...Dual Relationships and Boundaries Paper PSYCH/545 August 13, 2012 Dr. Terry Portis, Ed.D. The Concept of Dual Relationships Dual relationships refer to situations where two or more connections exist between a therapist and a client (Lazarus, A. A. & Zur, O. 2002). Some dual relationship examples consist of when the patient is a friend, student, employee, business associate or a family member of the therapist. Dual relationships are considered boundary crossers, however some dual relationships can be exploitative which is a boundary violation. There are several dual relationships that are sometimes unavoidable. Small and rural communities can place psychologists practicing within them in a dual relationship situation. For instance, the person who pumps the gas, watches and chaperones the neighborhood children on school field trips, bags groceries in the local supermarket, works in one of the few dentist's offices may easily end up being client of the local therapist. In such rural and small communities, relationships may get more complex especially if people decide to choose a therapists because of their relationship with them as appose to finding one online or from the Yellow Pages. Examples of this could be a fellow teammate from a local league, a fellow member of church or even a car dealer of the therapist may choose to go to them out of any other therapist because they know them personally and feel as though they share the same...
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...Dual Relationships and Boundaries Paper Survey of Professional Psychology 545 July 8, 2013 Dr. Terry Portis Dual Relationships and Boundaries Dual relationships are that of a relationship of some kind with a patient either the patient is a family member, friend, or known through business. Dual relationships are not that of a sexual manner as that does not constitute a dual relationship but more of crossing boundaries the same as accepting gifts or meeting outside the office (Zur, 1997- 2013). There are many forms of dual relationships but as long and the boundary in a sexual or more than doctor client relationship are not crossed (accepting gifts, hugging). In the scenario that was chosen the therapist/teacher is dealing with a dual relationship of his or her student confiding marital issues and at a later date asking for the professor to be him and his wife’s couple’s counselor. This is a situation in which the professional need to determine if this is a dual relationship, crossing boundaries, and meets ethical decision-making process. Definition of Dual Relationships Dual relationships are defined as professional and personal relationships that transpire involving a client and the therapist or psychologist (Pope & Keith-Spiegel, 2008). Dual relationships in the field of psychology are any relationship where different roles are between a therapist and client. For instance dual relationship is the...
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...PCN-505 Counselor Ethical Boundaries and Practices Denise I Ratliff Professor RaTonya Bennett March 30, 2016 * * * * Introduction Ethics, boundaries and potential dual relationships are important for counselors to comprehend. Understanding the code of ethics and understanding the many facets of counselor /patient scenarios that can arise during a professional relationship. Dual relationships is a gray area in which there is a very paramount question that the counseling professional need to address and that is; whether a dual relationship is necessary. Simply put, impractical dual relationships can be charged with unnecessary jeopardy. Certain situations may arise in which a dual relationship could be hard to avoid and may have its challenges. It is important that any counseling that is given regardless of the relationship should be safe and secure. Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships Part A – Decision-Making Model and Counseling Examples Engaging in dual relationships is risky business in being a counseling professional. Ethical issues related to professional boundaries and dual relationships can be complex because, dual relationships and the issues that follow are multi-faceted. “If a dual relationship is exploitative, whether it is before, during, or after a professional relationship, it should be avoided” (ACA, 2015). It is important that the counselor acknowledge the fine distinctions between crossing boundaries that lay in the difference...
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...Ethical Decision-Making Reflection Paper Jo-Ann Morgia Grand Canyon University: PCN-100 10/19/2014 In the world of alcohol and drug counseling there are important issues for the addiction counselor to understand which is ethics and boundaries. The counselors code of ethics is very imperative and understanding the possible situations that may come into play during a professional relationship. Some boundary example situations can be dual relationships, boundary crossings, and bartering. Even though these situations are common there is still a question to what is ethical. Some situations are very clear to understand but then there are some other situations that are not as clear to understand. I will explain how applying an evidence based decision making model will assist in preventing boundary crossing from progressing into boundary violations, reflect my understanding of a counselors code of ethics, and explain why following this model is so important to the success of the client’s treatment. Bartering is not unethical or prohibited for counselors but things may not quit work out the way it was planned. Bartering is services or goods given instead of a payment. An example of bartering is if the counselor is treating a client and the client is a hairstylist that is having money troubles then the hairstylist may make an offer to cut and style the counselors hair. At first this may seem like a good deal especially when the counselor is long overdue for a hairstyle...
