Discussion:
Marriage and Family Counselling: Scenario
You are a therapist seeing a couple as your client. Individually, each party often calls you between sessions to tell you information about the other. You saw the husband for one session alone and he revealed having an ongoing affair and asks you to keep it secret. You saw the wife for one session and she revealed that she wants a divorce but has not told her husband and she asks you to keep that secret until she obtains legal counsel. After six sessions they have decided to get divorced. The woman's lawyer is requesting all of your records. You do not have any releases.
1.) What does the AAMFT and IAMFT say about working with multiple clients and confidentiality?
2.) How would ethics apply to this scenario? What would the therapist say to each of them? In what ways can you work with clients to establish compliance with the ethical code when it comes to working with multiple clients in a session, such as in couple and marital counseling?