The Importance Of Informed Consent In Counseling

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Additionally, the ethical code of A.2.c. developmental and cultural sensitivity include how counselors may need to adjust their practices in order to aid clients in understanding informed consent and counseling in a culturally appropriate way (American Counseling Association, 2014). Although the Thinking for a Change individual therapy takes into consideration culturally appropriate interventions, the counselor still needs to address informed consent in a way that helps the client understand the process. Lastly, the ethical code A.2.a informed consent needs to be taken into consideration within the Thinking for a Change individual therapy program. The ethical code A.2.a demonstrate how clients have a choice to either enter or stay in counseling, …show more content…
The ethical code issue of A.2.e. mandated clients may be resolved through the counselor convincing the client to outweigh the benefits and the consequences of counseling services. Clients before partaking in counseling have a right to understand the benefits and the risks of counseling (Kress, Hoffman, Adamson, & Eriksen, 2013). Furthermore, the ethical issues related to mandated clients can be resolved with the use of informed consent, however, there is limitation to confidentiality. The client will need to know and understand the limitations to confidentiality. The ethical code issue of B.1.d. the limitations to confidentiality can be resolved through informed consent. According to Yeates (2015), counselors need to take the time to explain informed consent based on multicultural factors and competence level of the client. The counselor could go over informed consent verbally and document, but also the counselor may ask the client if he has any questions. The counselor could provide questions verbally or in a test form to see if the client understands the informed consent. The ethical code issue of A.2.a informed consent may be solved through allowing the client to make their decisions on the process such as which goals he would like to work on each week. Also, the issues with informed consent can be solved through reminding the client of the informed consent throughout the Thinking for a Change individual therapy program. According to Kress, Hoffman, Adamson, and Eriksen (2013), demonstrate that information on confidentiality and diagnosis must be part of informed consent due to the ethical practices in the counseling profession. In general, informed consent needs to be part of the Thinking for a Change individual therapy