Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics

The purpose of this Code is to establish and maintain standards of professional practice for Intimacy Counselling. It is intended to protect members of the public seeking their services. Intimacy Counselling staff accept their responsibilities to clients, colleagues, the Association, agencies and the wider Community.

Counselling involves the formation of professional relationships based on ethical values and principles. Therapists seek to assist clients with increasing their understanding of themselves and their relationships with others, developing more resourceful ways of living, and to bring about positive change in their lives. Counselling includes relationships formed with individuals, couples, families, groups, communities and organisations.

Intimacy Counselling staff work to understand and be informed about the meanings and implications of the Treaty of Waitangi and New Zealand law for their work. When working internationally Intimacy Counselling will endeavour to understand and be informed about the meanings and implications of any cultural, religious and legal implications of the client’s residence for their work.

Staff at Intimacy Counselling follow the ethics outlined by the NZPS to the best of their ability:

https://www.psychology.org.nz/members/professional-resources/code-ethics

1. CORE VALUES OF COUNSELLING

Intimacy Counselling and its staff have a series of core values that they embrace as essential to their work.

These include;

a. respect for every individual

b. preservation of human dignity

c. ethical caring

d. personal integrity

e. working as a partnership

f. social justice

2. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF COUNSELLING

The following principles are expressions of these core values in action. They form the foundation for ethical practice.

Therapists shall:

1. Act with care and respect for individual and cultural differences and the diversity of human experience.

2. Avoid doing harm in all their professional work.

3. Actively support the principles embodied in the Treaty of Waitangi.

4. Respect the confidences with which they are entrusted.

5. Promote the safety and well-being of individuals, families, communities, whanau, hapu and iwi.

6. Seek to increase the range of choices and opportunities for clients.

7. Be honest and trustworthy in all their professional relationships.

8. Practice within the scope of their competence.

9. Treat colleagues and other professionals with respect.

3. THE COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIP

Safety

(a) Therapists shall take all reasonable steps to protect clients from harm.

(b) Therapists shall, in their professional practice, take responsible action to challenge violence and abuse of power.

(d) Therapists shall warn third parties and appropriate authorities when there is considered a serious threat to health and safety. For more information see:

https://www.intimacycounseling.co.nz/privacy-and-security

Respecting Diversity and Promoting Social Justice

(a) Therapists shall take account of their own cultural identity and biases, and seek to limit any harmful impact of these in their work with clients, and should work towards bi-cultural competence.

(c) Therapists shall learn about and take account of the diverse cultural contexts and practices of the clients with whom they work, and shall be committed to the equitable provision of counselling services to all individuals and social groups.

(d) Therapists shall avoid discriminating against clients on the basis of their race, colour, disability, ethnic group, culture, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, religious or political beliefs or on any other basis.

(e) Therapists shall work with clients in ways that are meaningful in the context of, and respectful towards, the clients’ cultural communities.

(f) Therapists shall support their clients to challenge the injustices they experience.

(g) Therapists shall promote social justice through advocacy and empowerment.

Appropriateness / Suitability of Therapist

Therapists shall determine, in consultation with the client, whether they are appropriate to provide the therapy. Where necessary and feasible, therapists shall refer clients to other therapists who would be more appropriate by reason of their skills, gender or culture or for any other reason indicated by the clients’ needs.

Clear Contracts

The terms on which therapy is provided shall be clear and reasonable. Contracts negotiated between therapists and clients may include matters to do with availability, fees, cancelled appointments, the degree of confidentiality offered, handling of documentation, complaint procedures and other significant matters. Therapists shall establish with clients the aims or purposes of counselling and renegotiate them as necessary.

Informed Consent

(a) Therapists shall provide services to clients in the context of free and informed consent. Informed implies understanding and free consent implies a lack of pressure. Therapists shall respect clients’ rights to refuse or withdraw consent at any time.

(b) Therapists shall use clear and understandable language to discuss with clients the purposes, risks, limits and costs of the counselling.

(c) Therapists shall take all reasonable steps to safeguard the interests and rights of clients with limited or diminished capacity to give informed consent. Where relevant, this needs to be done in partnership with caregivers.

