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Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities

BreAnn Denson

Department of Psychology, Grand Canyon University

CNL-505-0506 Professional Counseling, Ethical, and Legal Considerations

Dr. Julius A. Austin

August 11th, 2021

Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities

Following the Ethics code for some counselors can be challenging and possibly

conflicting depending on the topic. The Ethics code along with other resources is put into place

to help be a guide for counselors and help them remain professional. There are other resources

counselors can use as well to make sure they are practicing professionalism and avoiding doing

any harm. Seeking clarity from peers, the ACA and scholarly articles can all be great resources.

Counselors must be knowledgeable of their clients’ rights, their responsibilities and protect their

clients at all times, along with proper record keeping. Counselors must also practice self-care to

be able to provide quality services to their clients and be in an acceptable position to effectively

advocate for their clients. Some counselors can think it may be more helpful to use their moral

compass, which can be harmful to the client. Counselors must be aware of their values and how

to set those values aside for the therapeutic process.

Part one: Client Rights

Counselors should make clients feel they have a huge role in their therapeutic process. It

is important for clients to know they have a right to engage in decision making during

counseling. They have a right to fully express themselves and incorporate their values into the

therapeutic process. Counselors can encourage autonomous behaviors in clients to keep them

involved and incorporate their cultural values. According to the textbook autonomy refers to the

promotion of self-determination, or the freedom of clients to be self-governing within their social

and cultural framework. (Corey, Corey, Corey & Callanan 2019). A huge part of practicing

professionalism in counseling and remaining ethical is doing no harm to the clients. It is a

client’s right to feel safe and heard while receiving services without feeling belittled or hurt by
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their counselor. Nonmaleficence needs to be incorporated into every session to remain ethical

during sessions. Nonmaleficence is practicing doing no harm during the therapeutic process and

avoiding hurting clients. Professionals have a responsibility to minimize risks for exploitation

and practices that cause harm or have the potential to result in harm. (Corey, Corey, Corey &

Callanan 2019) If a counselor is practicing nonmaleficence then they are more than likely

practicing beneficence as well. Beneficence refers to doing good for your clients and keeping

their wellbeing first. Section A.1.a in the ethics code states the primary responsibility of

counselors is to respect the dignity and to promote the welfare of clients. (ACA Ethics code

2014) Counselors must also exhibit behaviors that show justice to the client by treating everyone

fairly and equally. Making clients aware of the rights they have and making sure, as

professionals, clients are being treated with respect can create a great foundation for the

therapeutic process. Creating a solid foundation includes professionals practicing fidelity.

Fidelity involves creating a trusting and therapeutic relationship in which people can search for

solutions. (Corey, Corey, Corey & Callanan 2019) It is every client’s right to be treated with

respect, dignity and allowed to fully engage in their therapeutic process. If counselors are not

sure how to practice these five principles, there are great resources available.

Protecting clients can be displayed in many ways, protecting the client can also protect

the counselor as well. Informed consent is important and makes clients aware of the possible risk

and benefits of their counseling process. Counselors must protect clients by displaying proper

documentation and billing at all times. Regardless of the medium, counselors include sufficient

and timely documentation to facilitate the delivery and continuity of services. Counselors take

reasonable steps to ensure that documentation accurately reflects client progress and services

provided. (ACA Ethics Code 2014) Every client has the right to choose not to disclose
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information that they feel is not relevant to their counseling process. According to the ACA

Ethics code counselors respect the privacy of prospective and current clients. Counselors request

confidential information from clients only when it is beneficial to the counseling process. (ACA

Ethics Code 2014) Counselors also have a duty to remain ethical and protect their client

information, even their healthcare information. Counselors would be in violation of HIPPA by

disclosing health information, HIPPA compliance is also a client right that should be upheld.

When a counselor is licensed, they must be in compliance with credentialing board requirements.

This means being in compliance with informed consent and incorporating it into practice. If a

counselor fails to incorporate informed consent that is required by the board, it could result in

negative outcomes such as not being able to practice. Informed consent keeps the client aware of

the rights they have as a client and the options that are available to them to help them feel

protected.

Responsibility to warn and Protect

Clients can have a hard time processing their current barriers and possibly lack the coping

skills needed to help them at the moment. Clients can become overwhelmed with their barriers

and disclose information to counselors that is a threat to themselves or others. Counselors have a

duty to warn and a duty to protect individuals that may possibly be in danger due to clients.

The duty to warn is of greatest concern to mental health professionals. Because they work with

patients who may be unable to control their own impulses or may lack the intellectual capacity to

understand the consequences of their actions, mental health professionals must occasionally

make the decision to forgo confidentiality in favor of acting on their duty to warn. (Lasky 2020)

A client threatening to harm another individual with a plan is a factor that will cause a provider

to practice duty to warn. The duty to protect is focused on making others aware of the client’s
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threatening behaviors and possible dangers. Not only do counselors want to protect their client

but those that he or she may come in contact with as well if the client is a danger. According to

the National Conference of State Legislatures it is mandatory for mental health professionals to

have a duty to warn or protect in the state of Arizona.

Client Record-Keeping

When providing services for clients, keeping records of the services provided can be a

great safety net for those involved. Counselors create a safeguard and maintain documentation

necessary for rendering professional services. (ACA Ethics Code 2014) Clients should feel their

information is safe and protected by their provider. Clients should have the right to see

professionalism displayed when counselors are providing services. Clients come to professionals

for help, and they should feel safe when seeking that help. Good record keeping can also protect

providers from liability if a client tries to make an untrue claim against them. For example, a

client making a claim that their provider never offered them to be referred to a different

professional for addiction. Now that client is claiming their addiction is worse due to their

provider. Good record keeping would prove that the provider has made several referrals and the

client has missed multiple intake sessions after acknowledging each appointment. Also,

providers at time can be subpoenaed, which keeping good documentation can limit liability.

