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Stewardship.
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Chapter 15 of the text embraces the concept of upholding professionalism in counseling. Like any other professional career, the practitioners are expected to uphold ethical and legal standards that govern their practice. Awareness of the code of ethics provides the counselors with limits through which they can practice and at the same time it provides direction especially in time of conflict. The counselor can utilize the knowledge base to make decisions that are ethically and legally right. In protection of the community, the ethical standards provide a minimum standard of practice to ensure that the client is not harmed. The informed consent also protects the counselor by spelling out expectations of therapy. The ethical and legal principles are in line with the biblical foundation for loving one another as in John 13. 34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” As a counselor you would want to be treat others as you would like to be treated or even better. How wonderful is it to know that as a good steward to the community you are also serving the Lord. Colossians 3:23-24 says that “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Respect of people regardless of their cultural background is also emphasized in this chapter. Thomas and Sosin (2011) indicate that counseling without respect for differences of diversity will likely fail and hinder interventions. Receiving other people with a passionate heart like christ commands us to love one another and seeking to understand cultural differences will likely break down barriers. According to Thomas and Sosin (2011) , historically cultural differences have been viewed as deficits . It is therefore paramount that the counselor to be culturally competent.
Reference
Thomas, J. & Sosin, L. (2011). Therapeutic expedition: Equipping the Christian counselor for the journey.
Ruth,
ReplyDeleteI love your picture for this blog about stewardship. I definitely agree with you that it is amazing to be able to be a good steward to our community while serving the Lord. God blessed each of us with a gift, and it is important that we are thankful and use our gifts to glorify God and help our community. As counselors, we will be able to fulfill this commission and bless those around around us with the gifts that God has given us.