1. Ethical and Legal Aspects of Counseling
Chapter 3

2. Ethical or Unethical
1.) You are a successful counselor. One of your clients tells you that you have been very, very helpful to him, and in order to show his appreciation to you, he gives you a $10,000 diamond ring as a gift. You accept the ring.
2.) A client cannot afford to pay for one of her counseling sessions with you. In lieu of payment, you ask her to babysit your 2-year-old son at your home a few times.
3.) One of your clients feels sexually attracted to you, and tells you this. Immediately following the termination of counseling, you and the client mutually agree to start a dating relationship.

3. Ethical or Unethical
4.) You and your friends have a dinner at your home. One of your friends tells you that he is emotionally disturbed by some conflict in his marriage. You take your friend into the next room and provide him with a brief counseling session there.
5.) You go to lunch with another counselor. In the restaurant, you each talk about some of your cases to learn from each other. Neither of you mentions the names of any of your clients.

4. Definitions Ethics Morality Law
“Making decisions of a moral nature about people and their interactions with society”
“A philosophical discipline that is concerned with human conduct and moral decision making”
Professional behavior
Morality
“Judgment or evaluation of action”
Right and wrong behavior
Law
“The precise codification of governing standards that are established to ensure legal and moral justice”
Government behavior
Ethics is a philosophical discipline concerned with human conduct and decision-making. It governs relationships between counselors and clients.

5. Common Unethical Behaviors of Counselors
Violation of confidentiality
Exceeding one’s level of professional competence
Negligent practice
Claiming expertise one does not possess
Imposing one’s values on a client
Violation of confidentiality – the counselor releases the client’s information without the client’s prior consent
Exceeding one’s level of professional competence – the counselor applies an intervention (e.g., hypnosis) that the counselor has not been trained on that intervention before
Negligent practice – the counselor fails to protect third parties of a dangerous client
Claiming expertise one does not possess
Imposing one’s values on a client – e.g., a 14-year-old female client tells the counselor that she has sexual relations with her boyfriend and she has opposed to use any birth-control devices. She assures the counselor that she will not be the one to get pregnant. Should the counselor respond to the client’s decision not to use birth-control measures?

6. Common Unethical Behaviors of Counselors
Creating dependency in a client
Sexual activity with a client
Dual relationships
Questionable financial arrangements (i.e., charging excessive fees)
Improper advertising
Creating dependence in a client – e.g., the counselor encourages the client to talk about the problems to the counselor instead of sharing with someone whom the client can trust

7. Professional Codes of Ethics and Standards
Why should counseling professionals abide by ethical codes and standards?
Good for clients?
Good for counselors?

8. Reasons to Abide by Ethical Codes
To protect client’s rights while identifying expectations of practitioners.
To professionalize organization.
To allow a profession to regulate itself and function autonomously.

9. Reasons to Abide by Ethical Codes
To control internal disagreements and thus promote stability of a profession.
To protect practitioners from the public (i.e., malpractice lawsuits).
To promote public trust toward the profession.
If Clinicians behave in accordance with ethics code, behavior judged to be in compliance with acceptance standards

10. ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (ACA, 1995)
Section 1: The Counseling Relationship
Section 2: Confidentiality
Section 3: Professional Responsibility
Section 4: Relationships with Other Professionals
Section 5: Evaluation, Assessment, and interpretation
Section 6: Teaching, Training, and Supervision
Section 7: Research and Publications
Section 8: Resolving Ethical Issues
First ethical code of conduct developed by ACA. Most current code arranged under eight topical sectional headings. APA also has an ethics code.

11. Limitations of Ethical Codes
Do not address every possible situation
Conflicts within ethical codes
Applicability of the code in today’s society?
Insensitivity to cultural diversity
Some conflicts between ethical and legal codes
Difficult to differentiate ethical dilemmas with other dilemmas

12. Making Ethical Decisions
Ethical Principles:
Beneficence
Nonmaleficence
Autonomy
Justice
Fidelity
Beneficence – doing good and preventing harm
Nonmaleficence – not inflicting harm
Autonomy – respecting freedom of choice and self-determination
Justice—fairness
Fidelity—faithfulness or honoring commitments
In making ethical decisions, counselors should take actions that they think are right professionally often based on these principles

13. Other Guidelines for Acting Ethically
Act with personal and professional honesty
Act in the best interest of clients
Act without malice or personal gain
Justify an action “as the best judgment of what should be done based upon the current state of the profession” (Swanson, 1983, p. 59)

14. Ethical Decision-Making Models
Pgs

15. Use Corey, Corey, & Callanan’s model to solve the problem
1. Identify the problem
2. Identify potential issues involved
3. Review relevant ethical guidelines
4. Review law
5. Obtain consultation
6. Consider possible course of action
7. Enumerate consequences of various decisions
8. Decide on best course of action

16. Case study: A client with a previous history of child abuse reported that she recently went through a great deal of stress from work. She revealed that she felt she was losing control and got angry easily with her 10 year old daughter at home. She indicated that on those occasions, she was on the verge of exploding on her daughter.

