Module I

Values and Theories

v  Functions of Supervision

There is general agreement that the three primary functions of supervision are administration, education, and support. The primary administrative function is to see that the job gets done well and in a timely fashion. In the educative function, the focus is on the professional development of the worker. The supportive function is an important aspect of both. It encompasses those things that the supervisor does to humanize the demands of practice and individualize the supervisee as a "work in progress". In some organizational contexts the administrative and the educative functions are not delegated to one supervisor. Rather, a worker may be accountable to one person for training or professional development and to another for the day-to-day workload priorities and departmental or agency demands.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of having these two functions separated, or having them integrated?

The necessity for evaluation is the place where both administrative and educative functions are connected. Trainees must receive professional feedback in order to measure their progress to become more aware of and more specific about both their strengths and the areas of their practice that need improvement. Administrators need some way to measure and communicate how well the job is or is not getting done and the reasons for either. In evaluation, both functions merge because the purpose of both is ultimately to improve the service delivery to clients. There is more emphasis in the administrative function on the task. In the educative function, the focus of attention is more on enhancing worker effectiveness through guiding his/her professional development.

The supportive function, ideally, is a part of both administrative and professional development. The supportive function is implemented through such practices as assessing and individualizing the worker as to experience, interests, and career goals; providing opportunities to pursue some professional interests whenever possible within the mission of the employing organization; encouraging supervisees to risk themselves knowing they have supervisory support for being human and making mistakes; trying to accommodate personal needs (within limits), helping supervisees deal with job-related stresses, etc.

The functions of administration and education are not always compatible and there is often a palpable tension between the two. In today's practice realities with so many time demands, often the supervisory emphasis is on filling beds, or getting the numbers up, or increasing the number of success cases, etc., and all of the documentation that is necessary to document the work. There must be strong organizational support for training and professional development or that very important piece will not get the attention it deserves. When there is no value placed on increasing staff effectiveness, it is not just the employee that suffers. Services to clients are negatively affected as well. Workers, trainees, students all need mentors and leaders, and role models to survive and grow. Our professions and our clients will pay a very high price without both supervisory functions alive and well in our agencies. 

v History and Philosophy of Supervision

Most of what we could discover in exploring the history of supervision in clinical work comes from the social work literature since supervision has been a vital part of the profession's tradition since the late 1800's when social work became more respectable through its contributions in Charity Organization Societies and in Settlement Homes. However, the medical model has influenced all of the mental health professions. Medicine and education were pioneers in recognizing that professional education is vastly different from academic or technical training. To become a competent professional, one must know how to do and understand why one does what one does. The history of supervision reflects both the tension and the partnership between knowing and doing and between the administrative and the educative functions. For example, in social work, the first training programs were developed by agencies to help volunteers work with the poor more effectively. Ultimately universities extended their mission to provide for the education and training for this new profession giving social work more legitimacy and providing more access to theory and research.

In the 1920's literature on supervision began to develop, yet as recently as ten years ago there was very little in the American Psychological Association literature to guide the conscientious supervisor. Today supervision for psychotherapy is represented by a growing number of articles, books, and the degree to which members of the faculty identify themselves as clinical supervisors. Hess (1998) Contemporary approaches to the supervision of psychotherapy. The Clinical Supervisor, 17, 1.] The journal just cited is an example of a multidisciplinary effort to learn from each other to enhance clinical supervision.

I would like to direct your attention to a clarification of terms. The three functions of supervision are administration, education, and support. However, we know that we are influenced by our previous experiences as we attempt to assume supervisory responsibilities. Just what comes up for you when you hear the word supervision or supervisor? When you hear those words, what feelings, images, memories are set in motion for you? Take a moment to make a mental list, if not an actual one, and share it with colleagues.

Theory in general has three functions: to explain, to organize, and predict. Theory as Munson points out is made up of facts, concepts, and hypotheses. Be sure that you know the difference between a theory and a method or technique. Philosophy and values influence theory and vice-versa in that one's philosophical orientation and personal values guide the selection of a particular theoretical orientation. Knowledge and theory in turn help shape and change our value positions because values are subject to rational scrutiny; at least I hope they are. As supervisors, it is imperative that we are clear about and can articulate both our values and biases about working with clients and the theoretical basis for our work. As supervisors it is also crucial that we assess a supervisee's perspective and theoretical orientation to working with people. If a potential employee or trainee cannot be clear about his/her own position, a supervisor must be prepared to provide a great deal more time and energy to bring that person up to the standard, professionally speaking. On the other hand, it may also be more difficult to supervise an employee or trainee whose theoretical orientation and practice biases are vastly different from one's own. It can certainly be done, but it may be a lot more work!

It is no longer enough to escape the difficult questions about practice foundations by simply declaring oneself to be eclectic. It is true that after several years in practice, we all draw on a variety of sources to help us be effective in our work, but the challenge always is to be purposeful. Therefore, we must hold ourselves to the standard that marks a professional: to know what we do and why. That is impossible without knowing theory, and I might add, the limits of theory. Theory is never enough. It is a long way from lofty abstractions to what to do in any particular moment with a specific client. We can never really know enough. But we need to be clear about what we know and don't know in order to make the best possible decisions in intervening in people's lives.

Discussion about theory can easily trigger anxiety in the best of practitioners. I certainly start to squirm, because it is an area in which I feel woefully inadequate after all these years. I wonder where you are with this part of your professional life.

Recalling your logs, what can you identify as basic theory in your work? What theories were emphasized in your training, formal or otherwise? How has that training been helpful? How is it useful to you now as a supervisor? Give two examples of using theory to help you make a clinical decision and describe the result. What would you do differently now?

Remember Munson's point about the components of a good theory. It must have utility, be verifiable, comprehensive, and simple or concise in explaining a lot of information. Practice research in recent years has exploded and there is a lot of research that is geared to evaluating practice effectiveness. Sometimes, I worry that we are becoming too top heavy in research, but it is important to stay current with research and to stay open to what it can teach us as wall as to help us question our own assumptions regarding practice.

I do not wholly agree with Munson, but he does make an important point that theoretical material should be taught through presenting examples. It is not helpful for supervisees to stay in the abstract. Theoretical concepts should be discussed as they arise in the context of the work at hand. Munson suggests and I fully agree with him in pointing out that you are teaching theory when you ask, "What would you do and what are reasons for doing it?" That is what it means to be purposeful.

How do you define theory and distinguish it from method and technique?

What is intuition or practice wisdom? Is it valid, and is it enough?

v Reading Outlines: Module I

Munson, Carlton E. (1993). Use of Theory. Clinical Social Work Supervision, 2nd ed., pp. 175-201. New York, NY: Haworth Press

This chapter deals with how to best use theory in supervision to enhance practice activity.

Theory Application

Supervision involves common use of techniques and strategies regardless of the supervisor's theoretical orientation. Effective supervision for practice must be theoretically based because it is important for the supervisor to have some way to organize the analysis of the practitioner's therapy content.

