Law vs. Ethics in Counseling Ethical standards are often drafted by professional groups or associations with the main objective of guiding the conduct of the members of such associations. Ethical standards not only help to guide the behavior of members, but also improve professionalism and form a standard of accountability. In the United States, the AACD (American Association for Counseling and Development) and the ACA (American Counseling Association) have developed ethical standards to be used by counselors. These standards not only provide a guideline for how to deal with certain issues, but also provide a framework for gauging accountability and professionalism in the field of counseling. However, the ethical standards don't offer specific answers to the actual real-life dilemmas that counselors face in the line of duty. In cases where the ethical standards don't provide specific answers, it is the duty of counselors to seek advice from their fellow practitioners, professionals and their supervisors before deciding on their next steps. At least once in almost every counselor's career path, he or she may learn of a colleague's unethical conduct. It is the duty of all counselors to address any misconduct that they become aware of.

Unlike ethical standards, laws are actual codified standards that must be adhered to. Failure to adhere to codified standards may result in one being penalized in a court of law. Governing laws are often set to guarantee moral and legal justice. In cases where ethical standards and laws say two different things, the counselor must act in a reasonable way, ensuring that no harm comes to his or her client. Usually, since the penalties associated with breaking laws are more severe than those associated with not sticking to ethical guidelines; counselors will often follow the law if that course of action won't put the client at risk. There are several laws that are linked to counseling; however, the majority of them are case laws. They include: Ramona trial (1993) in which the court declared that counselors have a duty of care - counselors are legally required not to act in a negligent manner; Tarasoff vs. Board of Regents of the University of California (1976) -- in which the court declared that counselors have a legal obligation to warn if an identifiable individual is in the way of harm; Weldon vs. Virginia State Board of Psychologist Examiners (1974) -- in which the court stated that counseling is a profession that is separate and distinct from psychology; and the 1971 Iowa Law Review Note in which counselors were legally recognized as experts/professionals.

Counter Transference as an Ethical Concern in Counseling

There are two types of counter transference, helpful and unhelpful or harmful. Many modern counselors openly tell their clients their own feelings and may use it to understand the similarities or differences between their own experiences and those of their clients. However, harmful counter transference is whereby a therapist or a counselor shares misplaced feelings with a client or shares feelings so as to satisfy their own psychological needs. For instance, unhelpful counter transference can happen in a situation whereby a client may start acting defiant to a counselor and he or she may then transfer the feelings or emotions of defiance that he or she felt towards their parent to the counselor. However, a problem would arise if the counselor would react to the client as he or she would respond to their own child, for instance by unknowingly becoming controlling. Such a reaction would negatively affect the work relationship and propagate some of the unhealthy behaviors that the client may be suffering from. Another example of counter transference is whereby a counselor is not prepared to deal with clients who express personal beliefs or preferences that are different from their own, such as homophobic or racist remarks. When a counselor reacts to such remarks without being aware of the counter transference then he or she could likely further jeopardize the client's unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. A professional counselor or psychologist could react to the situation by trying to understand the root cause of the damaging or negative views or beliefs that the client has and discussing that cause with the client. A therapist who spends a lot of time on smaller details of the client's life may not be aware of his own counter transference. A good counselor should endeavor to always be on the lookout for any sort of counter transference from their side when working with clients who have experienced the same kinds of stress or trauma that they have also experienced. Counselors may also show counter transference by: being overly interested in a situation; showing their anger; visibly distancing themselves from their clients or pushing clients to take action without taking into account their wishes or opinion. A counselor or a therapist must always remain neutral when treating a client regardless of what he or she might feel about the situation.

Meaning of Discriminatory Referrals in Counseling

There is an ethical dilemma that exists with regards to client referrals. Two standards (standard 3.01 on Unfair Discrimination and standard 2.01(b) on boundaries of competence) of APA's Ethical Principles...

Discriminatory referrals are referrals in which a psychologist refers a client in a case where he or she believes that he or she cannot work with the client's present concern (either due to a lifestyle, values or religious conflict) before the said psychologist consults with the client, or before he or she seeks consultation, advice or educates himself or herself so that he can have the capability to provide the required services. The referral ought to be based on skills competency. A client should only be referred if the psychologist feels that she or he truly lacks the competency to handle the presenting issue. Standard C.5. of the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics states that its professionals should not discriminate on the basis of socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, spirituality, religion, race, ethnicity, disability, culture or age. Thus it is clear that a counselor should not refer a client based on his or her personal beliefs on any of these characteristics. All referrals are required to undergo a due process in which the client is to be consulted.
Cultural Encapsulation as an Ethical Issue in Counseling

A culturally encapsulated belief is characterized by: unwillingness to assess other perspectives; acceptance of unreasoned assumptions; ignorance of proofs that clearly disconfirm one's beliefs; and lack of sensitivity to cultural variations. The primary role of ethical standards is to offer guidelines; which professionals should use to make their day-to-day decisions. Thus, when a practitioner is faced with difficult decisions to make, the standards provide a transparent and systematic process that he or she can use to make the decision. One of the key components of ethical standards is aspirational ethics. These standards embody the development of a practitioner in terms of his or her values' sensitivity and multicultural awareness. Such personal growth is encouraged by ethical standards and it goes beyond the call of duty. This clearly shows that there is a distinction in clinical ethics i.e. there are those ethics that are mandatory and must be followed and there are those which are aspirational, in that they are personal and their pursuit contributes to better outcomes for everyone involved. For several reasons, there are counselors who might view aspirational ethics as unnecessary. However, this is wrong; a counselor's willingness to meet these ethics by understanding a client's cultural needs will help him or her to be more effective.

Ethical issues in Working with Minors in Counseling

For the simple reason that children are not adults, different ethical concerns will arise when the client one is dealing with is a child. There are 4 ethical issues that arise when counseling children: Confidentiality, Informed Consent, counselor competence and report of child abuse.

Confidentiality: Code of ethics advice counselors to maintain discretion just as spelt out by the federal and state laws. Standard A.2.a states that every client has the right to informed approval and freedom to choose to enter and stay in therapy after understanding their rights and responsibilities, together with the counselor's responsibilities. In addition, the ACA needs counselors to respect the rights of a client to confidentiality, unless they reveal an intention to hurt themselves or others or in case the client reveals that he/she has a life-threatening and communicable illness. ACA needs counselors to protect discretion in accordance to the federal and state laws when counseling minor clients.

Counselor Competence: Ethical codes describes the limits of competence for mental health counselors as practicing in circumstances founded on training, education, state and national professional records, supervised experience, and suitable professional knowledge. When the counselor steps into a new specialty, and when developing new skills, counselors ought to make all efforts to safeguard their clients from harm. This is particularly true with kids as a population already regarded vulnerable. According to the ACA, counselors need to…