Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Community Counseling
COUN 694:
Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Community Counseling
Winter 2008
2 credit hours
Wednesdays 5:30 to 7:15 p.m.
Instructor: Dibya Choudhuri, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, ACS
Office: 304 Porter Building
Phone: 734-487-0255
Office Hours: Mon, Wed, Thurs 1:00 to 4:00, and by appointment
E-mail: Dibya.choudhuri@emich.edu
Course Website:
Course Description
In order to work effectively in community settings, counselors must be aware of continuous changes in the profession. Of particular importance are ethical and legal issues that affect counseling, along with professional considerations such as community counselor identity, relationships with other mental health professionals, credentialing of mental health professionals, and managed care and third-party reimbursement. This course provides an opportunity for in-depth study of these areas.
Course Objectives
To become familiar with ethical decision-making models
To use ethical decision-making models to examine current ethical and legal issues/problems facing community counseling professionals
To learn about licensing and certification for counselors and other mental health professionals in the state and nation.
To understand and be able to communicate information about the counselor’s scope of practice as defined by Michigan licensure law
To be familiar with issues pertinent to community counselors, such as recognition of the profession, right to practice, and third party reimbursements.
To be familiar with professional issues pertinent to practice in community settings
To be prepared for a job search in community settings.
Course Expectations:
Since this is a seminar, class attendance and participation are extremely important. It is expected that students will have done the assigned readings, will come to class prepared to discuss those readings, and will submit all written work on time. Missing more than 1 class will lower a student's grade by half a grade (E.g. from A to an A-).
Required Reading:
E-Reserves Readings at
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Professional Disclosure Statement (due February 20) (15%)
After the topics of informed consent and professional disclosure are discussed in class, students will draft their own disclosure statements. Disclosure statements should be professionally appropriate for submission as part of an LLPC application and should reflect community agency/mental health counseling work (unless presented by a student in another program track)
Analyses of Ethical Dilemmas (due March 12) (30%)
Several ethical dilemmas will be assigned. This paper will include a discussion of how you would handle the situations and your rationale for doing so. (Dilemmas and questions to answer will be distributed in class)
Reflective research and literature paper (due April 9) (25%)
Based on a topic relevant to the student’s area of professional interest, the student will search the available literature, and develop a paper of approximately 10-12 pages in length.
Obtaining Employment in Community Agency Settings (due March 26)
The final project consists of two parts; the first part will be done individually, and the second will be done in dyads.
Part 1 (15 %)
Each student will select an ad (or a composite of several ads) for a counseling job in an agency setting. Note that this must be a community agency and not a school or college/university. The job must require a master’s degree in counseling or a related mental health profession (social work, psychology), along with the appropriate state licensure/certification.
The student will "apply" for the selected position and submit an application that includes the
following:
o Professional resume/vita
o A letter of interest/introduction that describes: your master’s degree program; “core” areas your training covers; specialty courses/areas of interest to you; your internship requirement and setting (use a hypothetical setting if you have not begun your internship); how your degree compares with degrees in other mental health professions (social work and psychology); your counseling license; a counselor’s scope of practice.
To prepare an accurate and convincing letter of introduction, you may need to do some investigation beyond the class on issues such as how your training compares to master’s level training in social work and psychology; insurance reimbursement for LPC’s; counselor’s scope of practice: and what master’s level social workers and psychologists can do with their licenses or certification.
Part 2 (5%)
In dyads, students will develop a 15 – 20 minute roleplay of a job interview. The interview should be based on one of the positions for which a student developed an application in Part 1 above. Students will work together to develop the interviewer’s questions and the interviewee’s responses. Roleplays will be presented to the class at the end of the semester.
Class Participation and engagement (10%)
Each student will take on responsibility of leading the group discussion of assigned readings for 2 weeks, preparing questions for discussion based off the readings and addressing ethical, legal, and professional issues. All students must have completed the readings and be ready to discuss the articles and related issues.
CPCE/Portfolio
Students who are graduating in April, June, August, or December 2008 must either complete the CPCE or present their portfolios to their advisor by April 8, 2008. This is a program requirement for graduation.