Theory and Supervision Interaction

Guidelines for Applying Theory to Clinical Material

            -  What would you do in this situation?

1. Why is it important to integrate theory with clinical material in supervision?

2. What is theoretical speculation and how can it be avoided?

3. What are the differences between modalities, philosophy of practice and practice theory?

4. List the functions and components of a theory.

Munson, C. E. (1993). Values and Ethics. Clinical Social Work Supervision, (2nd ed., pp. 81-93). New York, NY: Haworth Press.

This article covers the major theoretical aspects of values and ethics and discusses how values and knowledge are related.

Values

Values and Knowledge

Ethics

Ethics Knowledge

Values and Ethics Study Questions

1. What is the difference between values and ethics?

2. How are values and knowledge related?

3. How does one learn about the ethics according to their profession?

v Code of Ethics

National Board for Certified Counselors

Preamble

The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) is a professional certification board which certifies counselors as having met standards for the general and specialty practice of professional counseling established by the Board. The counselors certified by NBCC may identify with different professional associations and are often licensed by jurisdictions which promulgate codes of ethics. The NBCC code of ethics provides a minimal ethical standard for the professional behavior of all NBCC certificants. This code provides an expectation of and assurance for the ethical practice for all who use the professional services of an NBCC certificant. In addition, it serves the purpose of having an enforceable standard for all NBCC certificants and assures those served of some resource in case of a perceived ethical violation.

The NBCC Ethical Code applies to all those certified by NBCC regardless of any other professional affiliation. Persons who receive professional services from certified counselors may elect to use other ethical codes which apply to their counselor. Although NBCC cooperates with professional associations and credentialing organizations, it can bring actions to discipline or sanction NBCC certificants only if the provisions of the NBCC Code are found to have been violated.

1. Certified counselors engage in continuous efforts to improve professional practices, services, and research. Certified counselors are guided in their work by evidence of the best professional practices.

2. Certified counselors have a responsibility to the clients they serve and to the institutions within which the services are performed. Certified counselors also strive to assist the respective agency, organization, or institution in providing competent and ethical professional services. The acceptance of employment in an institution implies that the certified counselor is in agreement with the general policies and principles of the institution. Therefore, the professional activities of the certified counselor are in accord with the objectives of the institution. If the certified counselor and the employer do not agree and cannot reach agreement on policies that are consistent with appropriate counselor ethical practice that is conducive to client growth and development, the employment should be terminated. If the situation warrants further action, the certified counselor should work through professional organizations to have the unethical practice changed.

3. Ethical behavior among professional associates (i.e., both certified and non-certified counselors) must be expected at all times. When a certified counselor has doubts as to the ethical behavior of professional colleagues, the certified counselor must take action to attempt to rectify this condition. Such action uses the respective institution's channels first and then uses procedures established by the NBCC or the perceived violator's profession.

4. Certified counselors must refuse remuneration for consultation or counseling with persons who are entitled to these services through the certified counselor's employing institution or agency. Certified counselors must not divert to their private practices, without the mutual consent of the institution and the client, legitimate clients in their primary agencies or the institutions with which they are affiliated.

5. In establishing fees for professional counseling services, certified counselors must consider the financial status of clients. In the event that the established fee status is inappropriate for a client, assistance must be provided in finding comparable services at acceptable cost.

6. Certified counselors offer only professional services for which they are trained or have supervised experience. No diagnosis, assessment, or treatment should be performed without prior training or supervision. Certified counselors are responsible for correcting any misrepresentations of their qualifications by others.

7. Certified counselors recognize their limitations and provide services or use techniques for which they are qualified by training and/or supervision. Certified counselors recognize the need for and seek continuing education to assure competent services.

8. Certified counselors are aware of the intimacy in the counseling relationship and maintain respect for the client. Counselors must not engage in activities that seek to meet their personal or professional needs at the expense of the client.

9. Certified counselors must insure that they do not engage in personal, social, organizational, financial, or political activities which might lead to a misuse of their influence. 

10. Sexual intimacy with clients is unethical. Certified counselors will not be sexually, physically, or romantically intimate with clients, and they will not engage in sexual, physical, or romantic intimacy with clients within a minimum of two years after terminating the counseling relationship.

11. Certified counselors do not condone or engage in sexual harassment, which is defined as unwelcome comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature.

12. Through an awareness of the impact of stereotyping and unwarranted discrimination (e.g., biases based on age, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation), certified counselors guard the individual rights and personal dignity of the client in the counseling relationship.

13. Certified counselors are accountable at all times for their behavior. They must be aware that all actions and behaviors of the counselor reflect on professional integrity and, when inappropriate, can damage the public trust in the counseling profession. To protect public confidence in the counseling profession, certified counselors avoid behavior that is clearly in violation of accepted moral and legal standards.

14. Products or services provided by certified counselors by means of classroom instruction, public lectures, demonstrations, written articles, radio or television programs or other types of media must meet the criteria cited in this code.

15. Certified counselors have an obligation to withdraw from the practice of counseling if they violate the Code of Ethics, or if the mental or physical condition of the certified counselor renders it unlikely that a professional relationship will be maintained.

Section B : Counseling Relationship

1. The primary obligation of certified counselors is to respect the integrity and promote the welfare of clients, whether they are assisted individually, in family units, or in group counseling. In a group setting, the certified counselor is also responsible for taking reasonable precautions to protect individuals from physical and/or psychological trauma resulting from interaction within the group.

2. Certified counselors know and take into account the traditions and practices of other professional disciplines with whom they work and cooperate fully with such. If a person is receiving similar services from another professional, certified counselors do not offer their own services directly to such a person. If a certified counselor is contacted by a person who is already receiving similar services from another professional, the certified counselor carefully considers that professional relationship as well as the client's welfare and proceeds with caution and sensitivity to the therapeutic issues. When certified counselors learn that their clients are in a professional relationship with another counselor or mental health professional, they request release from the clients to inform the other counselor or mental health professional of their relationship with the client and strive to establish positive and collaborative professional relationships that are in the best interest of the client. Certified counselors discuss these issues with clients and the counselor or professional so as to minimize the risk of confusion and conflict and encourage clients to inform other professionals of the new professional relationship.

3. Certified counselors may choose to consult with any other professionally competent person about a client and must notify clients of this right. Certified counselors avoid placing a consultant in a conflict-of-interest situation that would preclude the consultant serving as a proper party to the efforts of the certified counselor to help the client.

4. When a client's condition indicates that there is a clear and imminent danger to the client or others, the certified counselor must take reasonable action to inform potential victims and/or inform responsible authorities. Consultation with other professionals must be used when possible. The assumption of responsibility for the client's behavior must be taken only after careful deliberation, and the client must be involved in the resumption of responsibility as quickly as possible.

