ABSTRACT

There is no doubt that professional and ethical practice is a potent and dynamic area. Changes in research and practice, legislation, and professional and ethical guidelines may all mean incremental and paradigm shifts. In addition, changing professional codes of practice, culture, and personal belief systems, as well as the demands of clinical governance, lifelong learning and the likelihood of statutory registration, will also impact upon professional and ethical practice. Accordingly, we believe that the challenges in this area of practice are among the things that make it an interesting and vibrant one. The juxtaposition of the personal and professional is central to professional and ethical practice and is written about in this book by a number of authors. Our aim in producing this book was to make it as comprehensive as possible; inevitably constraints of space (and therefore price) meant that we had to omit areas we might ideally have liked to include. Therefore, we decided to include the areas which, we believe, are of most importance both to trainee therapists, psychologists, and counsellors, and to experienced practitioners. An issue within this area which we believe is vital but did not warrant an entire chapter in this book is the necessity of practitioners taking responsibility for their own continuing professional development (CPD). While different professional bodies have slightly different views and conditions about this, the recognition of continuing professional development for all therapists is becoming mainstream and is in our view an essential requirement of professionalism.