The 2014 ACA code of conduct section A.4.b talks about personal values. Every counselor should not impose their values, beliefs, behaviors, or attitudes; instead, they ought to respect their clients’ diversity. Every individual has values and beliefs that they relate to, and as a counselor, I have to strive every day to be impartial. Since this code of ethics guides how professional counselors should seek education on areas where they are most likely to impose their values on clients, I believe through my degree training, I will learn more about how to handle clients with the impartiality required.
The most important aspect of a good counselor is self-awareness. There are so many Christian values and beliefs that contradict the outside world, but that does not mean that one should only deal with clients with the same values and beliefs. Being self-aware is one of the best tools, and I can operate effectively from a Christian worldview without imposing my views and beliefs on my clients. According to Knapp et al. (2017), an essential quality of having self-awareness is that it helps one think about how their values might influence their personal decisions. Therefore, from a Christian worldview, self-awareness will assist in avoiding biases of any nature.
Integration models are very useful in maximizing the overall outcome of individual counseling. My views are well aligned with the integration model in which I have to learn how to ensure all individual patients receive the utmost help possible. However, learning and the possibility to apply the integration model come with its challenges. As Byrne et al. (2018) argue, failure to learn the model properly means its application will fail. Therefore, the reason why it is challenging for most counselors to obtain successful results is that they have not mastered the model expertly.
References
Byrne, A., Salmon, P., & Fisher, P. (2018). A case study of the challenges for an integrative practitioner learning a new psychological therapy. Counselling And Psychotherapy Research, 18(4), 369-376. Web.
Knapp, S., Gottlieb, M., & Handelsman, M. (2017). Self-awareness questions for effective psychotherapists: Helping good psychotherapists become even better. Practice Innovations, 2(4), 163-172. Web.