5. Records of the counseling relationship, including interview notes, test data, correspondence, audio or visual tape recordings, electronic data storage, and other documents are to be considered professional information for use in counseling. Records should contain accurate factual data. The physical records are property of the certified counselors or their employers. The information contained in the records belongs to the client and therefore may not be released to others without the consent of the client or when the counselor has exhausted challenges to a court order. The certified counselors are responsible to insure that their employees handle confidential information appropriately. Confidentiality must be maintained during the storage and disposition of records. Records should be maintained for a period of at least five (5) years after the last counselor/client contact, including cases in which the client is deceased. All records must be released to the client upon request.

6. Certified counselors must ensure that data maintained in electronic storage are secure. By using the best computer security methods available, the data must be limited to information that is appropriate and necessary for the services being provided and accessible only to appropriate staff members involved in the provision of services. Certified counselors must also ensure that the electronically stored data are destroyed when the information is no longer of value in providing services or required as part of clients' records.

7. Any data derived from a client relationship and used in training or research shall be so disguised that the informed client's identity is fully protected. Any data which cannot be so disguised may be used only as expressly authorized by the client's informed and uncoerced consent.

8. When counseling is initiated, and throughout the counseling process as necessary, counselors inform clients of the purposes, goals, techniques, procedures, limitations, potential risks and benefits of services to be performed, and clearly indicate limitations that may affect the relationship as well as any other pertinent information. Counselors take reasonable steps to ensure that clients understand the implications of any diagnosis, the intended use of tests and reports, methods of treatment and safety precautions that must be taken in their use, fees, and billing arrangements.

9. Certified counselors who have an administrative, supervisory and/or evaluative relationship with individuals seeking counseling services must not serve as the counselor and should refer the individuals to other professionals. Exceptions are made only in instances where an individual's situation warrants counseling intervention and another alternative is unavailable. Dual relationships that might impair the certified counselor's objectivity and professional judgment must be avoided and/or the counseling relationship terminated through referral to a competent professional. 

10. When certified counselors determine an inability to be of professional assistance to a potential or existing client, they must, respectively, not initiate the counseling relationship or immediately terminate the relationship. In either event, the certified counselor must suggest appropriate alternatives. Certified counselors must be knowledgeable about referral resources so that a satisfactory referral can be initiated. In the event that the client declines a suggested referral, the certified counselor is not obligated to continue the relationship.

11. When certified counselors are engaged in intensive, short-term counseling, they must ensure that professional assistance is available at normal costs to clients during and following the short-term counseling.

12. Counselors using electronic means in which counselor and client are not in immediate proximity must present clients with local sources of care before establishing a continued short or long-term relationship. Counselors who communicate with clients via Internet are governed by NBCC standards for Web Counseling.

13. Counselors must document permission to practice counseling by electronic means in all governmental jurisdictions where such counseling takes place.

14. When electronic data and systems are used as a component of counseling services, certified counselors must ensure that the computer application, and any information it contains, is appropriate for the respective needs of clients and is nondiscriminatory. Certified counselors must ensure that they themselves have acquired a facilitation level of knowledge with any system they use including hands-on application, and understanding of the uses of all aspects of the computer-based system. In selecting and/or maintaining computer-based systems that contain career information, counselors must ensure that the system provides current, accurate, and locally relevant information. Certified counselors must also ensure that clients are intellectually, emotionally, and physically compatible with computer applications and understand their purpose and operation. Client use of a computer application must be evaluated to correct possible problems and assess subsequent needs.

15. Certified counselors who develop self-help/stand-alone computer software for use by the general public, must first ensure that it is designed to function in a stand-alone manner that is appropriate and safe for all clients for which it is intended. A manual is required. The manual must provide the user with intended outcomes, suggestions for using the software, descriptions of inappropriately used applications, and descriptions of when and how other forms of counseling services might be beneficial. Finally, the manual must include the qualifications of the developer, the development process, validation date, and operating procedures.

16. The counseling relationship and information resulting from it remains confidential, consistent with the legal and ethical obligations of certified counselors. In group counseling, counselors clearly define confidentiality and the parameters for the specific group being entered, explain the importance of confidentiality, and discuss the difficulties related to confidentiality involved in group work. The fact that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed is clearly communicated to group members. However, counselors should give assurance about their professional responsibility to keep all group communications confidential. 

17. Certified counselors must screen prospective group counseling participants to ensure compatibility with group objectives. This is especially important when the emphasis is on self-understanding and growth through self-disclosure. Certified counselors must maintain an awareness of the welfare of each participant throughout the group process.

Section C: Counselor Supervision

NCCs who offer and/or provide supervision must:

1. Ensure that they have the proper training and supervised experience through contemporary continuing education and/or graduate training

2. Ensure that supervisees are informed of the supervisor's credentials and professional status as well as all conditions of supervision as defined/outlined by the supervisor's practice, agency, group, or organization

3. Ensure that supervisees are aware of the current ethical standards related to their professional practice

4. Ensure that supervisees are informed about the process of supervision, including supervision goals, paradigms of supervision and the supervisor's preferred research based supervision paradigm(s)

5. Provide supervisees with agreed upon scheduled feedback as part of an established evaluation plan (e.g., one (1) hour per week)

6. Ensure that supervisees inform their clients of their professional status (i.e., trainee, intern, licensed, non-licensed, etc.)

7. Establish procedures with their supervisees for handling crisis situations

8. Render timely assistance to supervisees who are or may be unable to provide competent counseling services to clients and

9. Intervene in any situation where the supervisee is impaired and the client is at risk

In addition, because supervision may result in a dual relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee, the supervisor is responsible for ensuring that any dual relationship is properly managed.

Section D: Measurement and Evaluation

1. Because many types of assessment techniques exist, certified counselors must recognize the limits of their competence and perform only those assessment functions for which they have received appropriate training or supervision. 

2. Certified counselors who utilize assessment instruments to assist them with diagnoses must have appropriate training and skills in educational and psychological measurement, validation criteria, test research, and guidelines for test development and use.

3. Certified counselors must provide instrument specific orientation or information to an examinee prior to and following the administration of assessment instruments or techniques so that the results may be placed in proper perspective with other relevant factors. The purpose of testing and the explicit use of the results must be made known to an examinee prior to testing.

4. In selecting assessment instruments or techniques for use in a given situation or with a particular client, certified counselors must carefully evaluate the specific theoretical bases and characteristics, validity, reliability and appropriateness of the instrument.

5. When making statements to the public about assessment instruments or techniques, certified counselors must provide accurate information and avoid false claims or misconceptions concerning the meaning of the instrument's reliability and validity terms.

6. Counselors must follow all directions and researched procedures for selection, administration and interpretation of all evaluation instruments and use them only within proper contexts.

7. Certified counselors must be cautious when interpreting the results of instruments that possess insufficient technical data, and must explicitly state to examinees the specific limitations and purposes for the use of such instruments.

8. Certified counselors must proceed with caution when attempting to evaluate and interpret performances of any person who cannot be appropriately compared to the norms for the instrument.

