Relationship, Dependence, and Boundaries Between a Counseling Phycologist and a Client

Title
Your Name:
Subject and Section:
Professor’s Name:
Date Submitted:
Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Decision-Making Process
Major Ethical Dilemmas Involved in the Case
The major ethical dilemmas that can be identified in this case are the following: 1. The presence of multiple relationships between my colleague who is a counseling psychologist and her client, Maria; 2. Client dependence and 3. Inadequate boundaries for a healthy, professional relationship as client and therapist.
Being a professional psychologist at the local mental health clinic that is in a predominant Cape Verdean population, my colleague/friend hired her own client to be her babysitter. This is done because of the desire of my colleague to help Maria with her financial struggles, and also because she needs someone to babysit her children during the week. This becomes an issue because the two are now having a nonprofessional relationship outside of their supposedly professional client-therapist relationship in the clinic. This form of a nonprofessional relationship and any relationship with a patient outside of the mental health clinic is prohibited and is believed to be unethical because it can interfere with their client-therapist relationship. This exposes the client to exploitation, a lack of objectivity from both parties, and a possible conflict of interest.
There is already client dependence that has developed between the two involved people because my colleague already thinks that she needs to help out Maria in that way, something more than her duties as a counseling psychologist requires. When confronted about what is currently happening, my colleague becomes defensive and even in this reaction, there are already signs of lack of objectivity and too much involvement with the client. This will dampen my colleague’s ability to make sound and objective decisions for the treatment of Maria because of the level of relationship that they are already in. Maria on the other hand will have to maintain a satisfactory performance as a babysitter to keep the current setup and benefit from it. Her honesty and autonomy as a client/patient may be influenced by having the counseling psychologist as her employer also. Concerning these, my colleague has the responsibility to establish boundaries to keep a healthy professional relationship between her and Maria. Due to the inadequate boundaries that were set, my colleague and Maria now are overly involved.
As a close friend of my colleague, I am now concerned with her relationship with Maria, and as a psychologist myself, I am aware of the rules and ethics of our line of work. I know that my colleague is risking her client-therapist relationship with Maria which is wrong. On the other hand, I can also sympathize with my colleague as she just wants to financially help Maria and needs a babysitter. If I intervene with their relationship and confront my colleague, I can put an end to their nonprofessional relationship which will save my colleague's reputation and her professional relationship with Maria, but in return, Maria will lose her job and her source of income. And if I don’t, my colleague and Maria will continue to help each other out and risk their client-therapist relat...