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...Boundaries Issues Ashley Decamp, Christina Karsen, Jose Cevallos, Katy Norris, Samantha Cruse, Monica Green BSHS 335 February 23, 2015 Mary Ann Little Boundaries Issues Human service professionals are taught to understand their client’s as well as the role they play in their life professionally. The most important part of that is understanding that it is a professional relationship and should be nothing more than that. Boundaries are put in place in many different parts of a person’s life to help them understand what they are to do and where they are to avoid. This is also something that is implemented with human service professionals. They are taught boundaries for themselves and given the tools to help their clients’ understand what their boundaries are. It is done so that the clients’ can receive the best possible help there is for them. The following is going to explore different boundaries and relationships between a client and the professional, what to avoid, and the best possible solutions if a boundary is compromised. Below is some examples of human services professionals, and clients experiencing the issues with boundaries. A caseworker for DHS-Child Welfare, receives an anonymous report, that a young child has been physically abused. After interviewing the child and reviewing family information, the caseworker realizes that this is the son of another women she attends a local Mom’s group with. The mother has spent time during recent group meetings...
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... F. G., (2003). Boundary Issues in Social Work: Managing Dual Relationships Faulty Publications. Paper 162. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ric.edu/facultypublications/162 This article provides an overview of boundary issues in social work (circumstances involving dual and multiple relationships); presents a conceptually based typology of boundary issues in the profession; and provides guidelines to help social workers manage the boundary issues and risks that arise in practice. It will also help me formulate risk strategies to prevent dual relationships. Congress, E. P., (1996). Dual Relationships in Academia: Dilemmas for Social Work Educators. Journal of Social Work Education. 32.3: 329-338. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fau.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.fau.edu/docview/61608345?accountid=10902 In this article, social work educators can play many other roles in relation to their students -- including sexual partner, friend, therapist, or employer. Combining the role of instructor with one of these other roles may lead to ethical violations & dilemmas. Here, educators are urged to consider their power differential & the potential for harm to their students before entering such dual relationships. I believe with this article it will give some examples about preventing physical and mental harm to the clients. Boland-Prom, K; Anderson, S. C., (2005). Teaching Ethical Decision Making Using Dual Relationship Principles as A Case...
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...Dual Relationship Mieisha Marshall, Alicia, Sara Cofield, and Candy Ladd Psych/545 November 17, 2014 Sharlie Hazen Introduction Making ethical decisions in the field of psychology can be very difficult especially when you are in the business of counseling. You have to worry about your client’s crossing that boundary while trying to escape a dual relationship. For instance, the scenario that was chosen by our group consist of a close friend of yours is having difficulty with her teenage daughter. She knows you are a psychologist who specialize in adolescents. She ask if you would be willing to help her daughter for a few sessions to straighten her out. You ask yourself, what should be done during this current situation. For one, the therapist and the client’s mother are friends. The client’s mother may be become too dependable on the therapist to fix the problem. In this paper, we will find the best approach for a dual relationship. Ethical issues involving dual relationships will be examined to clarify and analyze the relationship that the therapist and the client’s mom have. Therapist face many challenges in everyday life and in this paper, we will discuss challenges one may face in professional psychology. Concept of Dual Relationship When a therapist engages in more than one relationship with a client it is then classified as a dual or multiple relationship. If a therapist assumes a secondary role with a client like that of an employer, teacher, family member...
