Managing Counseling Relationships
For this assignment, complete the following:
Part 1
Review the state laws and regulations relating to the practice of counseling for your specialization. These requirements help define the unique aspects of the relationship between counselors and the clients and student served.
- Describe how these state legal standards help guide counselors to establish ethical relationships with clients and students through specific requirements (for example, informed consent, managing boundaries, and payment for services).
- Identify any state requirements specific to distance counseling and the impact upon the counseling profession.
- Describe how to communicate these requirements for diverse populations who may not understand professional jargon with a specific example related to distance counseling.
- Cite specific state laws. If your state defers to the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics on these topics, you may also cite the ACA code after identifying where you state addresses the code.
Part 2
Ethical standards (included in ACA, AMHCA, ASCA, and NBCC ethical codes) help to guide the relationship between counselors, and clients and students. Review the case examples below and describe specific ethical standards and any relevant legal standards that guide counselors in your specialization to manage the relationship for the scenarios below.
Mental Health Counseling learners, address these two:
- The county mental health services department where you work has initiated a distance counseling option to increase access to residents who live in more rural areas of the county that are undeserved. You are being asked to run a virtual support group for new parents. Your director has suggested that you use a live chat at set times to facilitate this group. Explain the challenges will you need to address to establish relationships with the group members.
- Your client, Dillon, is on probation for receiving stolen goods (helped to resell items friends stole). She would like you to communicate with her probation officer to verify that she is making positive changes in her life. What do you need to do to help Dillon understand before you initiate contact with the probation officer? How will you manage the communication?
School Counseling learners, address these two:
- Your school is establishing a new page on the school website to combat cyber-bullying. In addition to educational materials, a staff member proposes that there will be a link to open a chatbox that the school counselors will monitor. You recognize that this unsecured mode of communication will pose many ethical challenges. Explain this to the principal and explain how another option, such as secure email, may be more appropriate.
- A student, Daryn, is returning to school after a brief detention due to charges associated with selling drugs. You have an established relationship with Daryn and will continue to meet regularly. Daryn is on probation and the probation officer has reached out to request that you confirm attendance records and any disciplinary issues at school. How will you manage your relationship with Daryn and address the probation officer’s request?
Submission Requirements
Your paper should meet the following requirements:
- Written communication: Develop accurate written communication and thoughts that convey the overall goals of the assignment and do not detract from the overall message. Your paper should demonstrate graduate-level writing skills.
- References: Your reference list must include APA-approved links to state resources, and at least two peer-reviewed sources. You must use current APA style to list your references. Refer to the APA Style and Format for more information.
- Number of pages: The length of your paper should be 4–6 double-spaced pages. Note: Page count does not include cover page or references.
- Formatting: Use current APA formatting, including correct in-text citations, proper punctuation, double-spacing throughout, proper headings and subheadings, no skipped lines before headings and subheadings, proper paragraph and block indentation, no bolding, and no bullets. Refer to the APA Style and Format for more information.
You are required to submit your final version of this paper to Turnitin to generate a final report prior to submitting the assignment for grading. From the Turnitin tool, first submit to the draft link to check your work for any necessary edits. Once the paper is finalized and all edits have been made, submit your final paper to the Final report option for the assignment. Please be advised it can take up to a day to obtain the percentage from Turnitin. When your paper is downloaded and viewable in Turnitin, save the originality report. Refer to the Turnitin Tutorial: Viewing Originality Reports (linked in the resources) for guidance.
- Submit your assignment using the following file naming format: Your Name_Assignment Number_Assignment Title (example: Ima_Learner_u07a1_Relationships).
- In the comment section, provide the percentage from the final Turnitin report (example: Final Turnitin percentage = 4%). Please be prepared to provide your faculty member with a copy of the Turnitin report should this be requested of you.