Article 1.2.3

Ethics in the Counseling Profession

Keywords: counseling, marriage and family therapy, psychology, social work, mental health, profession, ethics, principle ethics, virtue ethics, mandatory ethics, aspirational ethics, standards, morals, code of ethics, professional accountability, practice, public welfare

Ethics in the Counseling Profession

The issue of ethics is fundamental to the field of mental health. Within this field are a number of disciplines, including counseling, marriage and family therapy, psychology, and social work. Each of these disciplines adheres to ethical standards in their provision of services in order to maintain healthy relationships with the public. Though these disciplines work hard to establish and refine their ethical standards for public good, the knowledge of these ethical considerations tends to remain with the professionals themselves. Dissemination of the information occurs through journals and books intended for professionals and written in discipline-specific language. This limits the public knowledge and understanding of ethical considerations in the mental health fields that service them. Focusing on the counseling profession, the aim of this article is to make the ethics of this discipline public knowledge. Knowledge of a profession’s approach to ethics and its manner of establishing and enforcing ethical standards empowers the public to both trust in its services and hold it accountable.

Contextual Framework

Both morality and ethics inform the decisions counselors make in interactions with others, yet they are not interchangeable terms (Remley & Herlihy, 2007). Gladding, Remley, and Huber (2001) cited Barry (1982) as considering morality to reflect directly on the “conduct itself, whereas ethics refers to the “study of” that moral conduct (p. 3). Furthermore, Remley and Herlihy (2007) recognize morality as socially and culturally developed at an individual level, while ethics represent a philosophical discipline that explores moral decision-making in human behavior (p. 2). Within professional practice, ethics are described as “acceptable or good practice according to agreed-upon rules or standards of practice established by a profession” (Cottone & Tarvydas, 2003, p.4).

Like morality and ethics, laws are also intended to inform decisions made in interactions with others (Remley & Herlihy, 2007), yet, rather than being established by the individual, or by particular professions, they are established by society through the governmental and legal system. While laws represent the minimum standards of behavior tolerated by society, ethics represent the ideal standards of the profession. Laws are created and upheld by government officials, while ethics are created and upheld by members of the counseling profession (Remley & Herlihy, 2007, p.3).

The Purpose of Ethics in Mental Health Professions

A code of ethics is necessary before a group of practitioners can be considered a profession (Allen, 1986). Professions have established codes of ethics to safeguard themselves from the government, their own professionals, and the public (Gladding et al., 2001, p. 6). By holding themselves to a higher standard than the law, they protect the profession from government regulation. As a means of protecting the profession from its own professionals, codes of ethics serve as a standard by which all must abide. When members of a profession agree to certain rules of practice, solidarity and unification occurs. Through this stability, the profession has a unified voice and presence in society. To protect professionals from the public, these codes of ethics provide standards by which compliance will guard professionals from lawsuits and malpractice.

While codes of ethics provide a safeguard for the profession, they also serve to protect the public from unethical practice (Herlihy & Corey, 2006, p. 8; Remley & Herlihy, 2007, p. 9). The primary manner in which a code of ethics protects the public is through ensuring accountability. This accountability is upheld in two ways. Professionals hold one another accountable through informal discipline, which is “the subtle or overt pressure colleagues exert on one another in the form of consultations about practices and referrals of clients.” Formal discipline is a mode of accountability exercised by “professional associations in publicly criticizing or censuring members and, in extreme cases, barring violators from membership” (Gladding et al., 2001, p.6). Both membership in the professional association and licensure can be at stake, commensurate with the ethical violation.

A code of ethics protects the public in two additional ways. One is through its existence: the presence of a code of ethics directs and educates practitioners as to what constitutes sound practice. The other is by catalyzing professionals to “aspire to a higher level of ethical thought, reflection, and practice” (Herlihy & Corey, 2006, p. 7-8). A code of ethics is a living document because it is continually explored and revised by the profession. As it grows, professionals are responsible for internalizing the intent of the code and committing these standards to practice (Remley & Herlihy, 2007).

