Blog 8- Chapter 2

            Chapter 2 of Brown (2016) focuses on the ethical and legal guidelines and competencies that career counselors need. In particular there are 7 ethical principles that counselors are supposed to follow. These include: do no harm, be competent, respect clients’ rights to choose their own directions, honor your responsibilities, make accurate public statements, respect counselors and practitioners from other professions, and advocate for clients in need (Brown, 2016, p. 31-32). In my undergraduate program of social work, we, also had ethical principles that we were expected to learn and implement in our practice. For the purpose of this blog, I am going to compare the two different sets of principles. In social work, there are 6 broad principles that are based on social work’s core values. The principles are: service, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence.

The most obvious similarity between the two sets of principles would be that of competence. Both sets have a principle that highlight that idea. It is important for both social workers and counselors to be knowledgeable in their respective fields and to a mastery level. Clients are trusting these practitioners to be able to listen to them and develop an appropriate plan accordingly. Being competent in the field will enable them to do so.

Another similarity would be the principles of advocating for clients in need and social justice. Brown (2016) defines advocacy as, “a process in which the [career development] professional assumes some or all of the responsibility for representing a client…for the purpose of improving the client’s access to resources, services, or jobs (p. 32). School counselors and social workers have to do this. In social work, the practitioner stands up for their clients and fights against the social injustices they face. For school counselors, they will need to advocate for the students.

Lastly, a similarity I noticed was that of respecting clients’ rights to choose their own directions and dignity and worth of a person. Seeing a client’s dignity and worth and looking at them as human beings will lead a counselor or social worker to allow them to make their own decisions. The workers can pass on as much knowledge as they can to their clients, but ultimately, the decisions should be left to them. Empowering our clients to do this will be incredibly beneficial to them in the long run. Even though social work and career counseling are two very different careers, it is evident that they have some similarities. Both fields work to develop relationships with their clients, gain their trust, and do everything they can to help them with what they need.

Reference:

Brown, D. (2016). Career information, career counseling, and career development (11thed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 978-0-13-391777-2.