Blog 8

Ethics is always a big topic to talk about in the field of counseling.  One wrong move and someone could lose their license just like that.  I have gone through many classes that talk about the ethical side of counseling.  It is always interesting to hear and is very important.  I think that we talked about it so much in my undergrad because my professors recognized the importance of following everything by the book.  But sometimes ethics get twisted in the real world.  In the Code of Ethics, it says to do no harm to the client, but then Brown (2012) says that “doing no harm requires that counselors develop knowledge of the cultural backgrounds and worldviews of their clients…” (p. 82).  Some counselors do not always know the cultural backgrounds of all their clients and then they still try to use the same techniques that they were taught and can potentially harm the client without realizing it.  So for some of those counselors that do that, it is not that they are purposefully breaking the ethics code, but they are just trying their best to help the client that comes through their door.  Now after the counselor sees a client for the first time, they either should ask them about cultural differences or at least after the session they look up their cultural identity.  However, sometimes if the counselor doesn’t ask about their cultural identity and they look up stuff based on their name, skin color, or the way that they look, the counselor could be wrong.  That person might have grown up with Eurocentric mentality instead of where their family came from.  Overall, it is really important to ask about cultural identity because you never know what kind of culture they come from. 

            When looking at the article online (Metacognition and Multicultural Competence Expanding the Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model), it showed the importance of culture in the lives of the client and how it can affect career choice.  Culture has a big part in the lives of people and counselors need to work around this to accommodate every kind of person.   It is also important to know the client’s culture so that no harm will come to them like I had noted earlier.  Counselors and clients need to think about their thinking to help come up with affective goals to help someone in need.  For culture being so important in the lives of clients, counselors and the Code of Ethics, we a counselors and future counselors need to know about different cultures and how they work in everyday life. 

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10^th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Byars-Winston, A. M., & Fouad, N. A. (2006). Metacognition and multicultural competence: Expanding the culturally appropriate career counseling model. The Career Development Quarterly, 54, 187-201. Retrieved from https://millersville.desire2learn.com/d2l/lms/content/ viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=750610&tId=5560167