03 What is your code of Ethics?

This explains the ethics of how counselling is delivered to you. It outlines the aim. The Terms and conditions try to capture the essence of this, but also alert you to the special nature of seeking counselling online, both its advantages and its disadvantages so you can make an informed and fair decision for your own welfare.

The Code of Ethics I Submit To
Introduction
The purpose of this Code of Ethics is to establish and maintain standards for myself and to inform and protect members of the public seeking my services.

Ethical standards comprise such values as integrity, competence, confidentiality, and responsibility. In assenting to this code, I accept my responsibility to clients, colleagues and society. The client's interest is paramount, but where counsellors have a conflict of responsibilities they have to use their considered judgement.

Principles and Guidelines
This code of ethics expresses some ethical principles and then lays down some guidelines for the practice of counselling. This code cannot resolve all ethical issues, but it does provide a framework for addressing ethical and practice-related issues.

The Nature of Counselling
Counselling involves the formation of special relationships characterised by openness and trust. Counsellors seek to assist clients to increase understanding of themselves and their relationships with others and/or to develop more satisfying and resourceful ways of living and/or to bring about a change in their behaviour.

General Principles

1. The principle of autonomy
Counsellors shall respect the dignity and worth of every individual, the integrity of families/whanau and the diversity of cultures. This implies respect for people's right to make decisions that affect their own lives, to choose whether or not to consent to anything that is done to them or on their behalf and to maintain their own privacy. Exceptions to the principle of autonomy occur when there is clear danger to the client, counsellor or public at large and when the individual's competence to make a decision is clearly limited.

2. The principle of not doing harm
Counsellors shall avoid any diagnostic labels, counselling methods, use of assessment data or other practices which are likely to cause harm to their clients.

3. The principle of beneficence
Counselling is a helping profession which expects counsellors to act in ways that promote the welfare and positive growth of their clients. In situations where there is the possibility of both harm and benefit, the responsibility is on counsellors to ensure that their own actions are chosen with a view to bringing about the greatest balance of good.

4 The principle of justice
Counsellors shall be committed to the fair and equitable distribution of counselling services to all individuals and social groups. Counsellors shall also promote social justice through advocacy and empowerment.

5. The principle of fidelity
Counsellors shall be honest and trustworthy in all their professional relationships.

The Counselling Relationship and Client Rights

Access
Any person shall have the right of access to appropriate counselling. However counsellors should not assume that they are the most appropriate person to provide this counselling and should refer to another counsellor who might be in a better position to provide it by reason of their gender or culture or for any other reason as indicated the client's needs.

Consent
Counsellors shall uphold the principle of free and informed consent for clients in counselling; that is to say that clients must be fully informed of what is meant by counselling and must freely consent to participate. Full information implies comprehension, and free consent implies a lack of pressure to comply with proposals. Participation in research should also be based on free and informed consent.

Confidentiality
Communication between counsellor and client shall be confidential and treated as privileged information unless the client gives consent to any particular information being disclosed. Exceptions to this principle occur when, in the professional judgement of the counsellor, there is clear and imminent danger to the client or others. This includes circumstances where the clients competence to make a decision is obviously limited. In these circumstances the counsellor shall take reasonable personal action or inform responsible authorities.

Any records of the counselling relationship are to be considered professional information for use in counselling. They should not be considered the property of the institution or agency in which the counsellor is employed.

When information gained from a counselling relationship is used for purposes such as counsellor training, Supervision or research, the counsellor shall protect the clients identity.

Discrimination
Counsellors should recognise the dignity of the person and avoid discrimination against clients on the basis of their race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, social class, age or religious or political beliefs.

Impartiality
When dealing with more than one party counsellors shall offer their service without favouritism or bias either in word or action. Impartiality involves a commitment to aid all participants in reaching mutually satisfactory agreements. Counsellors shall declare any previous acquaintance with a client which may prejudice their ability to remain neutral.

Group Counselling
In group settings, counsellors should make every effort to protect individuals from physical and/or psychological harm resulting from interaction within the group.

Abuse of Power
Counsellors shall not abuse their position by taking advantage of clients for purposes of personal, professional, political, financial or sexual gain.

Counsellors are responsible for setting and monitoring the boundaries between a counselling relationship and any other kind of relationship and for making such boundaries as clear as possible to the client.

Sexual Harassment
In the counselling relationship the client shall be free from the possibility of sexual exploitation or sexual harassment. Counsellors shall not engage in sexual activity with their clients.

Fees
Counsellors should clarify with clients at the outset fees, if any, and methods of payment. when setting fees the Counsellor should ensure that they are fair, reasonable, commensurate with the service provided and give due regard to the clients ability to pay.

Referral
Counsellors shall refer clients on when they cannot meet their needs. It is the counsellors responsibility, as far as possible, to verify the competence and integrity of the person to whom they refer a client.

Termination
Counsellors shall work with clients to terminate counselling when the clients have received the help they sought, or when it is apparent that counselling is no longer helping them.

Competence and Professional Development
Counsellors shall not claim competence which they do not possess.

Counsellors shall monitor their counselling work through regular supervision by professionally competent supervisors.

Counsellors shall monitor and work within the limits of both their own competence and their own personal resources.

Counsellors shall seek ways of increasing their professional development.

Counsellors shall be vigilant in monitoring their fitness to practise as counsellors with respect to their emotional, mental, and physical health. Counsellors shall withdraw from part or all of their counselling practice while their fitness is significantly impaired in any or all of these respects.

Responsibility to the wider Community

Counsellors should advocate policies and legislation that promote social justice, improved social conditions and a fair sharing of the community's resources.

Counsellors should actively support the principles of partnership as embodied in the Treaty of Waitangi. [local covenant/standard for working with the indigenous people of New Zealand]

Counsellors should act to prevent and eliminate discrimination in the wider community against individuals and groups on the basis of race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, social class, age or religious or political belief.

Counsellors should seek to increase the range of choices and opportunities for all members of the community, with special regard for the disadvantaged.

Responsibility to Colleagues and the Profession

Counsellors should treat colleagues with respect, courtesy, fairness and honesty.

Counsellors should respect professional confidences about the clients' of colleagues.

Counsellors should not solicit the clients of other colleagues and should avoid assuming professional responsibility for them without appropriate communication with the counsellor or agency concerned.

Counsellors should take action through appropriate channels against unethical conduct by other members of the profession, especially where it is harmful to clients.

Counsellors should adhere to professional standards in making known the availability of their services. Counsellors should uphold and foster the values, integrity, knowledge and ethics of the profession.

Relationship with Employing Institutions

Counsellors should adhere to and uphold the ethics of the profession and should avoid compromising them in the face of institutional requirements.

Counsellors should seek to negotiate a clear job description for themselves when working within an organisation and should honour such a document when they have agreed to it. Employers have an obligation to shape their expectations of the roles of counsellors in relation to the ethics of the profession.

Counsellors should contribute to policy development and seek to maintain and improve the quality of service in their work setting.

Counsellors should promote Equal Employment Opportunity policies in their work settings. They should also promote equitable access to the services provided by me organisation in which they work.

It is unethical for counsellors to use their position within an organisation to recruit clients for their own private practice.