CHAPTER 12 ETHICAL, PERSONAL, AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

1. Publisher to insert cover image here CHAPTER 12ETHICAL, PERSONAL, AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES Developed by: Kelli Saginak, Amy Taake, & Anna GirdauskasUniversity of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

2. School Counseling and Ethics • School Counselors must be aware of the rights of parents and legal guardians • Must also have awareness of federal, state, and local laws; court decisions; state regulations; and school board policies • Ethical practice involves much more than day-to-day decisions school counselors make when working with students and partners • Involves counselor personal and professional development and self-care

3. School Counseling and Ethics • School Counselors must be aware of the rights of parents and legal guardians • Must also have awareness of federal, state, and local laws; court decisions; state regulations; and school board policies • Ethical practice involves much more than day-to-day decisions school counselors make when working with students and partners • Involves counselor personal and professional development and self-care

4. The School Counseling Codes of Ethics • School counselors must be familiar with both sets of ethical codes, ACA and ASCA!

5. The School Counseling Codes of Ethics • ASCA Ethical Standards of School Counselors is broken into 7 sections: • Responsibilities to the Students • Responsibilities to Parents/Guardians • Responsibilities to Colleagues and Professional Associates • Responsibilities to School, Communities, and Families • Responsibilities to Self • Responsibilities to the Profession • Maintenance of Standards

6. Legal Issues • Legal issues become more involved as students mature towards the age of 18 • One of the most important laws is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) • Schools receiving federal funds must provide access to all school records to parents of minor students and to the students after they reach the age of 18.

7. Legal Issues • Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act of 1976 • Counseling records of any students participating in substance use programs receiving federal funds need to be given greater protection than other counseling records • The information is protected from the student’s parents

8. Legal Issues • Legal issues become more involved as students mature towards the age of 18 • One of the most important laws is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) • Schools receiving federal funds must provide access to all school records to parents of minor students and to the students after they reach the age of 18.

9. Legal Issues • Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act of 1976 • Counseling records of any students participating in substance use programs receiving federal funds need to be given greater protection than other counseling records • The information is protected from the student’s parents

10. Legal Issues • School counselors must be familiar with legislation regarding reporting of suspected child abuse or neglect • Definition of abuse or neglect includes physical and sexual abuse, psychological and emotional torment, abandonment, and inadequate supervision • Counselors are mandated reporters of suspected abuse • Multiple laws surrounding special education • The Americans with Disabilities Act • The Individuals with Disabilities Act • The Education for All Handicapped Children Act • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 • Individual with Disabilities Education Act of 1997

11. Legal Issues • Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects students against discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, or pregnancy • Equal access to educational programs, extracurricular activities, and occupational opportunities • Foundation of the sexual harassment guidelines • Harassment must be reported to school officials who have the responsibility to take action

12. Ethical Decision-Making Process • Applying an ethical decision-making model can structure the decision-making process in a professionally accepted and documented way

13. Ethical Decision-Making Process • The 9 Steps to Ethical Decision-Making are: • Define the problem emotionally and intellectually • Apply the ASCA Ethical Standards and the law • Consider the student's’ chronological and developmental levels • Consider the setting, parental rights, and minor’s rights • Apply the moral principles • Determine your potential courses of action and their consequences • Evaluate the selected action • Consult • Implement the course of action

14. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Confidentiality • Most helpful to think of confidentiality as the need to keep private the details of a counseling session, unless there is a compelling reason to reveal details • Advocate for the use of agreements with parents and administrators to clarify the conditions of confidentiality with minor clients. • Share general information with parents rather than details of your work with students • There are differences in ways that school counselors perceive confidentiality depending on the issue, the age of the student, and the amount of contact with concerned others in the school setting

15. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Rights of Parents and Informed Consent • Involves parents’ legal permission for their minor child to participate in counseling • Issues can revolve around two topics: • The timing of the information about informed consent • The ability of the student to understand these limitations due to developmental maturity

16. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Both ASCA Ethical Standards and ACA Code of Ethics require information relative to the limits of confidentiality be discussed when the counseling relationship is initiated and throughout the counseling process

17. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Defining the “Client”: Conflict of Interest between Student and School • The counselor must inform officials of conditions that may be disruptive or damaging while still honoring the confidentiality between the counselee and counselor • Counselors should establish clear agreements with employers about the conditions of the work, but also agree with the employer’s general policies and principles • School Counselors must follow the rules, regulations, or policies of the school and the district, even while they work to get them changed

18. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Counselor Competence • Refers to skill areas in which you must be competent and skill areas in which you are not considered competent without additional specialized training. • Skill areas include: • Foundation counseling skills, the ability to encourage client growth and development, the ability to design collaborative counseling plans, etc..

19. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Some skill areas may need additional education/ training to be competent • It is ethical practice to remain aware of the lifelong need for professional development, renewal, and training

20. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Clinical Notes • Clinical records in the form of private notes kept in the sole possession of the counselor are not subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) • Administrative records are • As long as the counselor does not show them to anyone else, they are considered the counselor’s private notes • Recommended that counselors document enough information in a professional manner that demonstrates they acted professionally, ethically, and responsibly according to the ethics and standards of the profession

21. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Online Counseling and the Use of Technology • Specific ethical issues involved: • ACA Ethical Codes addresses this in Section A. 12 Technology Applications • The National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) has defined the Practice of Internet Counseling • No mandate to make online counseling available to your students • Many school counselors will establish and maintain a webpage for the CSCP • Be very consistent on checking the links on the website regularly!

22. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Diversity and Values • Understanding racial identity development and multicultural dynamics will help counselors understand more clearly the areas of congruence between their values and attitudes and those of their students • Issues of diversity extend to the rights of students to have a safe, harassment-free educational environment • Socioeconomic status is one of the most critical sources of values

23. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Diversity really refers to the differences in value systems • Only through careful self-analysis and self-awareness that counselors can come to articulate their own value system and avoid imposing their value system on clients

24. Common Legal/Ethical Problems • Equity and Access • Topmost ethical issue for school counselors is ensuring that all students receive access to equitable educational services • Includes CSCPs and addressing practices and/or policies that hinder students’ ability to access educational opportunities and services • Means everyone is on-board with targeting all gaps and barriers that hinder students’ academic achievement, school success, and college and career readiness

25. Professional Liability, Insurance, and Certification • School Counselors may be held liable for breach of confidentiality, negligence, or malpractice, for providing inadequate services, and for not protecting the student from suicide and/or threats of harm from others • Counselor’s are not covered by the insurance of the school if the interest of the school and the interest of the counselor are different • Counselors are urged, and sometimes required, to obtain their own professional liability insurance

26. Professional Liability, Insurance, and Certification • Professional licenses and certifications may mitigate the cost of liability insurance • May want to consider national certification as a counselor through NBCC • Individuals must successfully pass the National Counselor Exam (NCE) and have documented postgraduate experience and supervision • School Counselors in some states are eligible for status as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) • Standards vary by state

27. Responding to Legal Action • Recommended steps before complying with a court order: • Consult with professional colleagues about the situation • Consult with your administration about the situation • Consult with the school’s or the school district’s attorney • Consult with your state and/or national professional school counseling association • Review your documents about the situation

28. Responding to Legal Action • Be prepared to protest the subpoena in court, arguing that the information in your possession is not relevant or appropriate • If necessary, obtain legal advice on your own • If the subpoena is for testimony at a custody hearing, it is recommended that you do not become voluntarily involved • If forced to testify, limit testimony to only factual information- no opinions!

29. Resources and Recommendations for School Counselors • Strategies for establishing/maintaining work as an ethical school counselor include: • Obtain professional supervision periodically from a peer • Read about ethics in the professional literature • Take additional workshops, courses, and/or conference sessions on current issues in ethics • Keep current on contemporary issues in counseling • Obtain professional consultation as needed with peers about national, state, and local issues in schools and in school counseling

30. Resources and Recommendations for School Counselors • Do not limit yourself to contact with school counselors alone • Have an effective referral network in place and know the resources in your community

31. Resources and Recommendations for School Counselors • Strategies for establishing/maintaining work as an ethical school counselor include (continued): • Avoid working in a setting where the leadership and you have an ethical difference of opinion • Know the laws for your state • Be able to work with persons who hold different values than you

32. Personal Mental Health: Seeking Balance • Important to understand how to take care of your personal issues and needs while simultaneously taking care of the needs of your partners and stakeholders • Many sources of stress exist including: • Working with others who do not understand the work that counselors do • Struggles that students experience • Being expected to do more with less as budgets fail to keep up with needs

