Counseling
Relationship and Confidentiality
Relationship and Confidentiality
Informed Consent
The Clients have the freedom to choose whether to enter into or remain in a counseling relationship and need adequate information about the counseling process and the counselor.
Boundaries of Competence
Counselors practice only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, state and national professional credentials, and appropriate professional experience.
Sexual Harassment
Counseling supervisors do not condone or subject supervisees to sexual harassment.
Laws and Statutes
Counselors who engage in the use of distance counseling, technology, and social media within their counseling practice understand that they may be subject to laws and regulations of both the counselor’s practicing location and the client’s place of residence
Unwarranted Complaints
Counselors do not initiate, participate in, or encourage the fling of ethics complaints that are retaliatory in nature or are made with reckless disregard or willful ignorance of facts that would disprove the allegation.
Primary Responsibility
The primary responsibility of counselors is to respect the dignity and promote the welfare of clients.
Different Approaches
Counselors are respectful of approaches that are grounded in theory and/or have an empirical or scientific foundation but may differ from their own.
Assessment Services
Counselors who provide assessment, scoring, and interpretation services to support the assessment process confirm the validity of such interpretations.
Social Media as Part of Informed Consent
Counselors clearly explain to their clients, as part of the informed consent procedure, the benefits, limitations, and boundaries of the use of social media
Cooperation With Ethics Committees
Counselors assist in the process of enforcing the ACA Code of Ethics.
Previous Relationships
Counselors consider the risks and benefits of accepting as clients those with whom they have had a previous relationship.
Negative Conditions
Counselors alert their employers of inappropriate policies and practices.
Extending Conventional Supervisory Relationships
Counseling supervisors clearly define and maintain ethical professional, personal, and social relationships with their supervisees.
Knowledge and Competency
Counselors who engage in the use of distance counseling, technology, and/ or social media develop knowledge and skills regarding related technical, ethical, and legal considerations
Ethical Decision Making
When counselors are faced with an ethical dilemma, they use and document, as appropriate
Serious and Foreseeable Harm and Legal Requirements
The general requirement that counselors keep information confidential does not apply when disclosure is required to protect clients or identified others from serious and foreseeable harm or when legal requirements demand that confidential information must be revealed
Scientific Basis for Treatment
When providing services, counselors use techniques/procedures/modalities that are grounded in theory and/or have an empirical or scientific foundation.
Proper Diagnosis
Counselors take special care to provide proper diagnosis of mental disorders
Obligation to Report Unfavorable Results
Counselors report the results of any research of professional value.
Knowledge
Counselors know and understand the ACA Code of Ethics and other applicable ethics codes from professional organizations or certification and licensure bodies of which they are members.
Extending Counseling Boundaries
Counselors consider the risks and benefits of extending current counseling relationships beyond conventional parameters.
Multicultural/Diversity Considerations
Counselors maintain awareness and sensitivity regarding cultural meanings of confidentiality and privacy
Impairment
Counselors monitor themselves for signs of impairment from their own physical, mental, or emotional problems and refrain from offering or providing professional services when impaired.
Historical and Social Prejudices in the Diagnosis of Pathology
Counselors recognize historical and social prejudices in the misdiagnosis and pathologizing of certain individuals and groups and strive to become aware of and address such biases in themselves or others.
Professional Review
Counselors who review material submitted for publication, research, or other scholarly purposes respect the confidentiality and proprietary rights of those who submitted it.
Conflicts Between Ethics and Laws
If ethical responsibilities conflict with the law, regulations, and/or other governing legal authority, counselors make known their commitment to the ACA Code of Ethics and take steps to resolve the conflict.