Professional ethics are guidelines that help people in a particular profession decide

what is right and wrong in their professional practice. These guides are intended to
protect clients and the professionals themselves. Ethics are generally described as
collectively agreed upon correct behavior within the context of a professional group.
Ethics are based on values; that is, on principles or qualities that are considered by the
professional group to be worthwhile and important. While personal values reflect what
individuals consider to be important and what they believe to be wrong or right,
professional values describe the beliefs the profession holds about people and how the
profession ought to conduct its work
Laws are more prescriptive than ethical standards, have been incorporated into code,
and carry greater sanctions or penalties for failure to comply. If legislation passes laws
requiring conduct incompatible with ethical codes, professional associations first try to
change the law. if that fails then they modify their ethical codes to fit in with the new
laws.
A code of ethics represents the values of a profession translated into standards of
conduct. A code of ethics provides structure to guidelines for a profession’s
membership to follow in professional practice and also for the public to anticipate in
interactions with the profession and its membership. It is important to differentiate
professional ethics and legally mandated ethics.
Code of Ethics serves five purposes:
1. Clarifying members’ ethical responsibilities
2. Supporting the ACA mission
3. Establishing principles for behaviour and best practices of ACA members
4. Serving as an ethical guide promoting the counseling profession’s values
5. Providing a basis for processing ethical complaints.

