Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice Flashcards
What where the key historical events in counseling
The genesis of counseling is said to have started in the late 1800’s with vocational guidance during the progressive movement.
What are some of the key legal issues in counseling?
ACA Code of Ethics
- aims to explain what counselors must do
- but also offers aspirational ethics for the counselor demonstrating the highest standards of professional practice and conduct.
What is the difference between Ethics and Laws
Ethics are developed by associations to help members practice in a reputable manner, whereas laws are included in the penal code and often carry more serious consequences when individuals fail to comply with them
What are the key points of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act? (FERPA)
Started in 1974
-a.k.a- the Buckley Amendment.
~Affects any counselor who works in an education setting and receives any funds from the U.S. DOE
1. FERPA was created for parents to access their students educational record, petition to have incorrect information amended, and ensure information was not released without permission
2. -Educational record refers to any document or information kept by the school relating to the student.
3. Parents have a right to access the file until the child is 18 or begins college, whichever happens first.
4. Educational institutions are required to obtain written permission before releasing any information
5. An exemption to the rule is that schools may give our “Directory information” such as, students name, address, telephone, date of birth, place of birth, honors, attendance.
6. Professional Counselor Notes on students, considered an expansion of the counselors memory that are kept separate from the educational record in a secure location, are kept confidential. ~Students and Parents do not have the right to access counselor’s personal notes.
What are the key factors with the Individuals with Disabilities Educational Improvement Act? (IDEA)
IDEA is a civil rights law passed to guarantee that students with disabilities receive the services they need to gain the benefits of education.
~This act prohibits any school who receives federal funding from putting any student at a disadvantage based on disability.
1. Children are eligible to receive services under IDEA from birth to 21 years of age.
2. Counselors serve as advocates for children with special needs
3. To be eligible: Student must have a documented disability in at least one of the following: Mental retardation, hearing impairment, speech or language impairment, visual impairment, serious ED, Autism, TBI (traumatic brain), other health impairment, or specific learning disability.
4. All students with disabilities must be given free appropriate public education that addresses their individual needs and helps them for higher levels of Education and employment
5. Every Student who is eligible to receive special education must have an (IEP) Individualized Education Plan on file. ~Multidisciplinary meeting to create the students IEP, and what services the student receives, when and how often, and goals.
6. IEPS are updated Yearly
7. It is required that each student receive the benefits of education in the least restrictive environment (LRE)- Mandated to allow as many students to remain in regular classrooms if their needs could be met with only limited accommodation
What are the Key Factors of the U.S Rehabilitation Act of 1973? (section 504)
This ac protects individuals with disabilities from being discriminated against or denied equal access to services and opportunities because of their disability.
~Often, in a school setting, students who do not qualify for special education services under IDEA may be eligible for accommodations under Section 504, which has a more inclusive definition of disability
1. Only Applies to educational institutions receiving federal funding, or organization or employer who receives federal funds.
2. Eligible individuals must have a physical or psychological impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity.
2a. These “major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, working, performing manual tasks, learning, caring from oneself
3. To receive consideration, individuals must also be viewed as having the disability or have documentation of the disability, and it must interfere with their ability to meet their needs.
4. In a school setting, this is done through multidisciplinary teams, who evaluate many sources including test scores, grades, ED. Records, medical documentation.
5. List of possible accommodations.
What are the key points to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act? (HIPPA)
Passed in 1996 to protect individuals medical and mental health records. Patients are given rights as to who can see their identifiable health record.
- Patients must sign a PHI: Protected Health Information, which outlines their confirmation with the HIPPA Privacy policy.
- Health organizations must secure all PHI from unauthorized individuals or organizations. Patients have a right to obtain a copy of their medical record usually within 30 days.
- Patients can request changes to adjust inaccurate health information.
- Health organizations are to honor reasonable requests to contact patients in different locations or by different methods.
What are some of the Keys to the Child Abuse and Prevention and Treatment Act? in counseling (CAPTA)
Child abuse and neglect is defined as “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitations, or a failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm”
- It is required by law as a mandated reporter that CPS is notified within 72 hours from the first time of awareness of potentially abusive or neglectful event.
- counselors must submit a written report to CPS after submitting the initial account.
- Anyone who reports suspected child abuse or neglect will not be held liable, even if CPS fails to find any evidence, unless false report was filed with malicious intent.
- -ACA code of ethics, upholds legal duty to ethically break confidentiality to protect a client from a potentially dangerous situation.
What are the key elements when counseling minors?
1. Informed Consent
- especially in a non-school setting, from parent/s and or legal guardians.
2. Parents must receive details on what they can expect from counseling, limitations to confidentiality, and their rights to withdraw from treatment at any time.
3. Ethically, even if the child is under 18, the counselor shall try and uphold confidentiality with the minor, although parents still retain the right to know what their child discusses in the counseling session.
4. Some states allow minors of a certain age to consent to various community health services, including mental health treatment without parent consent. However these minor consent laws vary state by state.
5. In a school setting, most professional school counselors are NOT required to obtain parental consent before delivering services to students, although professional school counselors should familiarized themselves with the policies of their state and local school boards.
What are the key elements of to identify Elder Abuse?
The “Older Americans Act” was passed in 1965 by congress to increase social and nutritional services for older persons and was reauthorized in 2006.
Elder abuse is prominent in roughly 2-10% the elderly.
-Maltreatment
-physical, sexual, verbal abuse.
-exploitation
-neglect
What is advocacy counseling?
Advocacy counseling is concerned with supporting and promoting the needs of clients.
Elements include:
Teaching clients to self-advocate, being involved in changes with public policy, writing to or meeting with policy makers about bills.
Counselors are expected to be advocates not only for their profession, but also for their clients, and to help clients overcome barrier that is preventing them to make progress.
What are Health Maintenance Organizations?
Health Maintenance Organizations HMO, AKA: Managed Health Care is a health care organization hat allows members to access health and mental health services at lower cost than many standard health insurance plans.
- HMO’s are usually part of a network, and must be receive a referral from their primary care-giver.
- ** A benefit to mental health providers who are part of an HMO is that they are given a stable influx of clients and ensure payment if they follow the organizations regulations.
- – a criticism, the mental health providers must administer a diagnosis and a detailed history of each client before the HMO will approve or pay for the treatment, perhaps infringing on client confidentiality
- also, many mental health providers are usually required to follow specific guidelines or treatment modalities in working with their clients.
What is liability insurance?
In the event that a counselor finds themselves in a legal dispute or the subject of a complaint, having liability insurance can be instrumental in the protection of their assets and also greatly reduces the financial burden they may face if found guilty of malpractice or negligence.
What is licensure?
Licensure, in the field of counseling, emerged in the 1970’s in an effort to validate the counseling profession by passing state laws controlling who could legally practice counseling.
1. The underlying purpose of state licensure is to protect the public by ensuring that only qualified professionals, granted a license from the state, can legally render certain counseling services.
What is the national board for certified counselors?
The national board for Certified Counselors NBCC is the chief credentialing organization for the United States.
To be eligible for the NCC:
1. be a current student in a counseling program that participates in the Graduate student application process.
2. have earned at least a masters degree from a CACREP-accredited program
3. Have earned at least a masters in a counseling field and have taken courses in: human growth and dev, social/cultural foundations, helping relationships, group work, career and lifestyle development, assessment, research and program evaluation, and professional orientation, and ethical practice.