9. Because prior coaching or dissemination of test materials can invalidate test results, certified counselors are professionally obligated to maintain test security.

10. Certified counselors must consider psychometric limitations when selecting and using an instrument, and must be cognizant of the limitations when interpreting the results. When tests are used to classify clients, certified counselors must ensure that periodic review and/or retesting are made to prevent client stereotyping

11. An examinee's welfare, explicit prior understanding, and consent are the factors used when determining who receives the test results. Certified counselors must see that appropriate interpretation accompanies any release of individual or group test data (e.g., limitations of instrument and norms).

12. Certified counselors must ensure that computer-generated test administration and scoring programs function properly thereby providing clients with accurate test results.

13. Certified counselors who develop computer-based test interpretations to support the assessment process must ensure that the validity of the interpretations is established prior to the commercial distribution of the computer application. 

14. Certified counselors recognize that test results may become obsolete, and avoid the misuse of obsolete data.

15. Certified counselors must not appropriate, reproduce, or modify published tests or parts thereof without acknowledgment and permission from the publisher, except as permitted by the fair educational use provisions of the U.S. copyright law.

Section E: Research and Publication

1. Certified counselors will adhere to applicable legal and professional guidelines on research with human subjects.

2. In planning research activities involving human subjects, certified counselors must be aware of and responsive to all pertinent ethical principles and ensure that the research problem, design, and execution are in full compliance with any pertinent institutional or governmental regulations.

3. The ultimate responsibility for ethical research lies with the principal researcher, although others involved in the research activities are ethically obligated and responsible for their own actions.

4. Certified counselors who conduct research with human subjects are responsible for the welfare of the subjects throughout the experiment and must take all reasonable precautions to avoid causing injurious psychological, physical, or social effects on their subjects.

5. Certified counselors who conduct research must abide by the basic elements of informed consent:

6. When reporting research results, explicit mention must be made of all the variables and conditions known to the investigator that may have affected the outcome of the study or the interpretation of the data.

7. Certified counselors who conduct and report research investigations must do so in a manner that minimizes the possibility that the results will be misleading. 

8. Certified counselors are obligated to make available sufficient original research data to qualified others who may wish to replicate the study.

9. Certified counselors who supply data, aid in the research of another person, report research results, or make original data available, must take due care to disguise the identity of respective subjects in the absence of specific authorization from the subjects to do otherwise.

10. When conducting and reporting research, certified counselors must be familiar with and give recognition to previous work on the topic, must observe all copyright laws, and must follow the principles of giving full credit to those to whom credit is due.

11. Certified counselors must give due credit through joint authorship, acknowledgment, footnote statements, or other appropriate means to those who have contributed to the research and/or publication, in accordance with such contributions.

12. Certified counselors should communicate to other counselors the results of any research judged to be of professional value. Results that reflect unfavorably on institutions, programs, services, or vested interests must not be withheld.

13. Certified counselors who agree to cooperate with another individual in research and/or publication incur an obligation to cooperate as promised in terms of punctuality of performance and with full regard to the completeness and accuracy of the information required.

14. Certified counselors must not submit the same manuscript, or one essentially similar in content, for simultaneous publication consideration by two or more journals. In addition, manuscripts that have been published in whole or substantial part should not be submitted for additional publication without acknowledgment and permission from any previous publisher.

Section F: Consulting

Consultation refers to a voluntary relationship between a professional helper and a help-needing individual, group, or social unit in which the consultant is providing help to the client(s) in defining and solving a work related problem or potential work-related problem with a client or client system.

1. Certified counselors, acting as consultants, must have a high degree of self awareness of their own values, knowledge, skills, limitations, and needs in entering a helping relationship that involves human and/or organizational change. The focus of the consulting relationship must be on the issues to be resolved and not on the person(s) presenting the problem.

2. In the consulting relationship, the certified counselor and client must understand and agree upon the problem definition, subsequent goals, and predicted consequences of interventions selected.

3. Certified counselors acting as consultants must be reasonably certain that they, or the organization represented, have the necessary competencies and resources for giving the kind of help that is needed or that may develop later, and that appropriate referral resources are available . 

4. Certified counselors in a consulting relationship must encourage and cultivate client adaptability and growth toward self-direction. Certified counselors must maintain this role consistently and not become a decision maker for clients or create a future dependency on the consultant.

Section G : Private Practice

1. In advertising services as a private practitioner, certified counselors must advertise in a manner that accurately informs the public of the professional services, expertise, and techniques of counseling available.

2. Certified counselors who assume an executive leadership role in a private practice organization do not permit their names to be used in professional notices during periods of time when they are not actively engaged in the private practice of counseling unless their executive roles are clearly stated.

3. Certified counselors must make available their highest degree (described by discipline), type and level of certification and/or license, address, telephone number, office hours, type and/or description of services, and other relevant information. Listed information must not contain false, inaccurate, misleading, partial, out-of-context, or otherwise deceptive material or statements.

4. Certified counselors who are involved in a partnership/corporation with other certified counselors and/or other professionals, must clearly specify all relevant specialties of each member of the partnership or corporation. 

Appendix: Certification Examination

Applicants for the NBCC Certification Examinations must have fulfilled all current eligibility requirements, and are responsible for the accuracy and validity of all information and/or materials provided by themselves or by others for fulfillment of eligibility criteria.

Approved on July 1, 1982 Amended on February 21, 1987, January 6, 1989, October 31, 1997, and June 21, 2002

Acknowledgment

Reference documents, statements, and sources for development of the NBCC Code of Ethics were as follows:

The Ethical Standards of the American Counseling Association, Responsible Uses for Standardized Testing (AAC), codes of ethics of the American Psychological Association and the National Career Development Association, Handbook of Standards for Computer-Based Career Information Systems (ACSCI) and Guidelines for the Use of Computer Based Information and Guidance Systems (ACSCI).

Reprinted with the permission of the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. and Affiliates, 3 Terrace Way, Suite D, Greensboro, NC 27403-3660.

NBCC® is the registered trademark of National Board for Certified Counselors. 

NBCC^Ò Standards for the Ethical Practice of Clinical Supervision

In addition to following your profession's Code of Ethics, clinical supervisors shall:

1. Ensure that supervisees inform clients of their professional status (e.g., intern) and of all conditions of supervision.

Supervisors need to ensure that supervisees inform their clients of any status other than being fully qualified for independent practice or licensed. For example, supervisees need to inform their clients if they are a student, intern, trainee or, if licensed with restrictions, the nature of those restrictions (e.g., associate or conditional). In addition, clients must be informed of the requirements of supervision (e.g., the audio taping of all counseling sessions for purposes of supervision).

2. Ensure that clients have been informed of their rights to confidentiality and privileged communication when applicable. Clients also should be informed of the limits of confidentiality and privileged communication.

The general limits of confidentiality are when harm to self or others is threatened; when the abuse of children, elders or disabled persons is suspected and in cases when the court compels the counselor to testify and break confidentiality. These are generally accepted limits to confidentiality and privileged communication, but they may be modified by state or federal statute.

