ABSTRACT
Why do we have codes of ethics? What purpose do they serve? How can we distinguish better approaches to developing ethics and good practice guidelines from poorer ones? These are the questions I want to address in this chapter. They are ones that have preoccupied me over the last few years as I worked on rewriting the ethical framework for the second largest professional body for the talking therapies worldwide, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). However, these questions are equally applicable to other major professional bodies in the talking or psychological therapies in Britain such as the British Psychological Society (BPS) or the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). Indeed there is no reason why these questions should be confined to these therapeutic professional bodies. The challenge of being ethical is shared by many different professions. They are generic questions that open the possibility of learning from one another in very different professional roles and contexts.
