A counselor takes precautions to do no harm to clients and thinks about the general welfare of the client. There are times when a counselor's moral obligations with a client become into conflict with the laws of the state that the counselor practices and a breach of confidentiality is warranted causing an ethical dilemma. This breach of confidentiality can put a strain on the therapeutic alliance and the counselor must consider the most ethical way to breach confidentiality with the client. The current literature provides three cases and the steps used to solve these dilemmas using the Eight-Step Model of decision-making. The cases involve sexual abuse of a minor, suicidal ideation of a minor, and homicidal ideation of an adult. In all three cases, it is stressed the importance of consultation and keeping the client privy to the decisions being made on his or her behalf. Two of the clients are minors so it was important to keep the parents abreast of any decisions …show more content…
When dealing with ethical dilemmas, it is important for any counselor to understand the rules of his or her licensing board and state laws. Ignorance of laws or procedures may not be able to protect a counselor from litigation from clients or their guardians. The current literature depicts three ethical dilemmas where I, as the counselor, uses the Eight-step model to make a decision in solving the ethical dilemmas. The three cases that I will be discussing is of Sara, Jennifer, and Bill. The process of getting to the best ethical decision requires that I identify the problem, the potential issues, review counseling ethical guidelines, licensing board guidelines, state guidelines, consult, weigh pros and cons of all possible decisions, and finally make the best possible ethical choice. It is beneficial to be transparent with clients when thinking about breaching