3. Inform supervisees about the process of supervision, including supervision goals, case management procedures, and the supervisor's preferred supervision model(s).

4. Keep and secure supervision records and consider all information gained in supervision as confidential.

5. Avoid all dual relationships with supervisees that may interfere with the supervisor's professional judgment or exploit the supervisee.

Although all dual relationships are not in of themselves inappropriate, any sexual relationship is considered to be a violation. Sexual relationship means sexual contact, sexual harassment, or sexual bias toward a supervisee by a supervisor.

6. Establish procedures with their supervisees for handling crisis situations.

7. Provide supervisees with adequate and timely feedback as part of an established evaluation plan.

8. Render assistance to any supervisee who is unable to provide competent counseling services to clients.

9. Intervene in any situation where the supervisee is impaired and the client is at risk. 

10. Refrain from endorsing an impaired supervisee when such impairment deems it unlikely that the supervisee can provide adequate counseling services.

11. Refrain from offering supervision outside of their area(s) of competence.

12. Ensure that supervisees are aware of the current ethical standards related to their professional practice, as well as legal standards that regulate the practice of counseling.

Current ethical standards would mean standards published by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) and other appropriate entities such as the American Counseling Association (ACA). In addition, it is the supervisor's responsibility to ensure that the supervisee is aware that state and federal laws might regulate the practice of counseling and to inform the supervisee of key laws that affect counseling in the supervisee's jurisdiction.

13. Engage supervisees in an examination of cultural issues that might affect supervision and/or counseling.

14. Ensure that both supervisees and clients are aware of their rights and of due process procedures.

Reprinted with permission of the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. and Affiliates, 3 Terrace Way, Suite D, Greensboro, NC 27403-3660. 

LMFT Code of Ethics

Revised July 1, 1998

The Board of Directors of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) hereby promulgates, pursuant to Article 2, Section 2.013 of the Association's Bylaws, the Revised AAMFT Code of Ethics, effective July 1, 1998. The AAMFT Code of Ethics is binding on Members of AAMFT in all membership categories, AAMFT Approved Supervisors, and applicants for membership and the Approved Supervisor designation (hereafter, AAMFT Member). If an AAMFT Member resigns in anticipation of, or during the course of an ethics investigation, the Ethics Committee will complete its investigation. Any publication of action taken by the Association will include the fact that the Member attempted to resign during the investigation. Marriage and family therapists are strongly encouraged to report alleged unethical behavior of colleagues to appropriate professional associations and state regulatory bodies.

Contents

1. Responsibility to clients

2. Confidentiality

3. Professional competence and integrity

4.. Responsibility to students, employees, and supervisees

5. Responsibility to research participants

6. Responsibility to the profession

7. Financial arrangements

8. Advertising

1. Responsibility to Clients

Marriage and family therapists advance the welfare of families and individuals. They respect the rights of those persons seeking their assistance, and make reasonable efforts to ensure that their services are used appropriately.

National Association of Social Workers

Effective January 1, 1997

Preamble

The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession's focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living.

Social workers promote social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients. "Clients" is used inclusively to refer to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social workers are sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. These activities may be in the form of direct practice, community organizing, supervision, consultation, administration, advocacy, social and political action, policy development and implementation, education, and research and evaluation. Social workers seek to enhance the capacity of people to address their own needs. Social workers also seek to promote the responsiveness of organizations, communities, and other social institutions to individuals' needs and social problems.

Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers' conduct.

The Code is relevant to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their professional functions, the settings in which they work, or the populations they serve.

The NASW Code of Ethics serves six purposes:

1. The Code identifies core values on which social work's mission is based.

2. The Code summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession's core values and establishes a set of specific ethical standards that should be used to guide social work practice.

3. The Code is designed to help social workers identify relevant considerations when professional obligations conflict or ethical uncertainties arise.

4. The Code provides ethical standards to which the general public can hold the social work profession accountable.

5. The Code socializes practitioners new to the field to social work's mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards.

6. The Code articulates standards that the social work profession itself can use to assess whether social workers have engaged in unethical conduct. NASW has formal procedures to adjudicate ethics complaints filed against its members.¹ In subscribing to this Code, social workers are required to cooperate in its implementation, participate in NASW adjudication proceedings, and abide by any NASW disciplinary rulings or sanctions based on it.

^1-7For information on NASW adjudication procedures, see NASW Procedures for the Adjudication of Grievances.

The Code offers a set of values, principles, and standards to guide decision-making and conduct when ethical issues arise. It does not provide a set of rules that prescribe how social workers should act in all situations. Specific applications of the Code must take into account the context in which it is being considered and the possibility of conflicts among the Code's values, principles, and standards. Ethical responsibilities flow from all human relationships, from the personal and familial to the social and professional.

Further, the NASW Code of Ethics does not specify which values, principles, and standards are most important and ought to outweigh others in instances when they conflict. Reasonable differences of opinion can and do exist among social workers with respect to the ways in which values, ethical principles, and ethical standards should be rank-ordered when they conflict. Ethical decision-making in a given situation must apply the informed judgment of the individual social worker and should also consider how the issues would be judged in a peer review process where the ethical standards of the profession would be applied.

Ethical decision-making is a process. There are many instances in social work where simple answers are not available to resolve complex ethical issues. Social workers should take into consideration all the values, principles, and standards in this Code that are relevant to any situation in which ethical judgment is warranted. Social workers' decisions and actions should be consistent with the spirit as well as the letter of this Code.

In addition to this Code, there are many other sources of information about ethical thinking that may be useful. Social workers should consider ethical theory and principles generally, social work theory and research, laws, regulations, agency policies, and other relevant codes of ethics, recognizing that among codes of ethics social workers should consider the NASW Code of Ethics as their primary source. Social workers also should be aware of the impact on ethical decision making of their clients' and their own personal values and cultural and religious beliefs and practices. They should be aware of any conflicts between personal and professional values and deal with them responsibly. For additional guidance social workers should consult the relevant literature on professional ethics and ethical decision-making and seek appropriate consultation when faced with ethical dilemmas. This may involve consultation with an agency-based or social work organization's ethics committee, a regulatory body, knowledgeable colleagues, supervisors, or legal counsel.

Instances may arise when social workers' ethical obligations conflict with agency policies or relevant laws or regulations. When such conflicts occur, social workers must make a responsible effort to resolve the conflict in a manner that is consistent with the values, principles, and standards expressed in this Code. If a reasonable resolution of the conflict does not appear possible, social workers should seek proper consultation before making a decision.

The NASW Code of Ethics is to be used by NASW and by individuals, agencies, organizations, and bodies (such as licensing and regulatory boards, professional liability insurance providers, courts of law, agency boards of directors, government agencies, and other professional groups) that choose to adopt it or use it as a frame of reference. Violation of standards in this Code does not automatically imply legal liability or violation of the law. Such determination can only be made in the context of legal and judicial proceedings. Alleged violations of the Code would be subject to a peer review process. Such processes are generally separate from legal or administrative procedures and insulated from legal review or proceedings to allow the profession to counsel and discipline its own members.