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...Nicole Fogel Challenges of Being an Advocate and Neutral Facilitator In some circumstances an advocate or mediator may face the potential of a dual relationship in which said advocate or mediator most likely will face ethical, moral, and legal challenges. Dual relationships occur when professionals assume two roles simultaneously or sequentially with an individual seeking assistance (Guthmann, Heines, & Kolvitz, n.d.). Dual relationships include sexual intimacy with a client and (or) providing the service to a friend or relative. Within this paper an exploration of the ethical, moral, and legal challenges advocates and mediators may face regarding dual relationships will occur. A personal opinion concerning the integration of advocacy and mediation within the human services field will also be presented as well as a personal philosophy and approach to advocating and mediating within a child welfare agency setting. Challenges of Dual Relationships An advocate or mediator offering friendship or love to a client outside the purview of his or her duties, or if the exchanges goods or services with a client has occurred, indicates professional boundaries have been violated and a dual relationship has been formed (Mediation Council of Illinois, 1999). A Dual relationship is considered a conflict of interest and crosses the ethical boundaries issues set forth in most advocacy and mediation code of ethics. Advocates and mediators should respect clients’ integrity and protect the well-being...
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...University of Phoenix Material The Practice of Clinical Psychology Worksheet Answer the following questions. Your response to each question must be at least 150 words in length. 1. What are at least two legal issues associated with clinical psychology? Provide an example of a situation that could be legal but unethical. Explain your response. One major legal issue associated with clinical psychology is adhering to the Ethics Code irrespective of legal covets. The Ethics Code was cultivated and put into place by the American Psychological Association (APA) for the safety of both psychologist and patient. If the psychologist is a member of the APA (which is a voluntary endeavor), he or she must adhere to the Ethics Code (Plante, 2011). There are clear cases where this loyalty to the code undermines legal authority. However, the APA encourages its members to explain the obedience of the code, and to decide whether he or she should break their vow and go against it. Plante (2011) avows, “Generally, ethical standards represent a much higher standard of behavior than the law,” (p. 374). Another major legal issue is confidentiality, which not only ties into the abovementioned Ethics Code, but provides an example of a circumstance that could be lawful but unethical. Confidentiality is one of the foremost aspects of going to a psychologist; a psychologist is believed to break confidentiality only in the most extreme circumstances including immediate harm to the patient...
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...trainee person centred psychotherapist. I chose this dilemma as it highlights the issue of boundary lines as a crucial aspect of effective and safe client-counsellor relationships. I run as a regular pastime with my local running club which is held on a mid week evening. My partner and I arrived at the club and bumbped into one of my clients, whom I had been counselling for two months. He had come to counselling as he had difficulty in forming personal relationships and was feeling lonely and depressed. The following day my client sent an email inviting my partner and I for dinner, suggesting we became friends. I considered the overlapping therapy and non-therapy contact to be problematic as it would involve entering a dual relationship with my client. Gabriel (2001) offers a definition which distinguishes between non-therapy and therapy contact by suggesting that a dual relationship occurs when: “a one-to-one contracted therapy relationship between an individual in the role of ‘client’ and one in the role of ‘therapist’ overlaps into a non-therapy context or role.” (p. ?). I identified a situation which became ethically challenging as I felt my client had crossed a boundary. “The boundary in counselling can be perceived as a limit line, with inherent fluidity and permeability, as well as safety and security. It is a limit line that requires the thoughtful actions of the boundary rider, the counsellor, to monitor and repair where...
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...Winston Challenges of being an Advocate and Neutral Facilitator In some circumstances an advocate or mediator may face the potential of a dual relationship in which said advocate or mediator most likely will face ethical, moral, and legal challenges. Dual relationships occur when professionals assume two roles simultaneously or sequentially with an individual seeking assistance (Guthmann, Heines, & Kolvitz, n.d.). Dual relationships include sexual intimacy with a client and (or) providing the service to a friend or relative. Within this paper an exploration of the ethical, moral, and legal challenges advocates and mediators may face regarding dual relationships will occur. A personal opinion concerning the integration of advocacy and mediation within the human services field will also be presented as well as a personal philosophy and approach to advocating and mediating within a child welfare agency setting. Challenges of Dual Relationships An advocate or mediator offering friendship or love to a client outside the purview of his or her duties, or if the exchanges goods or services with a client has occurred, indicates professional boundaries have been violated and a dual relationship has been formed (Mediation Council of Illinois, 1999). A Dual relationship is considered a conflict of interest and crosses the ethical boundaries issues set forth in most advocacy and mediation code of ethics. Advocates and mediators should respect clients’ integrity and protect the well-being...
