ABSTRACT
Ethics and counselling are inextricably linked. Ethics is concerned with right conduct and good character – with the questions ‘how should I act’? and ‘how should I live’? Ethics regulates our relationships with others. Counselling involves persons and relationships and has the potential to help alleviate suffering and to enable the individual to make progress. There is also much potential for harm should counsellors lack the necessary competence to practice or exploit the vulnerability of clients. Counselling organisations, such as BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), acknowledge the importance of ethics and publish codes of ethics emphasising values, principles and personal moral qualities (See https://www.bac.co.uk (accessed 11/12/02)).
