6.2 Value Conflicts in Counseling

When a value conflict becomes apparent within the counseling relationship, assessing one’s ability to remain impartial while continuing to provide a high standard of care is important. This does not necessarily mean that one accepts the client’s values; instead, the counselor works within the client’s worldview to assist them in reaching appropriate treatment goals. Some of the most effective strategies for navigating value conflicts within the counseling profession come from Michael Kocet and Barbara Herlihy’s (2014) seminal model for decision-making in the face of counselor-client value conflicts. The following section explores their notion of ethical bracketing in greater detail.

Ethical Bracketing

As discussed in Chapter 3, ethical bracketing is the intentional separation of the counselor’s personal and professional values, especially when working with clients with a conflict of personal values (Kocet & Herlihy, 2014). The ethical bracketing process consists of four potential steps that can be utilized in any order, though generally increases effort and time commitment depending on the intensity of the value conflict in question. Counselors begin with (a) Immersion, such as the value conflict. This consists of activities such as conscious reflection and exploration of factors contributing to the value conflict (i.e., Life experiences leading the counselor and client to have differential value preferences) and personal education regarding the nature of the value conflict. From here, the counselor (b) consults ethical codes relevant to their practice and determines whether professional ethical prescriptions can guide the value conflict in question. If personal exploration fails to provide sufficient resolution, the counselor then (c) seeks consultation and supervision to understand the value conflict better and ensure it is appropriately and ethically navigated. Finally, utilizing personal resources and professional networks cannot resolve the value conflict sufficiently. In that case, it is recommended that the counselor (d) engage in personal therapy to explore the challenging nature of the particular value conflict (Kocet & Herlihy, 2014).

Though its exploration is beyond the scope of this text, readers seeking additional information regarding the navigation of value conflicts in counseling are encouraged to read Kocet and Herlihy’s (2014) work on the Counselor-Values Based Conflict Model (CVCM). The citation can be found in the references section of this chapter.