Ethics and Professional Practice

Introduction

Professionals, in the line of duty, come across situations that demand high levels of competence. High levels of competence are useful in providing satisfying services to the clients. One of the areas that demand a high quality of service is when addressing personal life issues or health concerns. It is, therefore, advisable that medical staff and other clinical practitioners maintain high standards code of conduct. When dealing with clients with medical complications it is always ethical to keep these medical ethics to the letter. Each country or state has its set codes of ethics that regulate the medical sector, for instance, the American Medical Association since 1847 put in place nine codes of medical ethics that govern the association between the medical specialist and their clients. Among them code of conduct in chapter three should be highly honored and strictly adhered to, this is the “Ethics of Privacy, Confidentiality, and Medical Records.” Similarly, for counselors, it is essential to observe this code of ethics on confidentiality on client’s information, which is crucial in building trust with the clients and thus fostering thoughtful decision making and in turn achieve improve care. Acting in a manner that maintains the client’s information in confidentiality is an essential aspect that defines ethics and professionalism in practice and a true picture of competence in counseling.

In this context, we need to understand the present-day regulation that has been put in place by the Canadian drug legislation. This will enable counselors to understand how to address issues of drug abuse as competently presented to them. It is also essential to get well informed on the ethics of practice that have been formulated by the Canadian bodies and thus get better at addressing Tina’s case and achieve the best outcome at the end of the practice. Tina is a young adult who has turned 18 years the other day, but she has succumbed to a complicated situation that makes her life miserable. Since the departure of her parents due to a financial crisis at home, she has been living with her aunt whom she feels they do not relate well. After a while, she moves to the street, where she joins youth gangs who are involved in criminal behaviors. Although she has an interest in schooling she is troubled as conditions do not allow, because they sell and use illegal drugs with other street teens. This activity has made them arrested by the police and subjected them to a sentence. It is after the arrest that she is found pregnant, which she confesses not to understand the person responsible for the pregnancy as sometimes she has been exchanging sex for drugs.

This is the first time that Tina is arrested. The judge sentences her to severe 12-months probation, order to refrain from any use of a substance or any involvement in the crime. Further, the judge orders Tina to attend an intensive treatment service related to her substance abuse and lastly avoid contact with any youth she had been living with. This is the reason why she comes to me as a counselor to seek guidelines on the right path to follow and help her recover from the current situation. However, upon arrival, she seems shy and mostly stares at the floor offering little responses to the questions asked. However, after a while, following confirmation that nothing she shares will be passed without her consent and that the session is confidential she starts to speak up (Remley & Herlihy, 2014). In her statements, she confesses a daily poly on substance abuse for the past two months, with the intensity escalating so fast.

The escalation of the excessive consumption of substances leads to addiction. There is no single definition that can be used to describe addiction, however, based on biopsychosocial and trauma-informed addiction is described as a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon. This can be understood in terms of biological, psychological processes, sociocultural and spiritual influences. These influences are a result of substance use or misuse, which result in bad behaviors such as sex, eating, and gambling. Primarily, addiction is the overarching tendency towards compulsive behaviors, which results in social problems affecting individuals and society at large. Alternatively, the aspect of trauma-informed addiction focuses on understanding the trauma-related issues, when addressing addiction treatment for clients. This aspect focus on the Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) which provides the best services to clients in terms of interventions and treatment issues (VandeMark et al., 2004). The ultimate goal of this strategy is to provide primary care to clients and communities who have a history of trauma, act as service providers in the criminal justice, and those engaged in substance abuse just like the case of Tina.

Not forgetting that Tina is not willing to share her story with any outsider, we need to keep the highest degree of confidentiality on all the information she provides. As a counselor, it is key to ensure that all the clients’ information is maintained as a secret between you and them. Otherwise, sharing the information with other parties, even the family members without the client's consent is unethical. Throughout the entire process, it is important to ensure that the discussion on the substance use disorder, prevention, and treatment is maintained between the governing client and the counselor. This is following the principles and professional ethics that control the behavior of a person when acting towards other people. In this effort, Tina builds confidence and trust in the counselor, becomes more transparent giving light on how her condition can be handled correctly.