Part two: Self Care

Self-care behavior is recognized as an important component for helping professionals

who practice in the field of counseling or who are training to become a helping professional.

(Mayorga, Devries, Wardle 2015) The American Counseling Association recognizes that the

work counselors do, while particularly important and rewarding, can also be stressful. Self-care

is an essential tool that can help in dealing with stress. (ACA 2021). The ACA provides
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resources counselors can utilize for self-care and how to build habits of self-care. Maintaining

self-care between personal and work life can be challenging but possible. Counselors must learn

not to overwork themselves and set boundaries, such as not doing work after a certain time each

day to avoid consistently overworking. Also being mindful that counselors have a life outside of

work, so not being too consumed that your personal life suffers. Taking time off is important and

is needed for some counselors. This growing counselor actively takes days off to decompress by

getting salon appointments. This counselor actively practices self-care and implements any self-

care activities that can be thought of. Some red flags that may be present in counselors are lack

of sleep, appetite, or concentration in the work environment, these all can be signs that a

counselor may need to address personal barriers. Although counselors offer services to others,

counselors do not have all the answers and may need to see a counselor for themselves. There is

nothing wrong with seeking professional help, something counselors advocate for with their

clients. There are plenty of counseling services and resources available, such as one on one

counseling for counselors.

Advocacy

There are many barriers’ counselors are encountering and those barriers can affect the

communities we live in. Counselors not being able to access those students that need the help in

underfunded schools can be damaging to the community. The Increasing Access to Mental

Health in Schools Act is important and should be fought for. Youth are being exposed to more

barriers in their communities and can lack the help they need. School counselors are needed in

under-resourced communities, due to youth being exposed to irreversible coping skills. Suicide

has become a very disheartening trend in the youth of today and youth that do not have access to

counselors are not learning proper coping skills. Adolescents and young people are an important
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risk group, with suicide being the second leading cause of death, in a growing trend, in those

aged between 15 and 29 years worldwide and, although in global terms the crude suicide

mortality rate has declined worldwide in the decade 2010-2020, in the adolescent population it

has continued to increase (Sánchez-Muros, Jiménez-Rodrigo 2021) The ACA gives counselor’s

access to VoterVOICE to take action by contacting local representatives on federal and state

issues. Counselors can utilize this to voice their opinion and push for more counselors in schools.

Counselor Values

Abortion can be a tough topic to discuss and an even tougher decision to make, especially

when a client does not have family support. Providing services to a 19-year-old rape victim who

is considering abortion can be difficult. As a counselor it is important to keep the client’s well-

being first despite how the family may feel. The primary responsibility of counselors is to respect

the dignity and promote the welfare of clients. (ACA Ethics Code 2014) Referring the family out

to another provider that specializes in family counseling may be beneficial for this situation. If

another provider is not available, helping the client voice that many rape victims do not want to

be reminded of their horrible encounter. Keeping a baby that was produce from rape can be a

daily reminder of what happen to this client. This can cause a client to relive her trauma daily,

which can later develop into deeper barriers. Keeping the baby can also create a rift in the family

relationship due to the client feeling forced to keep the baby. Families must learn that they can

cause deeper trauma within their loved ones by forcing their values on family members that do

not share the same values. Gay adoption may bother some counselors, and some may not even

give it a second thought. Making sure the couple weighs their options and makes the best

decisions for their family is what matters. Prompting the clients to construct a list of why they

are choosing either option should help the couple have better understanding of each viewpoint.
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Counselors must remain objective during sessions and remove all bias or personal values from

the therapeutic process. If a counselor cannot remain objective, this may affect the quality of the

counseling relationship and has the potential to harm the client. (Natwick 2017)

It is important that a counselor is protecting their clients’ rights, acknowledging their duty

to warn and protect as well as keeping proper documentation. Counseling can be a challenging

occupation which is why it is important to practice self-care to be able to effectively advocate for

clients. Counselors must be mindful while advocating for their clients, they can set their personal

values aside to avoid harming the therapeutic process. The counseling process is a constant

opportunity to grow for the client and counselor.

References

American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of

ethics. https:// www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-

ethics- finaladdress.pdf

Corey, G., Corey, M., Corey, C., & Callanan, P. (2019). In Issues and ethics in the helping

professions (9th ed., pp.8,12). essay, Cengage Learning.

G. Mayorga, M., De Vries, S., & Ann Wardle, E. (2015). The practice of Self-Care among

Counseling students. i-Manager’s Journal on Educational Psychology, 8(3), 21–28.

https://doi.org/10.26634/jpsy.8.3.3101

Karmen Hanson, A. G. (2018). Mental health Professionals' duty to warn.

https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/mental-health-professionals-duty-to-warn.aspx.

Lasky, J. (2020). Duty to Warn. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.

Natwick, J. (2017). Familyties:Tackling Issues Objectivity and Boundaries in Counseling.

https://doi.org/https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/ethics-columns/

ethics_april_2017_family-ties.pdf?sfvrsn=e625522c_4

Sánchez-Muros, P.-S., & Jiménez-Rodrigo, M.-L. (2021). Digital media and YOUTH SUICIDE:

Analysis of media reporting on “BLUE Whale” case. Communication & Society, 34(3),

117–133. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.34.3.117-133

Self-Care resources for counselors. ACA(WEBusage). (2021).

https://www.counseling.org/knowledge-center/mental-health-resources/self-care-resources-

for-counselors.
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Take action. ACA(WEBusage). (n.d.).

https://www.counseling.org/government-affairs/actioncenter.