When I was thinking about semicolon tattoos recently, I started to think what I would do if I met someone with one of these tattoos. How would I feel? How would I respond personally? How would I respond professionally?
That set me to thinking about other situations, and remembering some of those I had experienced in my working life.
The online Certificate courses in both Life Coaching and Counselling include exercises reflecting on ethical situations such as a client who expresses suicidal thoughts; clients with different values and belief systems etc. And the BACP journal “Therapy” includes an “Ethics/Dilemma” section which outlines a specific situation and invites comments and suggestions on how to deal with it.
So what if your next client has a semicolon tattoo? What if a client discloses a diagnosis of terminal illness? What if your client misses a session, and you read in the local paper a few days later of their suicide? What if your client has a panic attack in session?
I know it’s all hypothetical and we can’t legislate for every potential occurrence, but I think it’s important to reflect on our thoughts, feelings, values and beliefs to enable us to act at the time in cases when those curved balls get thrown to us.
And, of course, there are always the odd ones as well – what if you are working with an organisation that uses another service’s premises, and you arrive one day to find your room and chairs set out as santa’s grotto? (Yes, it really did happen to a colleague of mine in the service where I was Manager!).
What if you turn up at a weekend workshop and find your therapist there as well? What if the person in front of you at the fish ‘n’ chip shop is your therapist or client? What if your client swears at you, throws something at you and walks out of session?
Been there, done all that, and got the tee-shirt! And I even own up to the last one – I was the client, and I threw the cushion!
And of course, there is so often no one single answer in any of these situations – but think it through for yourself. What would you do?