A code of ethics cannot guarantee ethical behavior. Moreover, a code of ethics cannot resolve all ethical issues or disputes or capture the richness and complexity involved in striving to make responsible choices within a moral community. Rather, a code of ethics sets forth values, ethical principles, and ethical standards to which professionals aspire and by which their actions can be judged. Social workers' ethical behavior should result from their personal commitment to engage in ethical practice. The NASW Code of Ethics reflects the commitment of all social workers to uphold the profession's values and to act ethically. Individuals of good character who discern moral questions and, in good faith, seek to make reliable ethical judgments must apply principles and standards.

v Ethical Principles

The following broad ethical principles are based on social work's core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These principles set forth ideals to which all social workers should aspire.

Value: Service

Ethical Principle: Social workers' primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems.

Social workers elevate service to others above self-interest. Social workers draw on their knowledge, values, and skills to help people in need and to address social problems. Social workers are encouraged to volunteer some portion of their professional skills with no expectation of significant financial return (pro bono service).

Value: Social Justice

Ethical Principle: Social workers challenge social injustice.

Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers' social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.

Value: Dignity and Worth of the Person

Ethical Principle: Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.

Social workers treat each person in a caring and respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers promote clients' socially responsible self-determination. Social workers seek to enhance clients' capacity and opportunity to change and to address their own needs. Social workers are cognizant of their dual responsibility to clients and to the broader society. They seek to resolve conflicts between clients' interests and the broader society's interests in a socially responsible manner consistent with the values, ethical principles, and ethical standards of the profession.

Value: Importance of Human Relationships

Ethical Principle: Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships.

Social workers understand that relationships between and among people are an important vehicle for change. Social workers engage people as partners in the helping process. Social workers seek to strengthen relationships among people in a purposeful effort to promote, restore, maintain, and enhance the well-being of individuals, families, social groups, organizations, and communities.

Value: Integrity

Ethical Principle: Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner.

Social workers are continually aware of the profession's mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards and practice in a manner consistent with them. Social workers act honestly and responsibly and promote ethical practices on the part of the organizations with which they are affiliated.

Value: Competence

Ethical Principle: Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise.

Social workers continually strive to increase their professional knowledge and skills and to apply them in practice. Social workers should aspire to contribute to the knowledge base of the profession. 

v Ethical Standards

The following ethical standards are relevant to the professional activities of all social workers. These standards concern (1) social workers' ethical responsibilities to clients, (2) social workers' ethical responsibilities to colleagues, (3) social workers' ethical responsibilities in practice settings, (4) social workers' ethical responsibilities as professionals, (5) social workers' ethical responsibilities to the social work profession, and (6) social workers' ethical responsibilities to the broader society.

Some of the standards that follow are enforceable guidelines for professional conduct, and some are aspirational. The extent to which each standard is enforceable is a matter of professional judgment to be exercised by those responsible for reviewing alleged violations of ethical standards.

1.     Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities to Clients

1.01 Commitment to Clients

Social workers' primary responsibility is to promote the well-being of clients. In general, clients' interests are primary. However, social workers' responsibility to the larger society or specific legal obligations may on limited occasions supersede the loyalty owed clients, and clients should be so advised. (Examples include when a social worker is required by law to report that a client has abused a child or has threatened to harm self or others.)

1.02 Self-Determination

Social workers respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals. Social workers may limit clients' right to self-determination when, in the social workers' professional judgment, clients' actions or potential actions pose a serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to themselves or others.

1.03 Informed Consent

1. Social workers should provide services to clients only in the context of a professional relationship based, when appropriate, on valid informed consent. Social workers should use clear and understandable language to inform clients of the purpose of the services, risks related to the services, limits to services because of the requirements of a third-party payer, relevant costs, reasonable alternatives, clients' right to refuse or withdraw consent, and the time frame covered by the consent. Social workers should provide clients with an opportunity to ask questions.

2. In instances when clients are not literate or have difficulty understanding the primary language used in the practice setting, social workers should take steps to ensure clients' comprehension. This may include providing clients with a detailed verbal explanation or arranging for a qualified interpreter or translator whenever possible. 

3. In instances when clients lack the capacity to provide informed consent, social workers should protect clients' interests by seeking permission from an appropriate third party, informing clients consistent with the clients' level of understanding. In such instances social workers should seek to ensure that the third party acts in a manner consistent with clients' wishes and interests. Social workers should take reasonable steps to enhance such clients' ability to give informed consent.

4. In instances when clients are receiving services involuntarily, social workers should provide information about the nature and extent of services and about the extent of clients' right to refuse service.

5. Social workers who provide services via electronic media (such as computer, telephone, radio, and television) should inform recipients of the limitations and risks associated with such services.

6. Social workers should obtain clients' informed consent before audiotaping or videotaping clients or permitting observation of services to clients by a third party.

1.04 Competence

1. Social workers should provide services and represent themselves as competent only within the boundaries of their education, training, license, certification, consultation received, supervised experience, or other relevant professional experience.

2. Social workers should provide services in substantive areas or use intervention techniques or approaches that are new to them only after engaging in appropriate study, training, consultation, and supervision from people who are competent in those interventions or techniques.

3. When generally recognized standards do not exist with respect to an emerging area of practice, social workers should exercise careful judgment and take responsible steps (including appropriate education, research, training, consultation, and supervision) to ensure the competence of their work and to protect clients from harm.

1.05 Cultural Competence and Social Diversity

1. Social workers should understand culture and its function in human behavior and society, recognizing the strengths that exist in all cultures.

2. Social workers should have a knowledge base of their clients' cultures and be able to demonstrate competence in the provision of services that are sensitive to clients' cultures and to differences among people and cultural groups.

3. Social workers should obtain education about and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression with respect to race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political belief, religion, and mental or physical disability. 

1.06 Conflicts of Interest

1. Social workers should be alert to and avoid conflicts of interest that interfere with the exercise of professional discretion and impartial judgment. Social workers should inform clients when a real or potential conflict of interest arises and take reasonable steps to resolve the issue in a manner that makes the clients' interests primary and protects clients' interests to the greatest extent possible. In some cases, protecting clients' interests may require termination of the professional relationship with proper referral of the client.

2. Social workers should not take unfair advantage of any professional relationship or exploit others to further their personal, religious, political, or business interests.

3. Social workers should not engage in dual or multiple relationships with clients or former clients in which there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm to the client. In instances when dual or multiple relationships are unavoidable, social workers should take steps to protect clients and are responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries. (Dual or multiple relationships occur when social workers relate to clients in more than one relationship, whether professional, social, or business. Dual or multiple relationships can occur simultaneously or consecutively.)

