INTRODUCTION

Ethics mean moral principles that control or influence a persons behaviour a

philosophical discipline that is concerned with human conduct and moral decision
making. According to Akinade (2005) ethics are normative in nature and focus on
principles and standard that governs relationships between individuals, such as
counsellors and clients.
Aluede et al. (2004) observed that although guidance and counselling service is a
relatively new educational delivery service in Nigerias educational system, one may be
tempted to think differently because any child born in 1959, the year guidance and
counselling is known to have begun in Nigeria would no longer be regarded as an
adolescent or a youth. He/she would be full of all maturity and experience to be
expected to play very vital role in the society.
Omotoso (2008) noted that at present, Counselling Association of Nigeria is yet to come
up with categorical, well articulated and widely publicized statements that detail a broad
range of practical standards for ethical professional practices that reflect core values of
this profession. Such ethical codes for counsellors as ethical value and pragmatic
standards which highlight the importance of operating in ways that respect the dignity
and worth of the persons served by counsellors (Pack-Brown et al., 2008).
There are a number of ethical and legal considerations to be made by any person
functioning in the capacity of a counsellor. Lack of awareness or misunderstanding of
an ethical standard is not itself a defence to a charge of unethical conduct. Due to the
relatively recent origin of counselling in Nigeria, not much practical experience has been
gained regarding the relationship that exist between the law and the counselling
function in the situation. This study derives much facts from the ethics of American
(APA, 2003; BACP, 2002).
Ethical consideration: Counsellors are committed to increasing scientific and
professional knowledge of behaviour and peoples understanding of themselves and
others and to the use of such knowledge to prove the condition of individuals,
organizations and society. Counsellors respect and protect civil and human rights and
the central importance of freedom of enquiry and expression in research, teaching and
publication.
They strive to help the public in developing informed judgments and choices concerning
human behaviuour. In doing so, they perform many roles, such as researcher, educator,
diagnostician, therapist, supervisor, consultant, administrator, social interventionist and
expert witness. Ethics code provides a common set of principles and standards upon
which counsellors build their professional and scientific work.
This ethic code is intended to provide specific standards to cover most situations
encountered by counsellors. It has as its goals the welfare and protection of the
individuals and groups with whom counsellors work and the education of members,
students and the public regarding ethical standards of the discipline.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
General principles: General principles are inspirational in nature. Their intent is to
guide and inspire counselors toward the very highest ethical ideals of the profession.
Beneficence and nonmaleficence: Counsellors strive to benefit those with whom they
work and take care to do no harm. In their professional actions, psychologists seek to
safeguard the welfare and rights of those with whom they interact professionally and
other affected persons. When conflicts occur among counsellors obligations or
concerns, they attempt to resolve these conflicts in a responsible fashion that avoids or
minimizes harm. Because counsellors professional judgment and actions may affect
the lives of others, they are alert to and guard against personal, financial, social
organizational or political factors that might lead to misuse of their influence.
Fidelity and responsibility: Counsellors establish relationships of trust with those with
whom they work. They are aware of their professional and scientific responsibilities to
society and to the specific communities in which they work. They uphold professional
standards of conducts, clarify their professional roles and obligations, accept
appropriate responsibility for their behaviour and seek to manage conflicts of interest
that could lead to exploitation or harm.
Counsellors consult with, refer to or cooperate with other professionals and institutions
to the extent needed to serve the best interests of those with whom they work. They are
concerned about the ethical compliance of their colleagues scientific and professional
conduct. Counsellors strive to contribute a portion of their professional time for little or
no compensation or personal advantage.
Integrity: Counsellors seek to promote accuracy, honesty and truthfulness in the
science, teaching and practice of counselling. In these activities, counsellors do not
steal, cheat or engage in fraud, subterfuge or intentional misrepresentations of fact.
Counsellors strive to keep their promises and to avoid unwise or unclear commitments.
In situations in which deception may be ethically justifiable to maximize benefits and
minimize harm, psychologists have a serious obligation to consider the need for the
possible consequences of and their responsibility to correct any resulting mistrust or
other harmful effects that arise from the use of such techniques.
Justice: Conusellors recognize that fairness and justice entitle all persons to benefits
from the contributions of counseling and to equal quality in the processes, procedures
and services being conducted by psychologists. Counsellors exercise reasonable
judgment and take precautions to ensure that their potential biases, the boundaries of
their competence and the limitations of their expertise do not lead to or condone unjust
practices.
Respect for peoples rights and dignity: Counsellors respect the dignity and worth of
all people and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality and self-determination.
Counsellors are aware that special safeguards may be necessary to protect the rights
and welfare of persons or communities whose vulnerabilities impair autonomous
decision-making.
Counsellors are aware of and respect cultural, individual and role differences including
those based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin,
religion, sexual orientation, disability, language and socio economic status and consider
these factors when working with members of such groups. Counsellors try to eliminate
the effect on their work of biases based on those factors and they do not knowingly
participate in or condone activities of others based upon such prejudices.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Personal moral qualities: The practitioners personal moral qualities are of the utmost
importance to clients. Many of the personal qualities considered important in the
provision of services have an ethical or moral component and are therefore considered
as virtues or good personal qualities.
It is inappropriate to prescribe that all practitioners posses these qualities, since it is
concerned and developed out of personal commitment rather than the requirement of
an external authority. Personal qualities to which counsellors and psychotherapists are
strongly encouraged to aspire include:
Empathy: The ability to communicate understanding of another persons experience
from that persons perspective.
Sincerity: A personal commitment to consistency between what is professed and what
is done.
Integrity: Commitment to being moral in dealings with others, personal straight
forwardness, honesty and coherence.
Resilience: The capacity to work with the clients concerns without being personally
diminished.
Respect: Showing appropriate esteem to others and their understanding of themselves.
Humility: The ability to asses accurately and acknowledge ones own strengths and
weakness.
Competence: The effective deployment of the skills and knowledge needed to do what
is required.
Fairness: The consistent application of appropriate criteria to inform decisions and
actions.
Wisdom: Possession of sound judgment that inform practice.
Courage: The capacity to act in spite of known fears, risks and uncertainty.
Legal consideration: Counsellors need to know that there are occasions when their
misconduct or omission in the exercise of counselling may very well be actionable by
their aggrieved clients and that occasions do exist too, when certain things they may do
in counselling can be adjudged as unethical and which in cases of serious dimensions
of misconduct may warrant their being proscribed from practicing counselling in Nigeria
(Nwoye, 1998).
The law about confidential relationship and privileged communications in
counseling: Shertzer and Stone (1980) said counselee usually reveal intimate,
personal and painful experiences with the assumption that others will not have access
to their disclosure without their express consent. This means that a confidential
relationship exists making the professional person involved to become obliged to protect
the best interests of the client by maintaining it.
The obligation here does not have only an ethical connotation but even a legal
implication. What the law appears to require in this case is that the professional is not to
disclose information shown to him under the setting of one-to-one counselling and also
to maintain the professional confidence reposed on him in such relationship. The
counsellor is not to disclose such a confidential information (even where accurate) to
individual not entitled to it. Also everything about the relationship in written records must
be accurately done and strongly safeguarded.
However, the confidentiality of information revealed in counselling is indeed not
absolute per SE. This is because the disclosure of facts relevant to a litigated issue
usually takes precedence over confidentiality in counselling. Privileged communication
is assumed to be almost absolute, the communication is usually known to lose its
protection where it is discovered that it is for furtherance of crime or fraud.
That means counsellors may be required to testify to knowledge they derive from their
professional relationships with their clients.
The law about confidentiality of counseling information in group therapy: One
may want to ask whether the sanctity of information revealed in the context of one-to-
one counselling relationship also applies to information revealed in the context of group
guidance and counselling. In group counselling or therapy, the protection of privileged
communication cannot be said to exist since under such a relationship, the presence of
a third parry is involved.
If the information to be concealed is already a shared information that is by persons that
make up the group then the court is qualified to address a subpoena to get it testified
especially where in doing so, the greater interest of justice is likely furthered.
Counsellors keep information revealed in group therapy for ethical reasons rather than
legal considerations.
The law about libel and slander in counseling: A counsellor should know that there
are certain things he may do or say in counselling which would usually be actionable by
the aggrieved clients. Among these are the misconduct of libel and slander which is a
form of defamation. This involves exposure of the victim to hatred, ridicule and
contempt; arid also damaging of reputation.
Shertzer and Stone (1980) pointed out that misconduct of defamation involves the
invasion of peoples interest in their reputation and good name causing others to shun
them or to have unpleasant or derogatory feelings about them. According to Seitz
(1964) four categories of conditions may warrant the recovery of money as damages for
slander. They are:S
Imputation of serious crime in the victim