17. Case Study: An elderly male client with a history of chronic pain reports feeling down and no friends or family to talk to. He discussed feeling as though life isn’t worth living with his constant pain and that no one would miss him anyway. He stated that he has a full bottle of prescription pain medication at home, which would be the easiest way to commit suicide.

18. Dual Relationships
Having sexual or romantic relations with a client during therapy
Having sexual or romantic relations with a member of the client’s immediate family during therapy
Having sexual or romantic relations with a client or a member of the client’s immediate family after the termination of therapy
Buying goods or services from a client, or entering into a business agreement with a client (in addition to counseling)
Employing a client, or providing therapy to an employee
Providing therapy to a friend or relative
Going out to eat with a client after a session
Inviting clients to a personal party or social event
Providing counseling to a supervisee or student
Being a part of the same organization as a client, or going to the same church/temple

19. Working with Counselors who may act unethically
Prevention:
1. Identify the problem
2. Apply ACA/APA ethical code to problem
3. Approach informally
3. File an ethical complaint
In these situations, counselor must take action in order to avoid the Slippery Slope Effect—ignoring situations that call for ethical warnings will lead future ethical breaches

20. The Law and Counseling Iowa Law Review Note (1971)
Counselors are legally-recognized professionals
Weldon v. Virginia State Board of Psychologists Examiners (1974)
Counseling is a distinct profession from psychology
Tarasoff v. Board of Regents of the University of California (1976)
Counselors have a duty to warn if an identifiable person is in danger
Ramona trial (1993)
Counselors have a duty to care – a legal obligation not to act negligently
Jaffee v. Redmond (1996)
Communications between licensed psychotherapists and their clients are privileged and do not have to be disclosed in cases held in federal court

21. Civil and Criminal Liability
1. Civil liability
“Acting wrongly toward another or…failing to act when there [is] a recognized duty to do so”
person  person
2. Criminal liability
Acting “in a way the law does not allow”
state  person
Liability involves issues concerned with whether counselors have caused harm to clients.
1. Civil liability – one can be sued for acting wrongly toward another or for failing to act when there is a recognized duty to do so.
2. Criminal liability – involves a counselor working with a client in a way that the law does not allow.
Counselors are most likely to face civil liability suits for malpractice in the following situations: (1) malpractice in particular situations (birth control, abortion, prescribing and administering drugs, treatment), (2) illegal search, (3) defamation, (4) invasion of privacy, and (5) breach of contact.
Three situations in which counselors risk criminal liability are (1) accessory to a crime, (2) civil disobedience, and (3) contribution to the delinquency of a minor.

22. Civil and criminal liability
Negligence
the departure from acceptable professional standards
Malpractice
the harm to a client resulting from negligence

23. The Law and Counseling Confidentiality Privacy
is the ethical duty to fulfill a contract or promise to clients that the information revealed during therapy will be protected from unauthorized disclosure.
Privacy
is a legal concept that recognizes individuals’ rights to choose the time, circumstances, and extent to which they wish to share or withhold personal information.
Privileged communication
regulates privacy protection and confidentiality by protecting clients from having their confidential communications disclosed in court without permission.

24. Exceptions to Confidentiality
When a client is a danger to self or others
In cases of child abuse or neglect
When vulnerable adults are being abused
When a client is considering committing a crime
When a client has been a victim of a crime
During court-ordered psychological evaluations
For the purposes of involuntary hospitalization
When a client raises the issue of mental condition in legal proceedings
In client-counselor disputes

25. Tarasoff v. Board of Regents of the University of California (1976)
Prosenjit Poddar
Tatiana Tarasoff

26. Tarasoff v. Board of Regents of the University of California (1976)
Prosenjit Poddar told the student health center that he wanted to kill Tatiana Tarasoff. The psychologist told the supervising psychiatrist, who told campus cops, who detained Poddar but then let him go. Poddar killed Tatiana two months later. Her parents sued for “failure to warn.” The Trial Court said that no such duty existed. The CA Supreme Court cited Simenson v. Swensen and ordered a trial. The case was heard twice:
Tarasoff I: “Privilege ends where public peril begins”
Tarasoff II: A therapist has an obligation to use reasonable care to protect potential victims

27. Guidelines for Implementing Duty to Warn Requirements
Get informed consent
Plan ahead through consultation
Develop contingency plans
Obtain professional liability insurance
Involve the client
Obtain a detailed history
Document in writing
Implement procedures to warn

28. Legal Issues involved when counseling minors
Parental consent
Limitation of confidentiality
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Allows parents access to their children’s records
Allows children access to their own records

29. Codes of Ethics ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (1995)
APA (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
ASCA (2004) Ethical Standards for School Counselors
A counselor can assist a judge or jury with specialized knowledge, skills, information in reaching an appropriate legal decision.
e.g., the ability to stand trial, the psychological effects of abuse