The role of practitioner self-care in practitioner– client relationship ethics

The first publication of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2002) presented a new set of principles, albeit couched in a context and a language which encouraged and promoted autonomous reflection rather than prescription. Five of the principles enshrined in the framework appear to reflect the earlier concern to focus on the client and the professional relationship. The particular innovation lay in the sixth principle – labelled ‘self-respect’ – an aspect of ethical practice which had been the object of only oblique reference in the previous document. This last guiding principle focuses on counsellors as people: they too are human and they too have needs.