CN6300 Ethical and Professional Practice
Unit Description
Pre-requisites
CN5100
CN5200
Co-requisites
None.Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to:
Examine and articulate the policy, legislative and code of practice frameworks that shape professional practice
Formulate responses to counselling challenges, including ethical challenges presented by work with Indigenous and other cross-cultural communities, incorporating Christian ideas and professional requirements
Understand the importance of ethics in shaping counselling practice, administration, supervision and professional roles
Describe how critical-reflection and reflective-practice can sustain ongoing professional development and self-care
Unit Description
This unit explores the theory and practice of ethics in counselling. It seeks to position counselling ethics within a broader framework of Christian ethics more generally and the importance of listening to diverse stakeholder voices and engaging in particular dialog with them including listening to Indigenous and minority voices.
The unit gives attention to issues such as confidentiality, duty of care, mandatory reporting, dual relationships, working with minors, dependency, safety for minorities and Indigenous Australians and spiritual abuse among others. These specific matters will be framed within wider considerations of professionalism and Christian vocation as well as the context of professional ethical codes of conduct and the legal requirements for counsellors in Australia. The obligations of the practitioner and the profession to the wider community will also be considered.
Finally, the unit introduces students to the benefits and hazards of Telehealth, the use of online systems for client management and record-keeping and the implications of these developments for the client-therapist relationship.
Ethical and Professional Practice is an important pre-requisite for student placement later in the course.
Topics
- What are ethics?
- Morals vs Ethics
- Codes of Ethics
- Foundations of Christian ethics
- Ethics and personhood
- Confidentiality, safety issues and mandatory reporting
- Boundary Issues: What are boundaries in counselling?
- Boundary Issues: Dual Relationships and Sexual Issues
- Boundary Issues: Interdependence vs. Dependency
- Ethics and Working Across Cultures: “Listening to Strangers”
- Legal Issues for those who Counsel
- Professional Competence and Self-Care
- Ethics for working online
Unit offerings
Face to face: (Demand based)Please note
The Unit Offerings listed above are a guide only and the timetable for any year is the final authority. The College may vary offerings based on demand, regulatory requirements, continual improvement processes or other conditions.
This unit may be available in different modes of delivery i.e. online and face-to-face as listed above. The unit content will not differ between these modes of delivery. There will possibly be a difference in the schedule and/or the prescribed assessment tasks, however both will cover and assess the same content.