VQT Code Of Ethics

Purpose
The purpose of this document is to outline the expectations of ethical standards, practice, and conduct for all Members of Vanquish Therapies (VQT), regardless of their role. For the purposes of this document, a “practitioner” refers to Counsellors/Therapists, Coaches, and Trainee Counsellors on placement, while The term “Members” encompasses all individuals who act on behalf of VQT, including practitioners.

All Members of Vanquish Therapies are expected to exercise great care when considering relevant circumstances and to be appropriately accountable for their decisions. Our Code of Ethics aligns with the Ethical Frameworks of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS), British Association For Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), and Association for Coaching (AC) to ensure that our Members uphold high ethical standards and conduct themselves professionally at all times.

Fundamental Principles
Beneficence and Non-maleficence:
Practitioners hold the welfare of clients central to their work and thus commit to avoiding harm.

Being trustworthy and responsible:
All Members endeavour to establish and honour the trust placed in them by the clients and Vanquish Therapies.

Autonomy:
Respect the client’s right to be self-governing.

Justice:
The fair and unbiased treatment of all clients and the obligation of suitable services. Including showing respect for diversity of persons, without prejudice to colour, race, belief, gender, sexuality, social context, and mental and physical abilities.

Integrity and self-responsibility:
Nurturing the practitioner’s self-knowledge, integrity, and care for self.

Values:

VQT commits to (this list is not exhaustive):

Respecting human rights and dignity
Alleviating symptoms of personal distress and suffering
Enhancing people’s wellbeing and capabilities
Improving the quality of relationships between people
Increasing personal resilience and effectiveness
Facilitating a sense of self that is meaningful to the person(s) concerned within their personal and cultural context.
Appreciating the variety of human experience and culture
Protecting the safety of our clients
Ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships
Enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application
Striving for the fair and adequate provision of services.

Best Interests of Clients (Including Individuals & Groups utilising our services)

As a Member of VQT you must:

Act in the best interests of everyone using our services.
Treat people with respect.
Respect autonomy.
Not exploit or abuse your therapeutic relationship with clients (current or past) for any purpose including your emotional, sexual, or financial gain. This includes anyone working with individuals and groups.
Not have sexual contact or sexual relationships with client(s) past or present.
Not harm or collude in the harming of any individual.

Professionalism
As a Member of VQT you must:

Decline any gifts, favours, money, or hospitality that might be interpreted as exploitative.
Be aware of the power imbalance between the practitioner and client(s) and avoid dual or multiple relationships, which risk confusing an existing relationship and may impact adversely on the client(s). If a dual or multiple relationship is unavoidable, for example in a small community, take responsibility for clarifying and managing boundaries and protecting confidentiality.
For therapeutic work – Exercise all reasonable care before entering into a personal or business relationship with former clients, taking into account the time that has elapsed since the therapeutic relationship ended. Should such a relationship prove to be detrimental to the former client, you may be called to answer an allegation of misusing your former position.
Recognise that your behaviour outside your professional life may have an effect on your relationship with clients and take responsibility for critically examining these potential negative or positive effects to the benefit of the client.

Professional Proficiency, Skills & Experience

As a Member of VQT you must:

Offer only the forms of therapy and coaching in which you have or are working towards adequate training and experience.
Understand the limits of your competence and stay within them in all your professional activity, referring clients to another professional when appropriate. This includes recognising that particular client groups, such as children, young people, and families, have needs which not all practitioners are equipped to address.
Ensure continuing ability to practise by securing Supervision and continuing professional development (CPD).
Ensure that you do not work with clients if you are unable to do so for physical or mental health reasons, or when impaired by the effects of drugs, alcohol, or medication. You must also inform the Lead Counsellor of these circumstances immediately.
Make considered and timely arrangements for the termination of a therapeutic relationship. If you are unable to continue practicing, it’s important to notify the Lead Counsellor & Vanquish Therapies without delay. This ensures that the clients are informed and, where possible, alternative practitioners are identified.
It’s important to have arrangements in place for informing clients and providing them with support in the event of your illness. Therefore, you must notify Vanquish Therapies as soon as possible if you become ill, so that clients can be informed, and the appropriate support can be provided to them.

Communication & Consent
As a Member of VQT you must:

Provide in your advertising, and on request, a clear and honest statement of the qualifications relevant to your field of practice and advertise your services accurately and in a responsible and professional manner, without exaggeration.
Ensure that the use of title such as “Doctor/DR” and post nominal initials after a name in communications are accurate; indicate whether it is a medical or academic qualification.
Not make any claims which you cannot demonstrate to be true.
Explain to a client whether you are a qualified practitioner or on placement working towards your qualification, your terms, fees (if applicable), conditions and, have information readily available to clarify other related questions such as likely length of therapy/coaching, methods of practice to be used, the extent of your own involvement, complaints processes and how to make a complaint, as well as arrangements for referral and termination of therapy/coaching.
Help clients understand the nature of any proposed therapy or coaching and its implications, what to expect, the risks involved, what is and is not being offered, and relevant alternative options.
To not intentionally mislead any client about the type or nature of Counselling or Coaching practised.