(d) Therapists should respect the rights of children: to receive age appropriate information and to give consent on their own behalf, commensurate with their capacity to do so.

(e) Therapists shall inform clients, where relevant, of the availability of government funding for counselling services.

Fees

(a) Therapists shall clarify fees and methods of payments with clients at the beginning of a counselling relationship, ensuring that fees are reasonable and commensurate with the service provided.

(b) Therapists should be cautious about accepting goods or services from clients in lieu of payment. Therapists who do accept goods or services from clients as payment for professional services are responsible for demonstrating that this arrangement will not be detrimental to the client or to the professional relationship.

Documentation of Counselling

“Documentation” in this code refers to all material about the client or about the counselling, recorded in any form (electronic, audio, visual and text.) Documentation includes material collected for the purposes of: enhancing counseling practice; and meeting the requirements of research, accountability, appraisal, audit and evaluation.

(a) Therapists shall maintain records in sufficient detail to track the sequence and nature of professional services provided. Such records shall be maintained in a manner consistent with ethical practice taking into account statutory, regulatory, agency or institutional requirements.

(b) Therapists shall obtain informed consent from clients when writing reports for third parties.

(c) Therapists shall keep records and notes secure. They shall create, maintain, transfer and arrange to destroy them in a manner compliant with the requirements of the law.

(d) Therapists shall inform clients of their right to access their documentation, to know how this information is being kept and to know who has access to it.

(e) Therapists shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that documentation remains retrievable as long as is professionally prudent, or as is required by law.

(f) Therapists are encouraged to ensure policies are in place for the safe and confidential storage and eventual destruction of client notes, in the event of the counsellor ceasing to practice, leaving the employing agency, or the therapist dying.

Respectful Language

Therapists shall use appropriate and respectful language in all communications, verbal and written, to and about clients.

Maintaining Competent Practice

Therapists shall maintain their competence through regular supervision, undertake appropriate professional development activities, and work within the limits of their knowledge, training and experience.

Fitness to Practice

Therapists staff, together with their supervisors, shall monitor and maintain their fitness to practice at a level that enables them to provide an effective service, and shall withdraw from part or all of their therapy practice while their emotional, mental or physical health is significantly impaired.

Multiple Relationships

(a) Therapists assume full responsibility for setting and monitoring the boundaries between a therapy relationship with a client and any other kind of relationship with that client and for making such boundaries as clear as possible to the client.

(b) Therapists should consult with their supervisor(s) when dual or multiple relationships arise.

(c) When dealing with more than one party, therapists should be even handed when responding to the needs, concerns and interests of each party.

(d) When therapists agree to provide counseling to two or more persons who have a relationship, therapists shall clarify which person or persons are clients and the nature of the relationship the therapists will have with each person, and keep each person’s confidentiality to the best of their ability.

(e) Therapists should declare any previous acquaintance with a client or any other circumstances that may prejudice the therapy.

(f) If conflicting roles with clients emerge during therapy, therapists must clarify, adjust or withdraw from these roles by an appropriate process.

Sexual and Other Inappropriate Relationships with Clients

(a) All staff shall not engage in sexual or romantic activity with their clients.

(b) Staff shall not exploit the potential for intimacy made possible in the therapy relationship, even after the therapy has ended.

(d) Intimacy Counselling staff shall not provide counselling to persons with whom they have had a sexual or romantic relationship.

Referrals

Intimacy Counselling staff shall refer clients on when other specialised knowledge is needed, or when the therapy is not being useful. They will only make referrals and disclose information to colleagues/other services with the clients permission. Intimacy Counselling staff should be able to verify the competence and integrity of persons to whom clients are referred, and neither ask or accept money or gifts for referrals.

Interruption of Services

Intimacy Counselling staff should make reasonable efforts to plan for alternative care in the event that counselling services are interrupted by a significant change in circumstances, such as the therapist becoming unavailable, sickness, bereavement, and assisting others.

Ending Counselling

Intimacy Counselling staff shall work with clients to end counseling. They will stop working with clients when they have received the help they sought, or when it is apparent that counselling is no longer helpful.

4. CONFIDENTIALITY

Extent of Confidentiality

(a) Therapists shall treat all communication between therapist and client as confidential and privileged information, unless the client gives consent to particular information being disclosed.

