Ethical Issues in Counseling Religious Clients

While the mental health profession's acceptance of cultural diversity has been commendable with regard to race, gender, and ethnicity, it has not extended this acceptance adequately to the religious client: counselors have failed to adhere to the American Counseling Association's Code of E...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Gardner, Jim N
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published 1996
Subjects
Codes of Ethics
Counseling
Counseling Objectives
Counselor Attitudes
Counselor Client Relationship
Helping Relationship
Minority Groups
Religious Cultural Groups
Religious Discrimination
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Summary:While the mental health profession's acceptance of cultural diversity has been commendable with regard to race, gender, and ethnicity, it has not extended this acceptance adequately to the religious client: counselors have failed to adhere to the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics when working with this particular population. There are many ethical issues involved in counseling the religious client, and it is imperative that counseling professionals be aware of these issues and regulate their practices to conform to ethical guidelines so that they may most ethically and effectively meet the special needs of their clients. The paper concludes with a set of ethical guidelines for use in counselor education programs and which counselors should follow when working with religious clients. Guidelines include: refer clients with widely divergent values from the counselor's; avoid using therapy as a context for evangelistic activities in promoting a particular cause; collaborate with clients regarding therapy goals that fit their needs; and try to integrate the clients' treatments with the clients' religious beliefs. Contains 22 references. (TS)