Ethical Foundations in Counseling

The counseling profession’s code of ethics was established by its governing body, the American Counseling Association (ACA). ACA is the primary professional association for counselors across the United States and is critical to the unification of the profession. In developing its code of ethics, ACA strove to be specific enough to “assist with individual ethical quandaries and be broad enough to encompass many divergent ethical situations” (Herlihy & Corey, 2006, p.7). It is simply impossible for this code of ethics to give specific and absolute direction for every ethical issue that a counseling practitioner might encounter (Herlihy & Corey, 2006, p.7). Due to this reality, the application of a profession’s code of ethics in everyday practice can be challenging. When a counseling provider recognizes an ethical dilemma, that person looks to the profession’s code of ethics for direction. Helping professionals apply ethical standards to specific ethical dilemmas are both principle ethics and virtue ethics (Gladding, et al., 2001; Herlihy & Corey, 2006; Jordan & Meara, 1990; Remley & Herlihy, 2007). Principle ethics are founded on broadly accepted moral principles within the profession, and speak directly to the action that is to be taken (Kitchener, 1984; Remley & Herlihy, 2007; Urofsky, Engels, & Engebretson, 2008). Remley & Herlihy (2007) provide the following moral principles as foundational for principle ethics:

• Respect for autonomy means fostering self-determination. According to this principle, counselors respect the rights of clients to choose their own directions, act in accordance with their beliefs, and control their own lives. Counselors work to decrease client dependency and foster independent decision-making.
• Nonmaleficence means to do no harm. This principle, long established in the medical profession, obligates counselors to avoid actions that risk hurting clients, even inadvertently.
• Beneficence is the counterpoint to nonmaleficence. It could be argued that the obligation of ordinary citizens in our society ends with doing no harm to others, whereas professionals have a higher obligation to provide a service that benefits society. Thus, counselors actively do good, or are helpful and work to promote the mental health and wellness of their clients.
• Justice refers to the counselor’s commitment to fairness in professional relationships. Counselors’ actions and decisions must be fair to all concerned. Justice demands equality, which has implications for nondiscrimination and equitable treatment of all clients.
• Fidelity refers to fulfilling a responsibility of trust in the counseling relationship. Counselors strive to be faithful to the promises they make, such as keeping clients’ disclosures confidential.
• Veracity means truthfulness, and addresses the counselor’s obligation to deal honestly with clients and others with whom they relate professionally. (p. 7-8)

Virtue ethics look at the character traits and virtues of the decision maker (Herlihy & Corey, 2006; Jordan & Meara, 1990). According to Jordan and Meara (1990), from a virtue ethics standpoint, rather than asking, “What should I do?” a professional asks, “Who should I be?” (p. 8). Herlihy and Corey (2006) provide the following virtue ethics typically accepted by counseling professionals:

• Discernment (or prudence) involves the exercise of caution and deliberate reflection before taking action, along with foresight regarding possible consequences of any action. Discernment includes a tolerance for ambiguity, which is an essential trait given that most ethical dilemmas are fraught with ambiguities. Discernment also involves perspective-taking, which helps counselors to be aware that a client’s view of a situation may not be the same as the counselor’s view.
• Respectfulness is a broader term than autonomy, which is a highly individualistic concept (Meara et. al., 1996). When working with clients whose cultures are collectivistic or group-oriented, this virtue requires counselors to respect clients on terms that the clients themselves define.
• Integrity means that counselors have stable, coherent moral values along with active fidelity to those values in judgment and practice (Beauchamp & Childress, 1994).
• Self-awareness means that counselors know their own assumptions and biases and how these may affect their relationships with clients. This awareness is a prerequisite for effective cross-cultural counseling (Meara et al., 1996).
• Acknowledgement of the role of emotion in ethical decision-making is an important component of the feminist approach to ethics (Rave & Larsen, 1995). Virtue ethicists caution against assuming that emotion clouds reason. Instead, they contend that emotions (such as compassion) can inform reason.
• Connectedness with the community is rooted in the realization that counseling takes place within a cultural context. Therefore, it is vital that counselors are connected to and understand the norms and values of the communities in which they practice.

