Ethical Issues Working With Children and Parents
AAMFT has established ethical codes of conducts that all therapist should seek to honor while dealing with matters of families and marriages. AAMFT codes of ethics are used to explain professional expectations, and AAMFT ethical committee has been used as a channel of enforcing these ethics while dealing with matters of children and their families. The absence of an explicit reference to a particular conduct within the code does not simply mean that this conduct is ethical or unethical. It is important to note the AAMFT codes of ethics are not exhaustive. Therapists who notice a certain conduct among their clients who are uncovered in this code are required to seek consultants’ counsel before making decisions (Bukstein, 2016).
It is recommended that therapists should consider AAMFT ethical codes before making major decisions to ensure that all decisions are in aligning with provisions of this code. This is essential since it ensures that major decisions do not cause implications to families and clients seeking counseling. Therapists must, therefore, operate within the guidelines of this code to ensure that all provisions have been met. This paper outlines the application of AAMFT codes of ethics in dealing with Jimmy’s case.
In respect to the case of Jimmy, various consideration have to be made to ensure that therapeutic counselling is effective. As a therapist, I considers Jimmy’s situation to be relevant in the whole process. For instance, his actions of smoking wine may be influenced by his friends or parenting skills. Therefore, involvement of various parties such as parents and teachers is important in changing Jimmy’s situation. In addition, Jimmy social life should be considered to identify the main reason for him staying along at most time. This will help to avert his conduct of texting girls most of the time he is alone if parents and teachers would consider identifying a number of tasks that would keep him busy most of the time.
In this particular case, there are several behaviors that as a therapist, I am required to take necessary precautions about. First, it is about Jimmy spending most of his time alone whereby; he is often texting girls (Bukstein, 2016). Secondly, Jimmy is involved in pot smoking despite his parent having not noticed that. Thirdly, Jimmy is performing poorly in school, and this could be as a result of pot smoking and influence of girls. Nevertheless, as a therapist, I will have to abide by the provisions of AAMFT in handling Jimmy’s case to ensure that his parents are kept uninformed about him smoking pot.
In adhering to AAMFT ethical codes, I will first consider the second principle whereby; I will ensure confidentiality of Jimmy’s information. I will guard and respect the confidentiality of my client’s that is Jimmy, to uphold his confidence with me. In this case, I will disclose at the earliest time possible the level of confidentiality for Jimmy’s disclosure to me highlighting possible limitations of Jimmy’s rights to confidentiality (Goldstein & Brent, 2016). Notably, I will have to explain any possible occasions that will demand me to provide confidential data and circumstances under which disclosure of confidential information, that is, the case in which Jimmy is involved in pot smoking is legally needed. Therefore, repeated disclosures will be necessary on some occasions but to ensure that Jimmy’s confidence in the process is sustained, initial disclosures will be provided whereby, I will have to provide a detailed reason for such disclosures (Lewis, 2016).
During disclosure, I will ensure that written authorization have been given to my clients that is Jimmy and his parents. Verbal authorization will only apply in emergency situations. Moreover, I will ensure that all client records are secured and only accessed by authorized personnel by provisions of law and professional code of ethics. While making consultations on matters without explicit consent, I will ensure that all standard requirements in respect to confidentiality are considered. This is to ensure that client details to not leak and this client is not known by other people. I will have to involve my clients in instances where other people such as consultants are involved to have a direct contact with Jimmy and his parents. This will be done through written authorizations to Jimmy. I will ensure that I have enough confidence that any consultant selected to have a direct conversation with Jimmy is a person whom they have strong connections with to ensure that my client is comfortable enough to explain his situation to the consultant.
During my counseling session, I will seek to uphold the third AAMFT principle regarding the professional competence and integrity. In this case, I will ensure that I remain competent throughout my counseling process. I will ensure a high level of competence through education, training as well as supervised experience. I will also maintain enough information and adhere to all applicable legislations. Seeking assistance is vital in family therapy especially in matters which are not clear before making the final decision. For this reason, I will make regular consultations with well-informed consultants to ensure that I arrive at accurate measures at the end of my therapy process with Jimmy.
During my therapeutic decision making, I follow a process from identification to an implementation of my findings. To start with, I will identify the challenge and underlying opportunities. I will gunner adequate data relating to Jimmy’s case, that is, what I ought to know before making my decision (Burton, 2014). I will make a comprehensive analysis of this situation to evaluate various options I will have to choose from before deciding. I will also seek to identify alternative information interpretations in Jimmy’s case. I will develop some options and then assess these alternative measures. I will finally act on my decision to make a final therapeutic decision.
In respect to the Marriage and Family Theory, I will seek to uphold some principles to ensure an effective decision. To start with, I will seek to ensure that integrity has been upheld during the whole therapeutic process. To achieve this goal, I will ensure that I have comprehensively understood personality, beliefs, culture and any social-economic challenge Jimmy is facing to evaluate possible causes of this challenge (Burton, 2014). I will also seek to understand religious perceptions and stands in the case of Jimmy, his peers and all people he associates him as a way of understanding how such behaviors have been developed.
Implementation of therapeutic counseling will use a classroom-focused intervention which will involve school and Jimmy’s parents as major participants. My first obligation will involve obtaining a commitment from all people in the two parties. The implementation process will include there major phases, that is, initial, midcourse and closure phases. The initial phase will involve outlining the challenge and looking for an appropriate process to solve the challenge. I will seek to outline some viewpoints likely to have close connections to Jimmy’s challenge as well as possible solutions to the challenges (Bukstein, 2016). For instance, I will consider factors like classroom management, positive discipline methods and parenting skills likely to affect Jimmy’s conduct. I will seek to establish behavioral change through parenting or classroom management to engage some conducts likely to motivate Jimmy.
Moreover, my approach will seek to create a cognitive coping method which would be effective in coping with Jimmy’s conduct. By ensuring that all participants have maximum engaged in coping with the challenge, the other step will involve setting appropriate behavioral approaches that will suit school as well as home settings. Implementation of approaches will involve Jimmy, the teacher, and his parents. There are some issues that I will seek to emphasize during the process including; high level of motivation to ensure that Jimmy’s behavior improves, following through the whole intervention process to ensure that Jimmy’s situation drastically improves and make regular evaluations while recording to ensure that any improvements are documented. Evaluation will also seek to establish the effectiveness of various approaches used in the therapeutic process.
References
Bukstein, O. G. (2016). Substance use disorders and addictions. In M.K. Dulcan, Dulcan’s textbook of child and adolescent psychiatry (2nd ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.
Burton, M. (2014). Self-harm: working with vulnerable adolescents. Practice Nursing, 25, 245-251.
Goldstein, T. R., & Brent, D. A. (2016). Youth suicide. In M.K. Dulcan, Dulcan’s textbook of child and adolescent psychiatry (2nd ed.).Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.
Lewis, C. (2011). Providing therapy to children and families in foster care: A systemic-relational approach. Family Process, 50, 436-452.
Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (2015). AAMFT code of ethics.
https://aamft.org/iMIS15/AAMFT/Content/Legal_Ethics/Code_of_Ethics.aspx
