Quiz one ethics

Mandatory Ethics

Enforces minimal standards of professional functioning (the "musts" and "must nots") required to avoid disciplinary or legal consequences.

Aspirational Ethics

Strives for the highest ideals of practice by understanding and embodying the true spirit behind the professional ethics code.

Positive Ethics

A proactive approach that shifts focus away from fear of punishment (remedial ethics) toward an articulated vision of optimal client care.

Remedial Ethics

A defensive, fear-based approach focused strictly on avoiding lawsuits, disciplinary complaints, or rule breaches.

Principle Ethics

Focuses on obligations, rules, and policies to solve a specific dilemma. Asks: "What shall I do?"

Virtue Ethics

Focuses on the character, traits, and moral integrity of the counselor. Asks: "Am I doing what is best for my client?"

Autonomy

Respecting self-determination, fostering client empowerment, and decreasing dependence within the client's cultural framework.

Nonmaleficence

Avoiding harm and refraining from actions that risk hurting or exploiting clients.

Beneficence

Doing good, promoting client well-being, and contributing positively to society.

Justice

Ensuring fairness and equal access to mental health services regardless of background, race, SES, or orientation.

Fidelity

Fulfilling responsibilities of trust, keeping promises, and maintaining realistic commitments to clients.

Veracity

Dealing truthfully and honestly with clients to build therapeutic trust.

Self-Care in Ethics

An essential ethical foundation requiring counselors to maintain their own well-being so clinical capacity remains unimpaired.

Primary Objectives of Ethics Codes

(1) Educate practitioners on sound conduct, (2) provide professional accountability, and (3) serve as a catalyst for improving practice.

Key Limitations of Ethics Codes

They are broad/general (not cookbooks), tend to be reactive, and require professional interpretation rather than rote compliance.

Ethics vs. Law Conflict

When professional ethics codes and statutory laws directly conflict in court proceedings, the law overrules ethics.

Assessing a Legal Issue

Determining if legal proceedings have started, lawyers are involved, or a formal misconduct complaint is threatened.

The 7-Step Ethical Decision-Making Model

(1) Identify problem, (2) identify potential issues, (3) review ethics codes, (4) know laws, (5) obtain consultation, (6) consider options/consequences, (7) decide, document, and evaluate.

Role of Emotions in Decision-Making

Ethical deliberation is non-linear and emotional; counselors must slow down and recognize how feelings influence clinical judgment.

Involving the Client in Ethical Decisions

Consulting clients throughout the decision-making process increases transparency, respects autonomy, and yields better outcomes.

Maya Case Dilemma

Balancing Nonmaleficence/duty to protect against Autonomy/confidentiality for a 15-year-old client struggling with self-harm.

Maya Case Resolution

Perform a suicide risk assessment, review confidentiality limits, and involve parents as required by law while actively collaborating with Maya to preserve trust.

Kevin Case Resolution

Applying Virtue Ethics when a client faces job loss by exploring flexible sliding-scale or pro bono options rather than immediate termination.

Self-Monitoring Requirement

Most ethical violations occur inadvertently and go undetected by licensing boards, making ongoing internal self-reflection essential.

Counselor Self-Awareness

Examining unresolved personal conflicts, vulnerabilities, and needs so they do not obstruct client progress.

Introspection in Therapy

Recognizing topics or client issues that make the counselor uncomfortable in order to prevent personal blind spots.

Motivation for Becoming a Helper

Recognizing personal needs (e.g., need for approval, power, or control) so they are not satisfied at the client's expense.

Danger of Advice-Giving

Placing the counselor in a superior position and fostering client dependence rather than promoting autonomous problem-solving.

Transference

The client's unconscious projection of past feelings, expectations, or caregiver dynamics onto the therapist.

Sexualized Transference

An intense form of transference where a client develops romantic or sexual feelings for the therapist (e.g., Sopranos scenario).

Countertransference

The therapist's internal emotional response or projection onto the client is based on the therapist's own unresolved needs or conflicts. It can lead to biased perceptions and hinder the therapeutic process.