Another important distinction in the ethics of counseling provision is between mandatory ethics and aspirational ethics (Fuqua & Newman, 1989; Herlihy & Corey, 2006; Remley & Herlihy, 2007). Herlihy and Corey (2006) warn counselors that it is essential to attend both to the letter of the code and to its spirit (p. 9). Counselors are trained to operate at a level above mandatory ethics, which indicates mere compliance with the letter of the code (Remley & Herlihy, 2007). They are taught to aim for aspirational ethics, which describes the highest standards of practice toward which counselors aspire (Herlihy & Corey, 2006, p. 9). Understanding the spirit of the ethical code is a necessary part of aspirational ethics, and striving for this standard represents best practice. Remley and Herlihy (2007) capture the idea of best practice well in this passage:

Perhaps the concepts of law, ethics, and best practice in the field of counseling are on a continuum. Legal standards are the minimum society will tolerate from a professional; ethical standards prescribe the minimum other counselors will tolerate from fellow professionals; best practice is the very best a counselor could be expected to do. (p. 3)

In using best practice, counseling professionals not only regard the letter of the ethical code, but also aspire to understand fully how the code can help them optimally serve their clients. This stems from a base of knowledge of the ethical code and an understanding of the spirit of that code.

Enforcement of Ethics in the Counseling Profession

Licensure boards are empowered to enforce the ethical standards of their professions through state laws, which require licensure of practicing professionals. Licenses are awarded after detailed requirements in education, supervised clinical experience, and examination are met. They are also awarded with the expectation that ethical standards will be upheld.

When a counseling practitioner fails to uphold ethical standards, that person is subject to discipline from both the state licensure board and professional associations. Other professionals who become aware of a colleague’s ethical misconduct are obligated to take action that rectifies the issue (American Counseling Association, section H, 2005; Herlihy & Corey, 2006). The appropriate form of this action depends on the severity of the ethical concern and the violator’s response to feedback. It may involve informal discipline or the reporting of the offender to the licensure board or professional associations for formal discipline (American Counseling Association, section H, 2005; Gladding et al., 2001). Both clients who feel that their counselor has acted unethically and others who have become aware of ethical misconduct may also report a violation to the state licensure board and professional associations. When such complaints occur, the ethical code is used in an investigation of the involved counselor’s conduct. If that practitioner is found to have acted unethically, the board can take steps such as removal of licensure, suspension of licensure for a set time, and suspension of licensure with necessary criteria for reinstatement.

Summary and Conclusions

Mental health providers are regularly faced with ethical dilemmas that are ambiguous and challenging to manage. The ACA has worked hard to develop and continually revise its code of ethics, which counseling professionals use to negotiate these dilemmas. This code of ethics serves to protect the public from ethical misconduct, protect the counseling profession from governmental regulation, and protect the professionals belonging to the counseling organization (Gladding et al., 2001; Remley & Herlihy, 2007). As practitioners use their code of ethics to determine an appropriate course of action, they are expected to consider both principle and virtue ethics in the process, and strive towards best practice (Gladding et al., 2001; Herlihy & Corey, 2006; Remley & Herlihy, 2007). When counselors fail to operate at the level of best practice, they risk ethical misconduct and may subject themselves to informal or formal discipline. In extreme cases, reports of ethical misconduct may be necessary. Ethical boards take these reports seriously and have protocols for investigating the actions of their affiliate professionals (Herlihy & Corey, 2006). This system of ethical accountability is one that preserves the welfare of both the public and the professionals who serve it. The significant power of the public to hold the counseling profession accountable is an essential element of this system.

References

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