Ethical Principles Required Of Counselors

• counsellor’s encouragement of client growth
• professional responsibility.
• professional relationships.
• client rights, building trust and boundary setting between client and the counselor.
• requirements for counselor, which includes knowledge of and familiarity with
counseling tools, supervision and teaching.
• guidelines for training counselors.
• counsellors to add to the knowledge base of the profession and describes the proper
steps that need to be taken.
• ethical dilemmas
Kitchener (1984) has identified five moral principles that are viewed as the
cornerstone of our ethical guidelines:
The five principles, autonomy, justice, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and fidelity are
each absolute truths in and of themselves. By exploring the dilemma in regards to
these principles one may come to a better understanding of the conflicting issues.
1. Autonomy is the principle that addresses the concept of independence. The
essence of this principle is allowing an individual the freedom of choice and action.
It addresses the responsibility of the counselor to encourage clients, when
appropriate, to make their own decisions and to act on their own values. There are
two important considerations in encouraging clients to be autonomous. First,
helping the client to understand how their decisions and their values may or may
not be received within the context of the society in which they live, and how they
may impinge on the rights of others. The second consideration is related to the
client's ability to make sound and rational decisions. Persons not capable of making
competent choices, such as children, and some individuals with mental handicaps,
should not be allowed to act on decisions that could harm themselves or others.
2. Nonmaleficence is the concept of not causing harm to others. Often explained as
"above all do no harm", this principle is considered by some to be the most critical
of all the principles, even though theoretically they are all of equal weight
(Kitchener, 1984; Rosenbaum, 1982; Stadler, 1986). This principle reflects both the
idea of not inflicting intentional harm, and not engaging in actions that risk
harming others.
3. Beneficence reflects the counselor's responsibility to contribute to the welfare of
the client. Simply stated it means to do good, to be proactive and also to prevent
harm when possible.
4. Justice does not mean treating all individuals the same. Kitchener (1984) points
out that the formal meaning of justice is "treating equals equally and unequals
unequally but in proportion to their relevant differences“ . If an individual is to be
treated differently, the counselor needs to be able to offer a rationale that explains
the necessity and appropriateness of treating this individual differently.
5. Fidelity involves the notions of loyalty, faithfulness, and honoring commitments.
Clients must be able to trust the counselor and have faith in the therapeutic
relationship if growth is to occur. Therefore, the counselor must take care not to
threaten the therapeutic relationship nor to leave obligations unfulfilled.
ACA CODE OF ETHICS- MUSKAN NOTES
RCI Code of Ethics (Revised 2006)
Members and registrants shall
A: Obligations to the Public
 Engage only in accurate, appropriate and truthful promotion of his/her practice
 Be respectful of the rights of others in obtaining professional work or employment
 Make only accurate, truthful and appropriate statements or claims about his/her
professional qualifications, experiences or performance
B: Obligations to the Client
• Shall preserve the confidence of his/her client or employer and serve each in a
professional and competent manner.
• Shall exercise unprejudiced and unbiased judgment and conduct when performing
all professional services;
• Shall practice only in his/her area of competence;
• Shall decline any activity or employment, avoid any significant financial or other
interest, and decline any contribution if it would reasonably appear that such
activity, employment, interest, or contribution could compromise his or her
professional judgment or conduct, or prevent him/her from serving the best interest
of his/her client or employer, without making full disclosure to the client and
obtaining the client’s consent thereto
• Shall neither offer nor make any payment or gift to any public official, private
client or industry representative with the intent of influencing that person’s
judgment or decision in connection with an existing or prospective project in which
the member/registrant is interested; and
• May contribute his services or anything of value to those endeavors which the
member deems worthy. Further, a member or registrant has the right to participate
in the political process and to contribute time and money to political campaigns.
C: Obligations to the Profession and Building Industry
• Recognise the value and contributions of others engaged in the design and
construction process, and refrain from making false statements about the work
of others, and shall not maliciously injure or attempt to injure the prospects,
practice, or employment position of others; and
• Encourage professional education and research, as well as the development and
dissemination of information relating to the design and construction of roofing,
waterproofing, and building envelope systems.
Some ethical considerations/ issues:
Competence of therapist
 Competence is defined as ‘‘the possession of required skill, knowledge,
qualification or capacity’’.
 It is very important that therapists are aware of their competence, with regard to the
level of his/her knowledge, training and supervised experience in a particular kind
of therapy.
 In addition to the above, some of the authors also include ‘emotional competence’
to knowledge and technical skills . This actually means, whether the therapist is
aware of his emotional state while dealing with their clients.
 It is important that the therapists refrain from initiating or continuing a therapy
when they know or should know that there is a substantial likelihood that their
personal problems will prevent them from performing their work in a competent
manner.
 Further, when a therapist becomes aware of personal problems that may interfere
with performing their duties adequately, they take appropriate measures, such as
obtaining professional consultation or assistance, and determine whether they
should limit, suspend, or terminate the therapy
Privileged communication
 communication’s recipient is exempted from disclosing it as a witness.
 Even if it is relevant to a case, a privileged communication cannot be used as
evidence in court.
 Privileged communications exist because society values the privacy or purpose of
certain relationships.
 A communication is not confidential, and therefore not privileged
 a communication between a counselor and client would be privileged even if the
counsellor’s secretary happened to overhear it.
Privacy
 The right to be free from secret surveillance and to determine whether, when, how,
and to whom, one’s personal or organisational information is to be revealed.
Types of Privacy
1)Physical: restriction on others to experience a person or situation through one or
more of the human senses;
2)  Informational: restriction on searching for or revealing facts that are unknown or
unknowable to others;
3)  Decisional: restriction on interfering in decisions that are exclusive to an entity;
4)  Dispositional: restriction on attempts to know an individual’s state of mind.
Confidentiality
 The obligation of confidentiality is relative rather than absolute since there are
conditions that can alter it.
 Confidentiality depends on the nature of the material, so that the material which is
already public or can easily become so is not bound by confidentiality in the same
way as the entrusted secret.
 Material that is harmless does not bind the counselor to confidentiality.
 The material that is necessary for a counselor or an agency to function effectively
is often released from the bounds of confidentiality.
 Confidentiality is always conditioned by the intrinsic right of the counselee to his
integrity and reputation, to the secret, and to resist aggression. Such rights can be
protected by the counselor even against the law.
 Confidentiality is limited to also by the rights of the counselor to preserve his own
reputation and integrity, to resist harm or aggression, and to preserve privileged
communication.
 Confidentiality is determined and limited by the rights of an innocent third party
and by the rights of the community.
Ethical Principles of Confidentiality
 The law places physical safety above considerations of confidentiality for the right
of privacy. The client is a danger to self and others. Protection of the person takes
precedence and includes the duty to warn.
 The client requests the release of the principle and privacy remains with the client
and maybe waved. The counselor should release information as requested by the
client.
 A court orders a release of information. The responsibility under the law for the
counselor to maintain confidentiality is overridden when the court determines that
the information is needed to serve the cause of justice.
 The counselor is receiving systematic clinical supervision. The client gives the
right of confidentiality when it is known that session material will be use during
supervision.
 Clerical assistance process information and papers related to the client. The client
should be informed that the office person will have access to the records for routine
matters such as billing and record keeping.
 Legal and clinical consultations are needed; the client should be informed (ethical)
rights of the counselor to obtain other professional opinions about progress and the
name(s) of those used as consultant (s).
 Clients raise the issue of their mental health in a legal proceeding. In a custody suit,
parents introduce their mental condition into the suit, where upon they authorise
the release of the counselor’s records.
 A third party is present in the room, clients are (presumably) aware of person other
than the counselor is present and therefore wave their right of privacy in permitting
the third person to be present
 Clients are below the age of 18, parents or guardians have the legal rights to
communication between the minor and counselor.
 In intra agency or institutional sharing of information is part of treatment process
otherwise confidential material maybe shared among professional staff when it is
in the interest of the client to do so, however, the client must be aware that this is
being done.
 Sharing of information is required within a penal system. Information obtained
from prisoners that may otherwise be considered confidential maybe shared within
the system in the interest of the operation of the system and disposition of the case.
 The client’s purpose in disclosing information was to seek advice in the furtherance
of crime and fraud. The obligation here changes from one of maintaining
confidentiality to one of preventing society from further criminal activity.
 The counsellor has reason to suspect child abuse. All states now legally require the
reporting of suspected abuse
PROFESSIONAL ISSUES, ETHICS, Science of Helping EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN COUNSELLING.pdf

EthicsinCounseling.pdf