Case Vignettes In approximately 2000 words analyse each ethical dilemma using the following sub-headings to ensure that all steps are taken to reach a satisfactory decision: 1 The ethical standard or...

Ethics in Counselling 1
CASE-1 AMY
Ethical standard involved
The situation in the case involves a minor girl who is only sixteen years old showing
symptoms of teenage disorientation, lack of self-awareness, self-exploration and the state of
confusion of choosing between right and wrong. This case deals with the minor getting into
substance abuse and getting entrapped in the legal problems pertaining to the complexities
created when a person starts using the illegal drugs. The girl manifests the disturbances she
experiences on the psychological front due to the drug-taking induced by bad circle of
friends, externally, by unkept appearance and lack of concentration in studies. It is also learnt
that she is unable to perform at school and has trouble reaching school at time which is due to
the fact that she is unable to collect herself and behave in a normal fashion. Noticing the
drastic changes in the appearance and the behaviour, parents are compelled to seek
professional help by a counsellor who can understand and guide her through this problem.
The parents are unaware of the causes of the symptoms but are very disturbed and can see an
underlying cause for these external signs in their daughter.
The responsibility of the counsellor in case of an adult is very different from what they are in
case of a teenager. The teenagers are supposed to be the responsibility of their parents and
whatever happens to them is the social and moral accountability for them. More than any
other authority, it is the parents who can exert the control and right on their kids if it is within
the law of the country. The parents have right to know about the problems, faults and
disorders related to their children and no other individual can take away this right form them
of it falls within the purview of the law.
Ethics in Counselling 2
In the case, the counsellor comes to know about the underlying cause for the problems that
the child is facing and parents are concerned about her behaviour and performance at school
because of that.
Ethical trap
The duty of the counsellor is to understand the deep rooted cause for the problems and
analyse the situation from the objective point of view. On the other hand, she is supposed to
link the law and ethical frameworks with her problems. The confidentiality agreement
between the counsellor and the client restricts the counsellor from disclosing the information
the client shares during the sessions with the client. However, the ethical dilemma here is that
first of all the client is a minor and hence parents are supposed to know everything related to
her whether it is legal and illegal. Second ethical issue in this scenario is that the child is
involved in something which is unlawful and wrong in absolute sense. The counsellor cannot
actually depend upon the moral and ethical values followed by the client in this case because
they are cannot be evaluated in the context of the individual and her values but are wrong in
the absolute sense. Also, as a counsellor she is foremost responsible to help and solve the
psychological disturbances the client is facing and hence should weigh in all the options she
has and decide upon the basis of greater good for the greater cause. Hence, she needs to take
a stand whether to share the details with the parents or not.
Preliminary response
According to the case facts, the child comes to the counsellor after she has been observed by
the parents for long time and when they realise that she needs to get professional help. The
need of the counsellor in this case has been identified by the parents and thus it is clear that
they are concerned about her well-being and personal life. The teenager is unable to take right
Ethics in Counselling 3
decisions on her own and cannot take care of herself as seen by her lack of judgement for
choosing the right company of friends.
Counsellor should take all these facts into consideration and inform the client that she
respects the confidentiality between the client and the professional but in this case there is a
need to look beyond that. She should inform the client that what she is doing is unlawful as
well as detrimental to her mental, physical and social well-being. The counsellor should tell
her that she needs to take this problem beyond the confines of the closed room discussions
between her and the client. She should also her seek permission to disclose her problems with
her parents because this involves more than her personal values and privacy. After this, the
counsellor needs to prepare a plan to approach the client and her parents together to know
their stand on the issue. The issue is not limited to the normal teenage problems which need
to be kept secret between the client and the professional. It is mandatory that the counsellor
understands the complexity and act accordingly. The client should be made to understand that
what she is going through is not limited to the natural process of growing up but has fallen
into a trap which needs to be addressed by the parental and legal intervention. After the initial
response of taking parents into confidence, the counsellor might refer the client to other
professionals who deal with the substance abuse problem and facilitate rehabilitation for
teenagers.
Possible consequences of this response
After the counsellor makes sure that the parents need to be informed about the cause of the
problems and the legal issue pertaining to the teenager’s behaviour, there will be backlash
from the client. The child may see this as a trap to make her fall into the ethical and legal
procedures which she never foresaw. She might retaliate in a many ways which might prove
to be all the more harmful to her social and physical well-being. The client will definitely
Ethics in Counselling 4
oppose the counsellor’s decision to tell about the drug-abuse to her parents and thus will
result into the very radical reaction from the client.
As far as the parents are concerned, they might be shocked to learn that the problem with the
child is not limited to the teenage problems but involves larger issues like drug abuse that too
involving illegal drugs like marijuana and cocaine. It might also involve very harsh treatment
of their daughter in the initial few days after the disclosure of the fact that the child is
involved in something beyond the control of the counsellor. They will be terribly disturbed
and the initial reaction might involve disbelief and anger over the school authorities, parents
of the friends and the...