Professional and Ethical Responsibilities are the responsibilities of the counselor to follow generally accepted ethical and behavioral standards of conduct and continuing professional development. In other words, these are guidelines and general criteria that determine the behavior of a person depending on his profession. It can also be defined as a set of standards that are used to make decisions in the workplace. These are responsibilities toward customers, clients, colleagues, employees, employers, others who use one’s products and services, and others affected by them.
Competency 118 states that it is vital for the professional to consider and recognize the importance of individual differences that affect client behavior and apply it in clinical practice.
Thus, the specialist must know how personal characteristics, culture, background, lifestyle, and other factors affect the client’s behavior, how the assessment and response to treatment depend on individual differences, and how the protection of the interests of clients is related to the specifics of different cultures and lifestyles. Moreover, it is essential for the counselor to know the signs, symptoms, and patterns of violence against people and the hierarchy of needs and motivation.
Also, the specialist must have particular skills and abilities related to accepting the diversity of people. The counselor must be able to esteem cultural and lifestyle diversity in the therapeutic process, evaluate and interpret the culturally specific behaviors and lifestyles of clients, and adapt therapeutic strategies to the clients’ needs.
As for attitudes, the counselor is required to value people’s experiences, acknowledge the diversity of populations and lifestyles, and filter biases toward other cultures and lifestyles from truthful information.