Records & Confidentiality
As a Member of VQT you must:

Respect, protect, and preserve the client’s confidentiality. You must protect sensitive and personally identifiable information obtained in the course of your professional work.
Safeguard the welfare and anonymity of clients when any form of publication of clinical material is being considered and to always obtain your client’s verifiable consent in any case where the welfare or anonymity of a client may be compromised. This includes situations where a client or former client might recognise themselves in case material despite the changing of names or actual circumstances.
Make notes appropriate to the modality of therapy being practised, and keep records which are accurate, legible, and timely. Keep client’s information confidential, subject to legal and ethical requirements, and discuss it only within appropriate professional settings such as with Vanquish Therapies and your Supervisor.
Notify clients, when appropriate or on request, that there are legal and ethical limits to confidentiality, and circumstances under which confidential information might be disclosed to a third party. Please see our Confidentiality policy for more information.
Client records (paper files, hard drives, flash drives) should be kept in a locked cabinet/briefcase within a secure property. If transporting client files outside of practice premises this must be done in a locked container. Any client records that have to be left temporarily in a car should be in a secure, locked container and locked in the car boot. Electronic files should be kept secure behind password enabled software, and that password should be changed regularly.
Consider obtaining legal and ethical advice in relation to providing information for judicial or administrative proceedings, and as to the potential impact that this could have on the commitment of confidentiality to the client, even when client consent is given.

Supervision
As a Member of VQT you must:

Have formal one to one supervision in place and obtained from a properly qualified and trained supervisor. Attendance should be commensurate with practice hours.
Ensure that clients with presenting issues outside of a practitioner’s scope of ability, are discussed with the Lead Counsellor, in supervision, and where appropriate referred to another practitioner.
Maintain confidentiality of clients within the arrangement.

Social Responsibility
As a Member of VQT you must:

Actively consider issues of diversity and equalities as these affect all aspects of your work andacknowledge the need for a continuing process of self-enquiry and professional development.
Not allow prejudice about a client’s or individuals sex, age, colour, race, disability, communication skills, sexuality,lifestyle, religious, cultural, or political beliefs, social economic or immigration status to adverselyaffect the way you relate to them.
Practitioners must recognise the limits of their practice, training, and experience in issues of the above points and if necessary, refer the client to an experienced therapist for specific help.
If a practitioner’s personal, theoretical, or religious beliefs mean that they are unable to work in a non-judgmental way with the aforementioned points the client should be referred to another therapist or coach. These issues must be discussed with the Lead Counsellor immediately and in Supervision.
Avoid behaviour that can be perceived as abusive or detrimental to any individual based onthe above factors.
Counselling and Coaching should not be offered that seeks to eliminate or change a client’s belief or opinions based on the Counsellor or Coaches own agenda.

Trust & Confidence
As a Member of VQT you must:

Act in a way which upholds Vanquish Therapies reputation and promotes public confidence in our organisation, this includes unacceptable behaviour outside of your professional life as a practitioner.
It’s important to be aware of and adhere to all legal and professional obligations as well as the policies, procedures, and guidelines of
Vanquish Therapies.
Ensure that any communication in which you partake, and in particular your participation in socialmedia, is carried out in a manner consistent with these standards of ethics, and your professional responsibilities.
Safeguard children and vulnerable adults, recognising your legal responsibilities concerning theirrights and taking appropriate action should you consider any such person is at risk of harm.
Ensure that you are familiar with and understand Vanquish Therapies published policies, procedures, and guidelines.
Challenge questionable practice in yourself or others, reporting to Vanquish Therapies potential breaches of this code, and activating formal complaints procedures especially where there may be ongoing harm to clients, individuals, groups, other members of VQT, or you have significant grounds for believing someone to be at the risk of harm. Please see our Grievance and Safeguarding Policies for further information.
Ensure that your professional work is adequately covered by appropriate indemnity insurance.
Co-operate with any lawful investigation or inquiry relating to your practice.Inform Vanquish Therapies and any relevant organisational member if you are:
Charged with a criminal offence;
b. Convicted of a criminal offence, receive a conditional discharge for an offence, or accept a police caution.
c. Disciplined by any professional body or membership organisation responsible for regulating or licensing a health or social care profession.

Online Communications
Vanquish Therapies is committed to promoting and providing high standards of practice in Counselling, Coaching, Courses, and Workshops. We, therefore, expect all VQT Members (anyone working within or on behalf of us) to conduct themselves at all times in accordance with their professional status and standards. You must adhere to the following:

Whilst delivering any service via online platforms members must be aware of their duty to follow the standards of ethics set by Vanquish Therapies and follow the ethical framework of the NCPS, BACP, and AC.
Members must also be aware that open online platforms and group chats such as forums, are not appropriate for discussing client, individual, or group work and do not replace formal supervision. Members must be aware that clients, individuals, or groups may still be able to identify themselves even though you may disguise names.
When using Facebook or other social media platforms, personal accounts must be kept private from public viewing by making use of privacy levels according to the specific social media platform. Additional and separate user accounts for professional purposes and use, should be used.
When conducting online sessions, members are required to take all reasonable steps to ensure that client’s, individuals, and groups, data and confidentiality are secured in terms of GDPR and breaches of confidentiality. Please refer to our Confidentiality Policy and Online Safety Guidance Policy for further information.