A Case for Standards of Counseling Practice

Abstract

A mature counseling profession has entered the decade of the 1990s. Several factors including professionalism, accountability, health care consumerism, credentialism, and public demands for quality mental health care indicate a need for more definitive statements on standards of practice in counseling. In response to this need, an 8-point proposal for standards of practice in mental health counseling is offered.

Rehabilitation Counselor Professional Identity Development in Master's-Level Training Programs: An Exploratory Study of Potential Influencing Factors

“…Shifts in thinking about the field's direction have been influenced by factors other than the rationale for unification (Anderson, 1992;Leahy & Szymanski, 1995). Such factors include scientific breakthroughs; challenges in philosophical and ethical realms; policy shifts at the federal, state, and local levels (Parker, 1990); consumerism (Kosciulek, 1999); role and function studies (Leahy, Chan, & Saunders, 2003;Muthard & Salamone, 1977); models of disability (Corrigan & Lam, 2007;Curl & Sheldon, 1992;Schriner, 1995); professional organizations (Leahy & Tarvydas, 2001); accreditation (Shaw et al, 2006); and professional membership studies (Cook, 1990;Trotter & Kozochowicz, 1970).…”

Responding to Allegations of Unethical Conduct

“…Professional counselors have been exhorted to always practice under supervision (Anderson, 1992;Dye & Borders, 1990). If accused counselors were under supervision when an incident occurred that formed the basis of a complaint, the supervisors may ultimately be held responsible.…”

“…One of the important indicators of a profession is an accepted set of ethical standards (Anderson, 1992;Mabe & Rollins, 1986). Professional counselors are guided in their practices by the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (American Counseling Association [ACA], 1995).…”

“…In exercising professional judgment, counselors may have every intention of doing the right thing professionally; however, a panel of other counselors, reviewing retroactively the actions of a colleague, may determine that the ethical standards of the profession were violated. For example, there is quite a bit of controversy among professional counselors as to whether it is ever appropriate to accept gifts from clients (Anderson, 1992;Wilcoxon, 1987). Some counselors believe no gifts should ever be accepted under any circumstances, and others argue that a counselor's acceptance of a small gift is not only ac-ceptable, but it could also be a therapeutic event for the client.…”

Standards of Care: Potential Implications for the Counseling Profession

“…They are based on theoretical concepts of counseling theories, on accumulated clinical experience, and increasingly on empirical research. Standards of practice (Anderson, 1992) and codes of professional ethics (Gladding, 1992) are not as specific as standards of care. However, use of the terms standards of care and standards of practice are blurred in the literature.…”