Reflection Paper – Case 1: Alice’s Case

Reflection Paper – Case 1: Alice’s case

Alice is a college senior who has worked diligently throughout high school to maintain a high grade point average. You have helped her get into a prestigious university and secured scholarship monies. She attended the prom with a very popular athlete and the relationship seems to be getting more and more serious. When she tells you who he is, you realize he’s a student you have counseled recently, at which time he informed you he was HIV positive. What will be your next course of action?

When I read across Alice’s case, the first thing that comes to my mind is what it means to be HIV positive? So I’ve done a little research on HIV positive in order to find out what it actually means. From the research, I know that a person with HIV positive can actually pass the virus to other people through unprotected sex and sharing needles. Although early treatment can help a person with HIV positive to stay well, the virus can also develop into AIDS if he/ she did not take the necessary steps to protect his/ her health.

Back to Alice’s case, as a professional counsellor, what should I do after I know that Alice is actually in a relationship with one of my former client who was HIV positive? Standing by the moral principles (Nonmaleficence and beneficence) and ethic code A.4.a (Avoiding Harm), it seems that it is a must to tell her the truth about the guy she is dating now was HIV positive because it is counselor’s responsibility to do good, to be proactive and also to prevent harm to when possible (Forester-Miller & Rubenstein, 1992). But standing by ethic code B.1.b (Respect for Privacy) and B.1.c (Respect for Confidentiality), a counsellor need to respect client’s private information and can only share client’s confidential information with his/ her consent. If I were to breach the confidentiality without my former client’s consent, the consequences will