Group Ethics Essay

Ethical issues prevalent in the counseling practice are essential towards ensuring that every person is answerable to their clients. Ethics is a set of guidelines that provide a clearcut path for the human conduct, which enables counselors to act in accordance with their duty framework. Effective, ethical practices serve to influence the way that people behave, thus, providing a clearly distinguished moral map. The creation of a therapy group is a means of curbing the complexities associated with ethical issues in the society. In order to enhance the obedience to the provisions of the ethical standards, a counselor is required to establish a viable environment within which the voluntary consent of particular persons to ethical guidelines could be created (Corey, 2011).
Significance of the study
The performance of group counseling with regards to ethical issues is influenced by the individual member's goals and contributions in the therapeutic session. This paper serves to outline the prevalent ethical issues in today's societies and how personal and group therapies aid in ensuring an ethical and morally upright social set up. The paper further stresses the need for embracing equality in the group and individual counseling to avoid any forms of disagreement. Henceforth, the learner is expected to understand the ethical confines of a therapist to sustain the physical and psychological status of groups and the requisite measures, which do enhance ethically rational interrelations.
Group Ethics
Group therapy occurs in the event when a counselor addresses a multitude of persons on a particular issue, which either party could be interested. According to Corey (2011) the therapist is guided by the code of ethics and follows the guidelines prescribed for the particular moral issue. This situation prompts the counselor to moderate the therapy session in a professional manner. The group members are usually peers ensuing from an appropriate background who tend to be affected by a common issue. The underlying basis of group therapy is the progressive benefit the group members gain by learning about other people's encounters and amending their viewpoints accordingly (Pieterse, 2009). Similarly to individual counseling, group therapy equips the members with vast techniques and selfawareness through which they learn how to tackle prevalent ethical issues in their environment. Constantine (2007) asserts that the ethical issues in group therapy comprise of a vast framework of dual relationships, moral obligations, and privacy boundaries to confidential matters.
The therapist ought to elaborate to the group specific ethical questions to ensure that professional conduct is maintained throughout the therapeutic session. Vera (2003) advises that the understanding of the therapistclient relationship is critical towards deciding on the best assessment methodology for tackling the group specific issues while focusing on overall achievement of preset goals. However, Pieterse (2009) argues that cultural diversity is usually eminent in group setups and necessitates a rational psychological conduct towards appreciating the member's ideological differences (Kiselica, 2001). The purpose of both individual and group counseling is well exhibited during the handling of ethical issues unique to humanistic therapy processes as discussed in the paper.