Manifestations of Countertransference

Includes giving unsolicited advice, excessive self-disclosure, or adopting a bland approach out of fear of client anger.

Benign Treatment via Fear of Anger

A counselor treating a client in overly bland, timid ways to guard against provoking the client's anger or hostility.

Managing Countertransference

Gaining self-understanding, establishing firm boundaries, and using clinical supervision or personal therapy for objectivity.

Ethical View on Client Dependence

Normal early in therapy, but unethical when counselors actively foster or prolong dependency for financial or emotional reasons.

Ethical Termination

Viewing termination as an intentional, collaborative process over time rather than a sudden, discrete event.

Progression of Practitioner Distress

Stress -> Burnout -> Compassion Fatigue -> Therapist Decay -> Professional Impairment.

Burnout

A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion marked by cynicism, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.

Compassion Fatigue

A state of physical and emotional exhaustion that leads to a reduced capacity for empathy and compassion toward clients.

Professional Impairment

Severe psychological depletion or distress that prevents a practitioner from delivering competent, objective clinical care.

Self-Care as an Ethical Imperative

The ongoing practice of maintaining personal well-being so that clinical judgment and functioning remain unimpaired.

Self-Compassion

Developing caring, nonjudgmental, and accepting attitudes toward oneself to enhance clinical effectiveness and well-being.

Tara Case (Unit 2)

Highlights client attachment and excessive contact; requires setting firm boundaries while addressing underlying attachment needs.

Jasmine Case (Unit 2)

Demonstrates extreme client dependence and personal questions; requires establishing boundaries while fostering self-reliance.

Blake Case (Unit 2)

Demonstrates a counselor fostering extreme client dependence by being available 24/7 and lending money, breaching professional boundaries.

Enjolie Case (Unit 2)

Illustrates therapy becoming a substitute for social life without measurable progress, requiring goal re-evaluation or ethical termination.

Ethical Bracketing

The intentional process of setting aside personal values to provide objective, nonjudgmental, and neutral care to clients despite biases.

Value Imposition

Directly or indirectly attempting to influence a client to adopt the counselor's personal beliefs, values, or worldview.

Discriminatory Referral

Unethically referring a client simply because their values, lifestyle, religion, or orientation differ from the counselor's personal beliefs.

Competence-Based Referral

An ethical referral made strictly because the counselor lacks the clinical skill, training, or expertise to treat the client's specific issue.

Ward v. Wilbanks

Legal precedent upholding a university's right to enforce ethical codes prohibiting value-based discrimination against LGBTQ+ clients.

Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley

Court ruling confirming that counseling students cannot use religious beliefs to justify refusing care to LGBTQ+ clients.

Cultural Humility

An ongoing commitment to self-evaluation, recognizing limitations in one's worldview, and respecting client cultural backgrounds.

Socioeconomic Differences (SES) in Therapy

Validating structural and economic barriers rather than labeling low-income clients as unmotivated or resistant when missed appointments occur.

LGBTQ+ Affirming Care Standards

Refusing services to LGBTQ+ clients constitutes unethical discrimination; counselors are obligated to acquire skills for competent care.

Culture of Disability

Understanding the unique systemic barriers faced by individuals with disabilities and ensuring equitable access to care.

Alex & Sarah Case (Unit 3)

Explores a counselor managing personal discomfort regarding a client's disclosure of becoming an exotic dancer.

Jessica Case (Unit 3)

Addresses a counselor's monogamous personal values conflicting with a client's polyamorous relationship structure.

Reggie Case (Unit 3)

Involves a client seeking to reduce guilt over extramarital affairs, requiring the counselor to avoid value imposition while exploring clinical goals.

Sheila & Brendan Case (Unit 3)

Highlights an atheist therapist inappropriately challenging a client's spiritual convictions regarding marriage.

Ruby Case (Unit 3)

Examines a counselor with a gay son managing internal reactions to a client expressing hostility toward LGBTQ+ individuals.

Dual or Multiple Relationships

Blending a primary professional counseling role with a secondary nonprofessional role (e.g., social, financial, or business).