(b) Therapists may discuss, in supervision, information received in counselling as part of the normal management of confidentiality in a way that protects the clients identity.

(c) Therapists should take all reasonable steps to communicate clearly the extent and limits of the confidentiality they offer clients.

(d) Therapists shall protect clients’ identities when information gained from counselling relationships is used for purposes such as counsellor training, research or audit.

(e) Intimacy Counselling staff shall respect confidentiality of the clients of colleagues.

(f) Therapists should establish procedures to ensure the ongoing management of client confidentiality in the event of the therapist's death.

(g) Any agreement between the therapist and client about confidentiality may be reviewed and changed by joint negotiation.

Exceptions to Confidentiality:

(a) Therapists shall only make exceptions to confidentiality in order to reduce risk.

(b) When counsellors need to pass on confidential information, they should provide only the minimum information necessary and only then to those people to whom it is absolutely necessary.

• There is serious danger in the immediate or foreseeable future to the client or others,

• The client’s competence to make a decision is impaired,

• Legal requirements demand that confidential material be revealed,

• Responding to a complaint about counseling practice.

(d) Wherever possible, the decision to make an exception to confidentiality is made:

• After seeking the client’s co-operation, unless doing so would further compromise the safety of the client or others,

• After consultation with a supervisor.

Confidentiality and the Law

(a) Therapists are encouraged to seek legal advice about their rights and obligations under the law, when the counsellor’s work with clients involves contact with the legal system.

(b) When issued with a search warrant or subpoena to give evidence in Court, or other legal processes, therapists should pursue the status of privileged communication, in accordance with the client’s wishes, until all legal avenues have been exhausted.

5. RESPONSIBILITY TO COLLEAGUES AND THE COUNSELLING PROFESSION

Responsibility to Colleagues

(a) Therapists should treat colleagues with respect, fairness and honesty.

(b) Therapists shall not solicit clients away from other counsellors.

(c) Therapists shall avoid establishing a professional relationship with clients of other counsellors without appropriate communication with the counsellor or agency concerned.

Responsibility to the Profession

(a) Therapists shall uphold and foster the values, integrity and ethics of the profession.

(b) Therapists should participate in the activities of the profession.

(c) Therapists are encouraged to devote a proportion of their professional activity to services for which there is little or no financial return.

(d) Therapists shall represent honestly and accurately their membership status, qualifications, training and competencies.

Collaboration with Counseling Colleagues and Other Professions

(a) Therapists should endeavour to achieve good working relationships and communication with other professionals in order to enhance services to clients.

(b) Therapists should be respectful and mindful of confidentiality in all communications with other professionals about clients.

(d) Therapists working in a team with other professionals should seek respect for counselling ethics from the team.

6. RELATIONSHIP WITH EMPLOYERS, FUNDING AGENCIES AND THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Counsellors and the Law

(a) Intimacy Counselling staff shall work within the laws of New Zealand.

(b) Intimacy Counselling staff shall notify the appropriate services when they are convicted of a serious offence (being either any offence under the Crimes Act or an offence under any other statute that carries a potential sentence of six months imprisonment or more).

Relationship with Employers and Third Party Funders

(a) Therapists should adhere to and uphold the ethics of the profession and should avoid compromising them in the face of institutional requirements.

(b) Therapists shall be honest and trustworthy in dealings with employers and third party funders.

(c) Therapists shall endeavour to build healthy working relationships and systems of communication with employers and third party funders in order to enhance services to clients.

(d) Therapists are encouraged to contribute to policy development and seek to maintain and improve the quality of service in their work setting.

(e) Therapists should promote equal employment opportunity policies in their work settings.

Professional Supervision

The purpose of professional supervision is for therapists to reflect on and develop effective and ethical practice. It also has a monitoring purpose with regard to therapists’ work. Supervision includes personal support, mentoring, professional identity development and reflection upon the relationships between persons, theories, practices, work contexts and cultural perspectives.

Professional supervision is a partnership. It is a contractual, collaborative and confidential process, based upon informed consent. Professional supervision may take a number of forms, including individual or group supervision and may involve telephone, email and letters. It may be live or may be based on personal recall, notes, videotapes, audiotapes, transcripts or client’s creative works.