Grading: Possible points and grade equivalents are as follows:
| |Due |Points |
|Class participation and engagement |na |10 points |
|Reflective research and literature review paper |April 9 |25 points |
|Ethical dilemmas analysis |March 12 |30 points |
|Disclosure statement |Feb 15 |15 points |
|Final Project |March 26 |20 points(15 individual/5 dyad) |
95 - 100 A 83 - 86.5 B 73 - 76.5 C
90 - 94.5 A- 80 - 82.5 B- 70 - 72.5 C-
87 - 89.5 B+ 77 - 79.5 C+
COURSE OUTLINE
|DATE |TOPIC |READING |
|1/ 9 |Introduction/Course overview | |
|1/16 |Professional Identity |Professionalism’s Challenges -Gale & Austin |
| |Professional associations and advocacy |Advocacy - Myers, Sweeney, & White |
| |Community and mental health counseling | |
|1/23 |Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling |Counselor Licensure & Scope of Practice |
| |2005 ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice |(pp.14-16, Appendix E, F) |
| |NBCC Code of Ethics |Revision to Code of Ethics |
| |AMHCA Code of Ethics |ACA |
| |Ethical decision-making models |AMHCA |
| | |Refusal to Counsel GLBT |
|1/30 |Client Welfare, Client Rights |Counselor Licensure & Scope of Practice (p. |
| |Risk management |17) |
| |Informed consent – disclosure statements |Risk Management |
| |Michigan Mental Health Code |MI Mental Health Code |
|2/6 |Confidentiality and Privileged Communication Definitions |Privileged Communication |
| |Clients who are dangerous to others |Harm to others |
|2/13 |Psychopharmacology |Psychopharmacology |
| |Clients who are dangerous to self |Suicide |
|2/20 | Minor Clients: Ethical and Legal Considerations Rights of minors, Child abuse|Minors |
| |reporting |Child Protection law |
| | |PDS Due |
|2/27 |Winter Break | |
|3/5 |Counselor credentialing |Counselor Licensure & Scope of Practice (pp.9|
| |Michigan Licensure Law |–40) |
| | |Dr. Ametrano presents |
|3/12 |Diagnosis |Diagnosis |
| |Record Keeping |Subpoenas |
| | |Ethical Dilemmas Due |
|3/19 |Boundary Issues and Multiple Relationships |Professional Issues – read relevant |
| |Specific boundary issues |professions descriptions |
| |Multicultural considerations |Professional Will |
| |Guidelines for decision-making |Ethical decision making |
|3/26 |Supervision |Sutter |
| |Counselor Competence |Impaired Colleagues |
| |Impairment |Burnout |
|4/2 |Role play interviews |Final Project Application |
| |Consultation and Advocacy | |
|4/9 |Current Issues in Community Counseling |Research Presentations |
|4/16 |Marketing yourself as a professional counselor | |
Bibliography
Gale, A. U. & Austin, B. D. (2003). Professionalism’s challenges to professional counselors’
collective identity. Journal of Counseling & Development, 81, 3-10.
Myers, J. E., Sweeney, T. J., & White, V. E. (2002). Advocacy for counseling and counselors: A
professional imperative. Journal of Counseling & Development, 80, 394-402.
American Mental Health Counselors Association. (2001). Code of Ethics of the American Mental
health Counselors Association. Journal of Mental health Counseling, 23, 2-21.
Garcia, J. G., Cartwright, B., Winston, S. M., & Borzuchowska, B. (2003). A transcultural
integrative model for ethical decision making in counseling. Journal of Counseling & Development, 81, 268-277.
Hansen, N. D. & Goldberg, S. G. (1999). Navigating the nuances: A matrix of considerations for
ethical-legal dilemmas. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 30, 495-503.
DeBell, C. & Jones, R. D. (1997). Privileged communication at last? An overview of Jaffee v.
Redmond. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28, 559-566.
Glosoff, H. L., Herlihy, B., & Spence, E. B. (2000). Privileged communication in the counselor-
client relationship. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78, 454-462.
Caudill, O. B. (2002). Risk management for psychotherapists: Avoiding the pitfalls. In L.
Vandercreek & T. L. Jackson (Eds.), Innovations in clinical practice: A sourcebook (Vol.20) (pp. 307-323), Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press.
Kennedy, P. F., Vandehey, M., Norman, W.B., & Diekhoff, G. M. (2003). Recommendations for
risk-management practices. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34, 309-311.
Chennevile, T. (2000). HIV, confidentiality, and duty to protect: A decision-making model.
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 31, 661-670.
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for psychologists and other mental health professionals. Professional Psychology: Research
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Knapp, S. & Vandercreek, L. (2001). Psychotherapists’ legal responsibility to third parties: Does it
extend to alleged perpetrators of childhood abuse? Professional Psychology: Research and
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Baerger, D. R. (2001). Risk Management with the suicidal patient: Lessons from case law.
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 32, 359-366.
McAdams, C. R. & Foster, V. A. (2000). Client suicide: Its frequency and impact on counselors.
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Issacs, M. L. & Stone, C. (2001). Confidentiality with minors: Mental health counselors’ attitudes
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356.
Sherman, M. D. & Thelen, M. H. (1998). Distress and professional impairment among
psychologists in clinical practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 29, 79-85.
Carroll, L. Gilroy, P. J., & Murra, J. (2003). The effect of gender and self-care behaviors on
counselors’ perceptions of colleagues with depression. Journal of Counseling &
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Saakvitne, K. W. (2002). How to avoid the occupational hazards of being a psychotherapist. In L.
Vandercreek & T. L. Jackson (Eds.), Innovations in clinical practice: A sourcebook (Vol.20)
(pp. 325-341), Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press.
Sutter, E., McPherson, R. H., & Geeseman, R. (2002). Contracting for supervision. Psychology:
Research and Practice, 33, 495-498.
Campbell, C. D., & Gordon, M. C. (2003). Acknowledging the inevitable: Understanding multiple
relationships in rural practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34, 430-434.
Woody, R. H. (1998). Bartering for psychological services. Professional Psychology: Research
and Practice, 29, 174-178.
King, J. H. & Anderson, S. M. (2004). Therapeutic implications of pharmacotherapy: Current
trends and ethical issues. Journal of Counseling & Development,82, 329-336.
Hermann, M. A. & Herlihy, B. R. (2006). Legal and ethical implications of refusing to counsel
homosexual clients. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84, 414-418.
Ingersoll, E. R., Bauer, A., & Burns, L. (2004). Children and psychotropic medication: What role
should advocacy counseling play? Journal of Counseling & Development,82, 337-343.
Daniels, J. A. (2001). Managed care, ethics, and counseling. Journal of Counseling &
Development, 79, 119-122.
Anderson, C. E. (2000). Dealing constructively with managed care: Suggestions from an insider.
Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 22, 343-353.
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