Indiana Counseling Ethics: Licensure, Confidentiality & Duty to Warn

Introduction

The state of Indiana, like all other states, regulates the professionals within its borders to ensure that they comply with state law. Ethical requirements are maintained by the state's individual counseling body — in this case, the Indiana Counseling Association. Guidance for licensure is controlled by the state's licensing agency, the Indiana Professional Licensing Administration. Through the efforts of these agencies, professional counselors understand the constraints and requirements of their profession, and consumers can understand the protections they are afforded when they seek counseling services. This essay examines specific requirements, how they are governed, and who bears responsibility for that governance.

Three professions — mental health counselors, marriage and family counselors, and clinical social workers — are governed by the statutes in Indiana licensure (IPLA, 2008). These three professions share some of the same responsibilities but, according to job title, differ in others. All three act as counselors during their time with clients, and all three use assessment materials. However, they also diverge in important ways. Clinical social workers seek out "tangible health services" (IPLA, 2008), marriage and family counselors use group and family techniques to resolve conflicts, and mental health counselors use information and community resources to promote client growth. Mental health counselors also conduct counseling referrals and engage in vocational planning (IPLA, 2008).

Three Licensed Counseling Professions in Indiana

All three professions have strict guidelines with respect to confidentiality, privileged communication, and the duty to warn. The statute regarding confidentiality holds that the confidentiality of the consumer is inviolate, except when the individual speaks of harming themselves or others, abuse to themselves or others, or when the counselor is ordered to divulge confidential information by a court (OCR, n.d.).

Privileged communication, according to the IPLA (2008), is any communication between a counselor and a consumer during the course of a therapeutic session. That privilege is waived, however, when:

Confidentiality, Privileged Communication, and Duty to Warn

"disclosure relates directly to the facts or the immediate circumstances of the homicide; reveals contemplation or commission of a crime; client is either a minor or incompetent adult and was abused or a victim of a crime; proceeding to determine mental competency; civil or criminal malpractice of the counselor; express consent of the client or client's representative; communication is to a physician who has established a physician-patient relationship; and, where abrogated by Indiana law" (IPLA, 2008).

The counselor's duty to warn is defined in Indiana statute as follows:

"The duty is discharged by a mental health service provider who takes one (1) or more of the following actions: Makes reasonable attempts to communicate the threat to the victim or victims; Makes reasonable efforts to notify a police department or other law enforcement agency having jurisdiction in the patient's or victim's place of residence; Seeks civil commitment of the patient under IC 12-26; Takes steps reasonably available to the provider to prevent the patient from using physical violence or other means of harm to others until the appropriate law enforcement agency can be summoned and takes custody of the patient; Reports the threat of physical violence or other means of harm, within a reasonable period of time after receiving knowledge of the threat, to a physician or psychologist who is designated by the employer of a mental health service provider as an individual who has the responsibility to warn under this chapter" (IPLA, 2008).

All of these provisions are also addressed by the Indiana Counseling Association's code of ethics.

Conclusion

As discussed throughout this essay, the guidelines established by the state and by professional associations are designed to protect both the counselor and the consumer. For that reason, all complaints and violations are treated as serious matters warranting thorough review.

Indiana Counseling Association. (n.d.). Ethical code. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.indianacounseling.org/

Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA). (2008). Indiana social worker, marriage and family therapist and mental health counselor board. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from

Office of Code Revision (OCR). (n.d.). Confidentiality requirements. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/2010/title31/ar33/ch18.html