Professional Supervision Arrangements

(a) The frequency of supervision shall be in relation to workload and relative to the experience of the counsellor. The recommended guideline is that while working full-time, the therapist averages one hour of supervision per fortnight.

(b) Therapists should seek supervision from a person who is not in a position of authority over them.

(c) Therapists should seek cultural consultation to support their work with persons who have different cultural backgrounds from their own.

(d) Therapists and supervisors shall be jointly responsible for establishing a supervision contract, which should be regularly reviewed and time-limited.

Responsibilities in Professional Supervision

(a) Therapists shall be responsible for:

• Selecting and taking to supervision relevant aspects of their work and their personal functioning.

(b) Supervisors shall be responsible for:

• Assisting therapists to explore and address their professional practice,

• Helping therapists to monitor their competence, safety and fitness to practice._ disclosing concerns about the therapist's work to the therapist, before taking further action.

• Maintaining the boundaries between supervision and other relationships the supervisor may have with the counsellor.

• Distinguishing between supervision relationships and other professional or personal relationships.

• Identifying when the therapist needs to seek counselling for personal concerns.

Competence in Professional Supervision

(a) Supervisors should actively participate in professional education in supervision.

(b) Supervisors should participate in ongoing professional development.

(d) Supervisors should take into account limitations to their competence and suggest consultations and referrals when appropriate.

Speaking, Writing and Research

Research is defined here as any activity in which counselling practice is written about, spoken about in public, or recorded for purposes other than to benefit the client. It includes the writing of assignments about counselling by students in counsellor training programmes, the recording of counselling interviews for demonstration purposes, the use of case studies in articles and books, institutional data collection, and any planned research studies into counselling practice or client concerns. No identifying information will be used.

Value of Research

(a) Therapists should promote and facilitate evaluation and research in order to inform and develop counselling practice.

(b) Therapists should limit the demands of any research exercise to what can be justified in terms of benefit to individuals or the community.

Informed Consent

(a) Therapists shall provide research participants with sufficient information about the purpose and nature of the research to enable informed consent to be freely given. This information shall include the right to withdraw.

(b) Therapists shall obtain consent from research participants for how personal information will be used. This consent will be obtained without inducement or coercion.

Confidentiality

Therapists shall protect the privacy and respect the confidences of research participants.

Conflict of Interest

When research purposes may conflict with therapy purposes, therapists should ensure that the therapy relationship is given priority.

Respect for Diversity

Therapists should carefully design, carry out and write up research in a way that promotes cultural sensitivity and respect for difference. They should avoid contributing to the marginalisation or objectification of any people.

Institutional Requirements

Therapists should familiarise themselves with and adhere to institutional requirements governing research work they undertake. This includes seeking prior ethical approval where relevant.

Acknowledgment

Therapists should give due credit through joint authorship, acknowledgement, footnotes, sharing resources, or other appropriate means to those who have contributed significantly to any research publication to the best of their recall and ability.

Reporting

Therapists should report research results fairly and accurately.

Counselling and Electronic Communication

This section refers to any counselling practices that occur when clients and therapists are in separate or remote locations and utilise electronic means to communicate, such as email, fax, telephone, voicemail, video conferences, web messages and instant messages.

a. Intimacy Counselling will provide information to clients about the limitations and risks of online counselling if requested.

b. Intimacy Counselling will take reasonable precautions to ensure the privacy of clients. However, as electronic communication comes with risks Intimacy Counselling will inform clients of these risks and the limitations of Intimacy Counselling.

c. All clients have the right to preserve their anonymity through electronic communication.

d. Intimacy Counselling will disclose their identity, professional memberships, qualifications, training, and countries they have worked in.

e. When engaging in online therapy, Intimacy Counselling will establish agreements with clients on online availability, response times, alternative contact methods, the complaints process and legal obligations.

Mediation

Prior Knowledge

In mediation, Intimacy Counselling staff shall disclose any prior interest or relationship that might affect partiality.

Impartiality

Intimacy counselling management should conduct mediation in a fair, impartial and even-handed manner. They respect and uphold the rights of all clients.