Boundary Crossing

A minor, non-harmful shift in professional role boundaries that may be clinically benign or beneficial (e.g., accepting a small gift or attending clients public event)

Boundary Violation

A serious, exploitative, and harmful breach of professional boundaries that compromises client welfare and benefit the practioners needs(e.g., sexual intimacy).

Rigid Adherence to Boundaries

Refusing all touch, gifts, or extensions under any circumstances, which can harm the therapeutic relationship as much as a violation.

Role Blending

Combining multiple professional roles (e.g., educator and supervisor); requires vigilance and clear safeguards against exploitation.

Evaluating Gift-Giving

based on monetary value, clinical timing, cultural context, clinical implications of accepting or denying, and helper motivations.

Touch in Therapy

An intervention that must be used cautiously, considering client trauma history, cultural norms, and risk of misinterpretation. also risk of re-traumatization

Rural and Small Community Practice

Settings where overlapping relationships are often unavoidable, requiring social media policies, transparency, and ongoing consultation.

Digital Boundaries & Social Media Policies

Establishing clear guidelines during informed consent regarding online contact to prevent boundary confusion.

Socializing with Current Clients

Generally discouraged due to risks of loss of objectivity, boundary confusion, and fostering client dependency.

Socializing with Former Clients

Discouraged due to persistent power dynamics, lingering clinical influences, and risk of future re-entry into therapy.

Managing Sexual Attraction in Therapy

Acknowledging feelings privately, monitoring boundaries, seeking supervision, and never acting on attraction.

Sexual Misconduct in Therapy

A severe ethical and legal violation causing profound client harm, leading to license revocation and legal action. Most common allegation in malpractice suits

Maria & Jacob Case (Unit 4)

An addiction counselor in a rural area considering hiring a carpenter client, demonstrating potential dual relationship risks.

Millie & Andres Case (Unit 4)

A small-town scenario where an emergency medic must remove his therapist's clothing during a medical crisis, showing unavoidable dual contact.

Austin & Sienna Case (Unit 4)

Illustrates how routine therapist hugs can cause a lonely client to misread boundaries and expect a personal relationship.

Termination Planning

An ongoing, reflective process the therapist goes through aimed at fostering client self-determination so they no longer require therapy, rather than a single concluding event.

Stress

a response with many practitioners who assume the responsibilities for the clients lack of progress

Burnout

psychological response characterized by exhaustion, cynicim/ depersonalization and inefficiency.

Compassion Fatigue

A condition were by practitioners become less empathetic towards their clients

Risks Of Dual/ Multiple relationships

Conflicts of interest, exploitation, power differentials, and objectivity

When do Dual relationships become unethical?

harms the client, exploit or coerce or confusion, undermine objectivity

ex: business contract formation , treating friends and family, borrowing / lending money, socializing with clients

T OR F: The code of ethics of any professional organizations refers to boundary considerations such as home visits, meeting outside office ect…

F

T OR F: engaging in boundary crossing can pave the way to boundary violations and lead to complex dual relationships where the professional roles are blured

T

Social and Business relationships

is not unethical or illegal but the practice could lead to problems ; Imbalance of power after termination ; can lead to censorship so the social relationship isnt threatened

Rural / small community challenges

overlapping social on business relationship, effects on family members, dilemma of working with more than one family member, cleints who are friends with one another, children at same school

Stratagies for dual relationships in rual communities

1. transparency with client- clear and thorough social networking policies part of informed consent ; BOUNDARIES!!!!

2. CLEAR informed consent

3. set limits

4. Ongoing consultation and supervision from coworkers

T OR F: Counsellors evaluate who benefits from touch, obtain consent and ensure alignment with therapeutic goals

T

Sexual Misconduct Harms

Trauma: client can develop self destructive behavioiurs / experiences worsening mental health conditon due to betrayal

Distrust in future providers

Best Practices and Guidelines

1. Prioritize client welfare

2. document

3. seek consultation

4. apply culturally responsive judgement

5. maintain professional boundaires