4. When social workers provide services to two or more people who have a relationship with each other (for example, couples, family members), social workers should clarify with all parties which individuals will be considered clients and the nature of social workers' professional obligations to the various individuals who are receiving services. Social workers who anticipate a conflict of interest among the individuals receiving services or who anticipate having to perform in potentially conflicting roles (for example, when a social worker is asked to testify in a child custody dispute or divorce proceedings involving clients) should clarify their role with the parties involved and take appropriate action to minimize any conflict of interest.

1.07 Privacy and Confidentiality

1. Social workers should respect clients' right to privacy. Social workers should not solicit private information from clients unless it is essential to providing services or conducting social work evaluation or research. Once private information is shared, standards of confidentiality apply.

2. Social workers may disclose confidential information when appropriate with valid consent from a client or a person legally authorized to consent on behalf of a client.

3. Social workers should protect the confidentiality of all information obtained in the course of professional service, except for compelling professional reasons. The general expectation that social workers will keep information confidential does not apply when disclosure is necessary to prevent serious, foreseeable, and imminent harm to a client or other identifiable person or when laws or regulations require disclosure without a client's consent. In all instances, social workers should disclose the least amount of confidential information necessary to achieve the desired purpose; only information that is directly relevant to the purpose for which the disclosure is made should be revealed.

4. Social workers should inform clients, to the extent possible, about the disclosure of confidential information and the potential consequences, when feasible before the disclosure is made. This applies whether social workers disclose confidential information on the basis of a legal requirement or client consent.

5. Social workers should discuss with clients and other interested parties the nature of confidentiality and limitations of clients' right to confidentiality. Social workers should review with clients circumstances where confidential information may be requested and where disclosure of confidential information may be legally required. This discussion should occur as soon as possible in the social worker-client relationship and as needed throughout the course of the relationship.

6. When social workers provide counseling services to families, couples, or groups, social workers should seek agreement among the parties involved concerning each individual's right to confidentiality and obligation to preserve the confidentiality of information shared by others. Social workers should inform participants in family, couples, or group counseling that social workers cannot guarantee that all participants will honor such agreements.

7. Social workers should inform clients involved in family, couples, marital, or group counseling of the social worker's, employer's, and agency's policy concerning the social worker's disclosure of confidential information among the parties involved in the counseling.

8. Social workers should not disclose confidential information to third-party payers unless clients have authorized such disclosure.

9. Social workers should not discuss confidential information in any setting unless privacy can be ensured. Social workers should not discuss confidential information in public or semipublic areas such as hallways, waiting rooms, elevators, and restaurants.

10. Social workers should protect the confidentiality of clients during legal proceedings to the extent permitted by law. When a court of law or other legally authorized body orders social workers to disclose confidential or privileged information without a client's consent and such disclosure could cause harm to the client, social workers should request that the court withdraw the order or limit the order as narrowly as possible or maintain the records under seal, unavailable for public inspection.

11. Social workers should protect the confidentiality of clients when responding to requests from members of the media.

12. Social workers should protect the confidentiality of clients' written and electronic records and other sensitive information. Social workers should take reasonable steps to ensure that clients' records are stored in a secure location and that clients' records are not available to others who are not authorized to have access.

13. Social workers should take precautions to ensure and maintain the confidentiality of information transmitted to other parties through the use of computers, electronic mail, facsimile machines, telephones and telephone answering machines, and other electronic or computer technology. Disclosure of identifying information should be avoided whenever possible.

14. Social workers should transfer or dispose of clients' records in a manner that protects clients' confidentiality and is consistent with state statutes governing records and social work licensure.

15. Social workers should take reasonable precautions to protect client confidentiality in the event of the social worker's termination of practice, incapacitation, or death.

16. Social workers should not disclose identifying information when discussing clients for teaching or training purposes unless the client has consented to disclosure of confidential information.

17. Social workers should not disclose identifying information when discussing clients with consultants unless the client has consented to disclosure of confidential information or there is a compelling need for such disclosure.

18. Social workers should protect the confidentiality of deceased clients consistent with the preceding standards.

1.08 Access to Records

1. Social workers should provide clients with reasonable access to records concerning the clients. Social workers who are concerned that clients' access to their records could cause serious misunderstanding or harm to the client should provide assistance in interpreting the records and consultation with the client regarding the records. Social workers should limit clients' access to their records, or portions of their records, only in exceptional circumstances when there is compelling evidence that such access would cause serious harm to the client. Both clients' requests and the rationale for withholding some or all of the record should be documented in clients' files.

2. When providing clients with access to their records, social workers should take steps to protect the confidentiality of other individuals identified or discussed in such records.

1.09 Sexual Relationships

1. Social workers should under no circumstances engage in sexual activities or sexual contact with current clients, whether such contact is consensual or forced.

2. Social workers should not engage in sexual activities or sexual contact with clients' relatives or other individuals with whom clients maintain a close personal relationship when there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm to the client. Sexual activity or sexual contact with clients' relatives or other individuals with whom clients maintain a personal relationship has the potential to be harmful to the client and may make it difficult for the social worker and client to maintain appropriate professional boundaries. Social workers—not their clients, their clients' relatives, or other individuals with whom the client maintains a personal relationship—assume the full burden for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries.

3. Social workers should not engage in sexual activities or sexual contact with former clients because of the potential for harm to the client. If social workers engage in conduct contrary to this prohibition or claim that an exception to this prohibition is warranted because of extraordinary circumstances, it is social workers—not their clients—who assume the full burden of demonstrating that the former client has not been exploited, coerced, or manipulated, intentionally or unintentionally.

4. Social workers should not provide clinical services to individuals with whom they have had a prior sexual relationship. Providing clinical services to a former sexual partner has the potential to be harmful to the individual and is likely to make it difficult for the social worker and individual to maintain appropriate professional boundaries.

1.10 Physical Contact

Social workers should not engage in physical contact with clients when there is a possibility of psychological harm to the client as a result of the contact (such as cradling or caressing clients). Social workers who engage in appropriate physical contact with clients are responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries that govern such physical contact.

1.11 Sexual Harassment

Social workers should not sexually harass clients. Sexual harassment includes sexual advances, sexual solicitation, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

1.12 Derogatory Language

Social workers should not use derogatory language in their written or verbal communications to or about clients. Social workers should use accurate and respectful language in all communications to and about clients.

1.13 Payment for Services

1. When setting fees, social workers should ensure that the fees are fair, reasonable, and commensurate with the services performed. Consideration should be given to clients' ability to pay.

2. Social workers should avoid accepting goods or services from clients as payment for professional services. Bartering arrangements, particularly involving services, create the potential for conflicts of interest, exploitation, and inappropriate boundaries in social workers' relationships with clients. Social workers should explore and may participate in bartering only in very limited circumstances when it can be demonstrated that such arrangements are an accepted practice among professionals in the local community, considered to be essential for the provision of services, negotiated without coercion, and entered into at the client's initiative and with the client's informed consent. Social workers who accept goods or services from clients as payment for professional services assume the full burden of demonstrating that this arrangement will not be detrimental to the client or the professional relationship.

