the target audience. This article mentions some critical factors to take into account, including confidentiality and privacy, welfare, security, and professional boundaries. The relevance of the study may be justified by the combination of both legal and ethical implications of technology use.

Young, G. (2016). A broad ethics model for mental health practice. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 2(2), 220-237.

In this research, relevant ethical norms are listed, which mental health counselors should adhere to when collaborating with target clients. Young (2016) pays attention to ethical decision-making and highlights “six core ethical principles” designed to avoid harm and ensure effective counseling (p. 222). The existing codes are discussed from the perspective of potential dilemmas and how to avoid them. This study may be of good use to get acquainted with the basic approaches to maintaining ethically sound mental health counseling and building efficient communication between providers and clients.

Matthews, J. J., Barden, S. M., & Sherrell, R. S. (2018). Examining the relationships between multicultural counseling competence, multicultural self-efficacy, and ethnic identity development of practicing counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 40(2), 129-141.

Multicultural competence, as an integral part of mental health counselors’ activities, is one of the objects of assessment in this study. Matthews et al. (2018) examine the relationship between this aspect and ethnic identity and compare indicators of how specific working methods affect interactions with target customers. Controlling social nuances allows for a sustainable communication mode and contributes to avoiding any form of racial bias. Moreover, as the researchers state, multicultural competence is part of any ethical code (Matthews et al., 2018). Therefore, this study is useful in the context of addressing current issues associated with inequality and bias in mental health counseling.

References

American Counseling Association. (n.d.). 2014 ACA code of ethics. Web.

American Counseling Association. (2018). ACA advocacy competencies. Web.

Hurt-Avila, K. M., & Castillo, J. (2017). Accreditation, professional identity development, and professional competence: A discriminant analysis. Journal of Counselor Leadership and Advocacy, 4(1), 39-51. Web.

Iarussi, M. M., & Shaw, B. M. (2016). A collaborative process model for promoting successful referrals in college counseling. Journal of College Counseling, 19(3), 261-275. Web.

Lustgarten, S. D., & Elhai, J. D. (2018). Technology use in mental health practice and research: Legal and ethical risks. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 25(2), e12234. Web.

Matthews, J. J., Barden, S. M., & Sherrell, R. S. (2018). Examining the relationships between multicultural counseling competence, multicultural self-efficacy, and ethnic identity development of practicing counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 40(2), 129-141. Web.

Newsome, D. W., & Gladding, S. T. (2017). Clinical mental health counseling in community and agency settings (4^th ed.). Pearson Education Canada.

Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar‐McMillan, S., Butler, S. K., & McCullough, J. R. (2015). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies. American Counseling Association. Web.

Ratts, M. J., Singh, A. A., Nassar‐McMillan, S., Butler, S. K., & McCullough, J. R. (2016). Multicultural and social justice counseling competencies: Guidelines for the counseling profession. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 44(1), 28-48. Web.

Young, G. (2016). A broad ethics model for mental health practice. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 2(2), 220-237. Web.