Reference no: EM133488864

Question

The most common legal issues faced by counselors are but are not limited to; fraudulent billing for counseling services, boundary violations, etc. (Groh, 2023). An ethical case I came across applies to the legal issues listed above. The New Hampshire Board of Psychologists suspended psychologist Alethea Young who was trying to help her client who had a challenging home lifestyle and overstepped boundaries to do so (Doyle-Burr, 2018). The article explained how Ms. Young had an emotional attachment to her client and felt for her as she was going through difficult times in her household, specifically with mistreatment from her father. Due to the fact that the young girl was undergoing such hardship, Young decided to let her sleep over her house, because she knew the condition the client's house was in. Young would drive to the client's school to aid her in tutoring, plus having dinner on multiple occasions (Doyle-Burr, 2018). The board declared that the penalty is justified because she violated New Hampshire's Child Protection. While it may not have been intentional it was not her duty to put that girl in harm's way by taking her in and violating numerous ethical codes. On top of creating a personal relationship with her client, the records state Young had billed the client's mother for services that were not counseling-related (Doyle-Burr, 2018). Mandatory for Young to pay the fine of $7,500 plus undergoing numerous amount of hours of education based on professional boundaries, ethics, and so on. I believe that these types of issues can be prevented by asking ethical questions. As soon as the counselor and client state their boundaries and do not give the space to create ones personal bond outside of the office. It can do more harm than good. Also, understanding this is someone's life and having the counselor interfere with one's life thinking that they are helping when in fact they are making matters worse. A counselor needs to create the foundation of boundaries, understanding this is nothing more than a counselor and client relationship and not putting any client's life in harm's way.