After reading both the American Counseling Association (ACA) (2014) Code of Ethics and the American Mental Health Counseling Association (AMHCA) (2011), I felt that it was important to touch upon certain sections that I feel could become potential issues for us as counselors.
Essay 1. There are many skills needed in order to work with a patient presenting with a co-occurring disorder. According to the American Mental Health Counseling Association (AMHCA) (2011), there are eight skills that we as counselors must center our focus on. They are all very important, yet I chose to focus on us as counselors can demonstrate our skills wisely by utilizing the knowledge we have gained during training. One of the hardest part of counseling clients is trying to discover what exactly is needed to help that client maintain a healthy relationship with others and a balance within themselves. Clients with co-occurring disorders are the most difficult kind of client. We must understand the treatment and clinical management of common co-occurring disorders such as anxiety, depression, PTSD and trauma-related disorders, dissociative disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, disruptive behaviors, and mood disorders in combination with substance abuse disorders. We must provide appropriate counseling strategies by demonstrating the ability to modify counseling systems, theories, interventions when necessary and specific techniques that will work with the client. For example, if a client came to a clinic presenting with bipolar disorder and was self-medicating themselves with alcohol. A counselor would have to first work on a plan to get the bipolar under control with the proper medication. Referring the patient to a psychiatrist would be the first step. A plan would be put into place setting goals for the client to work on. While the patient was