Imputation of certain loathsome disease in the victim

Imputation of unchastity in a woman

Imputation affecting the victim in conducting business, trade or profession

Counsellors should remember that truth is the only defence for actions against libel arid
slander also truthful and sincere consultations about clients with professional colleagues
would usually not be taken as instances of slander.
Right of privacy law and problem of psychological testing in counselling: The
right of privacy is the right to be left alone to be free of inspection and scrutiny of others.
Invasion of privacy is the intrusion into ones private affairs and/or exposure of ones
paper to the view of others. When it causes one emotional distress, it is actionable.
While libel and slander involve false or malicious statement aimed at damaging the
victims reputation, invasion of privacy usually arises from truthful but damaging
publications.
Indeed one area of biggest threat of privacy which has been entertained against
counsellors is the issue of use of personality tests in counselling. Personality tests
probe deeply into feelings and attitudes which the individual normally conceals. A test
could assess whether an adolescence boy resents authority or whether a mother loves
her child or be asked to indicate the strength of sexual needs.
These are virtually all measures of personality that seek information in areas which the
subject has every reason to regard as private in normal social intercourse. He is willing
to admit the counsellor into these private areas only if he sees the relevance of the
questions to the attainment of his goals in working with the counsellor. When the
counsellor has a genuine need of the information obtained, he is not invading privacy.
What we should note here is that a counsellor should seek the consent of his client
before administering him a test even though such consent may always not be formal.
Problem of counsellor malpractice and the law about negligent actions in
counselling: The term malpractice means any professional misconduct or any
unreasonable lack of skill or fidelity in the performance of professional duties. A
counsellor can offend the law in the area of criminal liability in four main ways (Shertzer
and Stone, 1980).
Becoming accessory to a crime after the fact

Encouraging an illegal abortion

Being a conspirator in a civil disobedience

Contributing to the delinquency of a minor

These legal considerations help practicing counsellors to really be able to determine
when they are working or not working under the provisions of the law; and indeed to
help them to predict when a negative consequence may follow their actions due to their
deliberate attempt to work against the limits set by law.
CONCLUSION
This study therefore reinforces the major thrust of an ethical code which is to provide a
position on standards of practice; drawing richly from the ethics of American and British
Association for counselling.