33. Personal Mental Health: Seeking Balance • Finding Your Center • Our awareness of our own values and morals is crucial to understanding ourselves, our students, and partners • Expanded to include values such as intrapersonal and interpersonal peace, compassion for all living things, and finding ways to help others and the planet • Deep self-knowledge facilitates the creation of a learning community

34. Personal Mental Health: Seeking Balance • Being centered fosters the elements needed to maintain balance in life • From our center comes creativity, imagination, flexibility, courage, belief, faith, and passion

35. Personal Mental Health: Seeking Balance • Doing Your Best, Then Letting Go • First step in letting go involves the recognition that each of us is responsible for our own choices in life • Only you can answer what constitutes as enough for your client • What can you live with, without compromising your own personal and professional health? • “Letting go” involves recognizing that the student, for his/her own reasons, is not ready to change

36. Personal Mental Health: Seeking Balance • Stress Management Strategies • Stress compromises performance, erodes stamina, and disables the natural resilience of both body and spirit • Important to be aware of the difference between productive, healthy levels of stress and non-productive, debilitating stress • Important to understand that stress comes from the way we perceive and internalize events in our lives

37. Personal Mental Health: Seeking Balance • The ultimate anti-stress weapon is self-esteem • A strong self-esteem makes us less likely to catastrophize events in our lives and bounce back from life’s inevitable disappointments and frustrations • Many ways to help manage stress- find one that works for you!

38. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Professional Identity • Ongoing process that involves the integration of education and training with individual characteristics within a professional field or environment • Counselor identity involves counselor self-perceptions of competence including multicultural, and values and beliefs

39. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Professional identity development model rests upon three concepts: • Defining counseling for oneself • Internalizing responsibility for one’s learning about counseling • Seeing oneself as part of a professional community to which and for which one is responsible

40. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Portfolios • Provides a venue for documenting the range of services and contributions delivered by professional school counselors • A compilation and maintenance of various “artifacts” that describe and validate one’s work history • Designed to illustrate what you do and can do as a professional counselor • Working Portfolio: the documentation of one’s entire professional development • Presentation Portfolio: select portion of working portfolio that is used for a specific purpose

41. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Artifacts to include in a portfolio: • Your philosophy of education • Your philosophy of comprehensive school counseling • Curriculum vitae or Resume • Practicum and Internship experiences • Results of work projects • Professional credentials • Continuing education courses, workshops, or presentations you have attended • Presentations you’ve made

42. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Publications you have authored • Professional memberships • Service to school, district, and/or community in terms of committee membership, volunteer positions, etc..

43. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Supervision • Can be conceptualized as three different functions: • Administrative Supervision: accounting for time, daily attendance, communication skills, and adherence to school policies • Most often provided by building or district administrator • Program Supervision: feedback relative to the progress of the comprehensive school counseling program • Provided by district pupil services administrator or a counselor supervisor in the building

44. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Technical, Clinical, or Counseling Supervision: feedback on counseling, intervention, and developmental curriculum delivery skills • Provided by an experienced counselor

45. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Colleague Consultation and Networking • Expands our connection to resources and partnerships, and expands our perspectives, knowledge, and skills • One-on-one consultation with peers can establish resources and expertise that can increase the effectiveness of your role and function • Not limited to school counselors only • Other pupil services professionals provide a rich source of perspectives, knowledge, skills, and expertise

46. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Lifelong Continuing Education • It is our professional responsibility to remain up-to-date with the changes and innovations in our chosen field as a licensed practicing professional • Many opportunities exist including • In-services • University and College courses • Continuing Education offerings • Conference Presentations and Trainings • Workshops and Seminars • Online Courses, webinars, podcasts, and virtual trainings

47. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Professional Associations • Membership and involvement in local, state, and national professional associations will provide you with a number of benefits that will enhance the work you do • Provides greater connection with other professionals

48. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Many Benefits: • Networking with colleagues either online or in person • Professional journals with current perspective on the field • Professional liability insurance • Opportunities for continuing education through conferences

49. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Evidence-Based Action Research • Most likely describe the delivery of services, strategies, and programming within a CSCP • Includes insights gained by professionals in the field-data collected from students, schools, teachers, programs, and activities-any source of information in your position or school

50. Professional Health: Being Realistic • Four-Step Making DATA Work model (Design, Ask, Track, Announce) provides school counselors and teams with a structure to organize their action research processes and report outcomes and findings • Consider how your evidence-based program data could potentially assist others in the field!