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...American Mental Health Counseling Association (AMHCA) (2011), I felt that it was important to touch upon certain sections that I feel could become potential issues for us as counselors. Essay 1. There are many skills needed in order to work with a patient presenting with a co-occurring disorder. According to the American Mental Health Counseling Association (AMHCA) (2011), there are eight skills that we as counselors must center our focus on. They are all very important, yet I chose to focus on us as counselors can demonstrate our skills wisely by utilizing the knowledge we have gained during training. One of the hardest part of counseling clients is trying to discover what exactly is needed to help that client maintain a healthy relationship with others and a balance within themselves. Clients with co-occurring disorders are the most difficult kind of client. We must understand the treatment and clinical management of common co-occurring disorders such as anxiety, depression, PTSD and trauma-related disorders, dissociative disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, disruptive behaviors, and mood disorders in combination with substance abuse disorders. We must provide appropriate counseling strategies by demonstrating the ability to modify counseling systems, theories, interventions when necessary and specific techniques that will work with the client. For example, if a client came to a clinic presenting with bipolar disorder and was self-medicating...
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...Assessment Task 2 Research and ethical application (Case Vignettes) Case 1: Kevin 1. The ethical standard or principle, legislation and provide reference/s Australian Counselling Association - Code of Ethics and Practice 3.4 Confidentiality (a) Confidentiality is a means 3.6 Exceptional Circumstances (a) Exceptional circumstances may arise which give the counsellor goof grounds for believing that serious harm may occur to the client or to other people. In such circumstance the client’s consent to change in the agreement about confidentiality should be sought whenever possible unless there are also goof grounds for believing the client is no longer willing or able to take responsibility for his actions. Normally, the decision to break confidentiality should be discussed with the client and should be mad eonly after consultation with the counselling supervisor or if he/she not available, an experienced counsellor. (b) Any disclosure of confidential information should be restricted to relevant information, conveyed only to appropriate people and for appropriate reasons likely to alleviate the exceptional circumstances. The ethical considerations include achieving a balance between acting in the best interests of the client and the counsellor’s responsibilities under the law and to the wider community. (c) While counsellors hold different views about grounds for breaking confidentiality, such as potential self-harm, suicide, and harm to others they must also consider...
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... PCN 505 Professional Ethics in Counseling Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships In the Counseling field, Counselors will encounter many instances of boundary issues. These types issues will occur when practitioners establish more than one relationship with clients. These relationships can be come professional, personal and work related. In our field of work, boundary issues will occur when mental health professionals encounter a potential or actual conflict in the professional, personal an or business relationship. A prime example of this boundary crossing/dual relationship is when a client is also a business associate, close friend, or family member of the therapist. In this situation, It would become difficult when conflicts arise for the therapist to look at things in an objective fashion. The therapist must attempt to evaluate the conflicts using the Ethical Decision Making Model. In the Ethical Decision making model, Zur, O (2011), the therapist must evaluate the situation by giving clear and accurate facts, and gather information and questions about boundary and dual relations. The therapist must determine how the relationship will affect him/her professionally, personally, and in the business setting. The therapist must also look at how to objectively remain neutral and attempt...
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...divide the boundaries of gift giving within the helping industry. The value of the gift must be considered, the policies of the agency that a helper is employed by as well as the expectations that could potentially be attached to that gift. Some agencies have policies that avoid this dilemma all together and state absolutely no gifts will be given or received from clients. Other agencies will state that in order to avoid any insults or culture disrespect, a helper is allowed to receive a gift and ensure the client that the agency thanks them and the gift will be shared with the staff. Gifts from clients can have many or no strings attached. Some gifts come genuinely from the heart and are simply a cultural way of thanking someone for their help. Other clients however could have an ulterior motive behind the gift and consider the acceptance of the gift from the helper an indication that their relationship just took a step in a different direction. Whether or not a helper has permission to accept a gift, they must have the knowledge and capability to identify the boundaries of each client and the gift. In the revised version of the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, it states in section A.10.f. “Counselors understand the challenges of accepting gifts from clients and recognize that in some cultures, small gifts are a token of respect and gratitude. When determining whether to accept a gift from clients, counselors take into account the therapeutic relationship, the monetary...
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