Managing Boundaries and Multiple Relationships in Counseling Psychology



Managing Boundaries and Multiple Relationships in Counseling Psychology

Introduction

Counseling is essentially a professional theory based practice, in which the professional engages in conversations, mostly face to face, with their patients. A counselor inherently aims to resolve the many personal, social and vocational problems of their clients. The counselor guides and advises its clients towards a healthier, fitter and happier life. Similarly, a coach can be a mentor, fitness coach, public speaking coach, financial coach etc. Though, coaching is comparatively dissimilar from counseling. Its fundamental difference lies in its objectives, coaching pursues methods, means and direction towards successful completion of distinguished objective. Moreover, counseling practice provides advice to a counselee to get a perspective on their life problems, and finding ways to overcome it (Blocher, 2000, pp. 110-40).

In recent years, an additional key component of training and supervision in counseling psychology has been the development of knowledge and skills needed to work effectively with diverse clients, particularly important for professionals who work with clients with racial, ethnic, cultural, and class backgrounds different from their own. There is little research that directly examines the contribution of therapist training and supervision to client outcomes. Still, evidence has accumulated that training focused on developing relationship skills contributes to an increase in the proficiency of trainees. Research has also indicated that supervision focused on the practical development of skills can be particularly effective (Brewer 2005, 23).

Counseling practice accentuates managing boundaries and multiple relationships. As such it is imperative that close attention has to be paid to ethical considerations. This is necessary for sustaining and managing diverse relationships with counsel seeking patients. A professional counselor has to maintain a balance between their life experiences and values; and the ethical codes that they have to adhere to while counseling. Balancing both boundaries and multiple relationships carries factors such as ethics, client needs, and client wants all this must be considered by the counselor within in order to create a fully functioning working relationship.

Whenever one talks about managing relationships, it is often an ethical consideration. Moreover, the ethical issue of confidentiality and observing boundaries when managing multiple and diverse professional relationships in counseling, has been under scholarly discussion since a long time. In counseling, confidentiality plays a pivotal role. The counselor and the counselee have a special relationship based on trust and agreement of confidentiality and non-disclosure. It is primal that this relationship is maintained appropriately. If, the relationship is not maintained properly, it will become an ethical dilemma. It should be made clear enough that the communication between a professional counselor and their clients should not be revealed to anyone, at any cost (Dilworth, 1977). The counselor has to follow professional ethics of confidentiality in counseling. It has been a common practice that every counselor keeps the communication, records, and all the reports of the client confidential, and they do not share any of information to anyone who is directly or indirectly related to the ...