Counselors at times face perplexing situations. These situations or circumstances require decisions that are almost equally acceptable or demanding unfavorable choices. This situation is referred to as a dilemma, however, an ethical dilemma is a conflicting condition based on moral standards or imperatives. It is the duty of a counselor to ensure that the decision made aligns with the universal moral principles and that at the end of the process the clients get the necessary freedom to self-determining, zero harm to clients, and thus promote health and wellness of the clients (Banks, 2016). Additionally, clients demand justice in service, fidelity, and more essentially the truthfulness when interacting with clients. When these codes of conduct are well observed then the clients are promised and sure of no dilemma in the decision-making process.

A dilemma is presented by Tina when presenting her case to the counselor. Even though the counselor is willing to help her recover from this condition of addiction Tina, confirms that she experiences more positives from the use of Marijuana. Adding to the same she is pregnant and the use of drugs for pregnant women is illegal. She is still in the period of probation and takes all risks to get cannabis for herself. Keeping this for myself as a counselor might not help Tina fully, also telling the Probation Officer and the Support Worker, on her behavior might also fail.  First, she is so much concerned about her confidentiality, therefore passing any information without her consent is breaching the ethical code of conduct (Barnett, 2019). Therefore, to solve this dilemma it is essential to apply professional skills and knowledge and thus respond effectively to clients' concerns. In order to solve this dilemma, it would be wise if the counselor gets involved in supervision and peer consultation, as some of the key methods that are used by counselors in clarifying concerns on treatment questions.

There is a need to address Tina’s condition and achieve positive outcomes. Although she is resistant to change, some good procedures and protocols can be used to bring about good results. In order to achieve this fact, it is essential to first address the reasons that led to this behavior. Achieving positive results can be used as a measure of competence in practice. This practice should carefully consider some of the Canadian ethical considerations, they are determinants and show concern for human conduct and moral decision making, which encourages individuals to do only what is right (Cohen, 2016). Now that Tina portrays some unique characteristics of addiction, the best code of conduct should be maintained when handling her case. At all costs, the counselor should avoid all unethical counseling behaviors such as violation of confidentiality, negligence in practice, claim of expertise one does not possess, or sometimes imposing one’s values on a client. Additionally, it is always critical to ensure no sexual harassment with the clients or engage in conflicts with clients. Getting a robust understanding of these codes of conduct is the beginning step of solving the problem that is facing Tina.

After the year 2018, Canada resolved that cannabis should be legalized. This is a substance of use that was highly abused across the country. Possession of the drug was under high regulation by the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act (CDSA), with set penalties on individuals who were found possessing, distributing, and selling of the drug apart from other illicit substances. Individuals who possessed marijuana would be convicted and recorded as criminal offenders since marijuana was not an officially approved drug in Canada. Not until in 2018, when this drug was legalized in the country and the change in this legislation, making almost every individual show some concern about the decision achieved. Below are some of the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana (Mönckeberg, 2014).

Pros	Cons
The legalization was a boost to the economy, boosting the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)	Marijuana is found to be unsafe, despite the benign reputation. Its intake has been discovered to damage the developing brain, especially for young adults.
Regulation of this drug makes its usage safer, this is through the elimination of fear that could result in intake and intake of poisonous drugs.	Now, after legalization, there is increased usage among the teens, who are adversely affected.
The legalization of cannabis has led to a decline in the number of substance use crime cases. This process has generally resulted in the elimination of marijuana-related arrests. Also, the police get other jobs to seek more violent and dangerous criminals.	Cannabis use when driving has the potential to cause accidents, as drivers under this drug are just under influence in the same way as those under alcohol.

 

 

 

 

References

Banks, S. (2016). Everyday ethics in professional life: Social work as ethics work. Ethics and Social Welfare, 10(1), 35-52.

Barnett, J. E. (2019). The ethical practice of psychotherapy: Clearly within our reach. Psychotherapy, 56(4), 431.

Cohen, A. I. (2016). Ethics and professional practice. In Practicing Professional Ethics in Economics and Public Policy (pp. 237-244). Springer, Dordrecht.

Mönckeberg, B. F. (2014). Pros and cons of legalizing marijuana. Revista chilena de pediatria, 85(2), 229-237.

Remley, T. P., & Herlihy, B. (2014). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

VandeMark, N., Fallot, R., Brown, V., Cadiz, S., & Heckman, J. (2004). Enhancing substance abuse recovery through integrated trauma treatment.