3. Social workers should not solicit a private fee or other remuneration for providing services to clients who are entitled to such available services through the social workers' employer or agency.

1.14 Clients Who Lack Decision-Making Capacity

When social workers act on behalf of clients who lack the capacity to make informed decisions, social workers should take reasonable steps to safeguard the interests and rights of those clients.

1.15 Interruption of Services

Social workers should make reasonable efforts to ensure continuity of services in the event that services are interrupted by factors such as unavailability, relocation, illness, disability, or death.

1.16 Termination of Services

1. Social workers should terminate services to clients and professional relationships with them when such services and relationships are no longer required or no longer serve the clients' needs or interests.

2. Social workers should take reasonable steps to avoid abandoning clients who are still in need of services. Social workers should withdraw services precipitously only under unusual circumstances, giving careful consideration to all factors in the situation and taking care to minimize possible adverse effects. Social workers should assist in making appropriate arrangements for continuation of services when necessary.

3. Social workers in fee-for-service settings may terminate services to clients who are not paying an overdue balance if the financial contractual arrangements have been made clear to the client, if the client does not pose an imminent danger to self or others, and if the clinical and other consequences of the current nonpayment have been addressed and discussed with the client.

4. Social workers should not terminate services to pursue a social, financial, or sexual relationship with a client.

5. Social workers who anticipate the termination or interruption of services to clients should notify clients promptly and seek the transfer, referral, or continuation of services in relation to the clients' needs and preferences.

6. Social workers who are leaving an employment setting should inform clients of appropriate options for the continuation of services and of the benefits and risks of the options.

2.     Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues

2.01 Respect

1. Social workers should treat colleagues with respect and should represent accurately and fairly the qualifications, views, and obligations of colleagues. 

2. Social workers should avoid unwarranted negative criticism of colleagues in communications with clients or with other professionals. Unwarranted negative criticism may include demeaning comments that refer to colleagues' level of competence or to individuals' attributes such as race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political belief, religion, and mental or physical disability.

3. Social workers should cooperate with social work colleagues and with colleagues of other professions when such cooperation serves the well-being of clients.

2.02 Confidentiality

Social workers should respect confidential information shared by colleagues in the course of their professional relationships and transactions. Social workers should ensure that such colleagues understand social workers' obligation to respect confidentiality and any exceptions related to it.

2.03 Interdisciplinary Collaboration

1. Social workers who are members of an interdisciplinary team should participate in and contribute to decisions that affect the well-being of clients by drawing on the perspectives, values, and experiences of the social work profession. Professional and ethical obligations of the interdisciplinary team as a whole and of its individual members should be clearly established.

2. Social workers for whom a team decision raises ethical concerns should attempt to resolve the disagreement through appropriate channels. If the disagreement cannot be resolved, social workers should pursue other avenues to address their concerns consistent with client well-being.

2.04 Disputes Involving Colleagues

1. Social workers should not take advantage of a dispute between a colleague and an employer to obtain a position or otherwise advance the social workers' own interests.

2. Social workers should not exploit clients in disputes with colleagues or engage clients in any inappropriate discussion of conflicts between social workers and their colleagues.

2.05 Consultation

1. Social workers should seek the advice and counsel of colleagues whenever such consultation is in the best interests of clients.

2. Social workers should keep themselves informed about colleagues' areas of expertise and competencies. Social workers should seek consultation only from colleagues who have demonstrated knowledge, expertise, and competence related to the subject of the consultation.

3. When consulting with colleagues about clients, social workers should disclose the least amount of information necessary to achieve the purposes of the consultation.

2.06 Referral for Services

1. Social workers should refer clients to other professionals when the other professionals' specialized knowledge or expertise is needed to serve clients fully or when social workers believe that they are not being effective or making reasonable progress with clients and that additional service is required.

2. Social workers who refer clients to other professionals should take appropriate steps to facilitate an orderly transfer of responsibility. Social workers who refer clients to other professionals should disclose, with clients' consent, all pertinent information to the new service providers.

3. Social workers are prohibited from giving or receiving payment for a referral when no professional service is provided by the referring social worker.

2.07 Sexual Relationships

1. Social workers who function as supervisors or educators should not engage in sexual activities or contact with supervisees, students, trainees, or other colleagues over whom they exercise professional authority.

2. Social workers should avoid engaging in sexual relationships with colleagues when there is potential for a conflict of interest. Social workers who become involved in, or anticipate becoming involved in, a sexual relationship with a colleague have a duty to transfer professional responsibilities, when necessary, to avoid a conflict of interest.

2.08 Sexual Harassment

Social workers should not sexually harass supervisees, students, trainees, or colleagues. Sexual harassment includes sexual advances, sexual solicitation, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

2.09 Impairment of Colleagues

1. Social workers who have direct knowledge of a social work colleague's impairment that is due to personal problems, psychosocial distress, substance abuse, or mental health difficulties and that interferes with practice effectiveness should consult with that colleague when feasible and assist the colleague in taking remedial action.

2. Social workers who believe that a social work colleague's impairment interferes with practice effectiveness and that the colleague has not taken adequate steps to address the impairment should take action through appropriate channels established by employers, agencies, NASW, licensing and regulatory bodies, and other professional organizations.

2.10 Incompetence of Colleagues

1. Social workers who have direct knowledge of a social work colleague's incompetence should consult with that colleague when feasible and assist the colleague in taking remedial action.

2. Social workers who believe that a social work colleague is incompetent and has not taken adequate steps to address the incompetence should take action through appropriate channels established by employers, agencies, NASW, licensing and regulatory bodies, and other professional organizations.

2.11 Unethical Conduct of Colleagues

1. Social workers should take adequate measures to discourage, prevent, expose, and correct the unethical conduct of colleagues.

2. Social workers should be knowledgeable about established policies and procedures for handling concerns about colleagues' unethical behavior. Social workers should be familiar with national, state, and local procedures for handling ethics complaints. These include policies and procedures created by NASW, licensing and regulatory bodies, employers, agencies, and other professional organizations.

3. Social workers who believe that a colleague has acted unethically should seek resolution by discussing their concerns with the colleague when feasible and when such discussion is likely to be productive.

4. When necessary, social workers that believe that a colleague has acted unethically should take action through appropriate formal channels (such as contacting a state licensing board or regulatory body, an NASW committee on inquiry, or other professional ethics committees).

5. Social workers should defend and assist colleagues who are unjustly charged with unethical conduct.

3.     Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities in Practice Settings

3.01 Supervision and Consultation

1. Social workers who provide supervision or consultation should have the necessary knowledge and skill to supervise or consult appropriately and should do so only within their areas of knowledge and competence.

2. Social workers who provide supervision or consultation are responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries.

3. Social workers should not engage in any dual or multiple relationships with supervisees in which there is a risk of exploitation of or potential harm to the supervisee.

4. