Ethics, Legal, Healthcare Regulation & Compliance

How to manage sexualized transference

Stigma, fear and a lack of training cause many counselors to feel unprepared and vulnerable when faced with sexualized transference.

Reducing the occupational hazard of sexual boundary violations

Counselors can decrease their risk for sexual boundary violations, but first they have to talk about it.

The loss of our ‘humanness’

By remaining clinically objective, do counselors inadvertently sacrifice the client’s humanity?

Confidentiality comes first: Navigating parent involvement with minor clients

Counselors must strike a balance between maintaining young clients’ confidentiality and accommodating parents who want to be kept in the loop about their child’s progress in therapy.

The unacknowledged stigma of mental illness

Stigma surrounding mental illness may linger as the elephant in the room and negatively affect client outcomes if counselors don’t recognize and address it in session.

Pro bono counseling: How to make it work

Counseling clients for a reduced fee or for free – pro bono – in a private practice setting comes with some ethical caveats.

Counseling termination and new beginnings

The end of the counseling relationship can be emotional for clients and counselors alike, but when done well, the process can serve as a tool to empower clients and prepare them for continued personal growth.

Counselor self-disclosure: Encouragement or impediment to client growth?

Self-disclosure can establish trust and strengthen the bond between counselor and client, but the trick is knowing when it is (and isn’t) an appropriate tool to use.

Why can’t we be friends?

If clients want to return to counseling, or to transition from a therapeutic relationship to a friendship, the right and responsibility to renew or reinvent the relationship should be theirs alone.

Attending to countertransference

The idea of countertransference — the counselor’s unconscious feelings that emerge as a result of working with the client — is most often attributed to Sigmund Freud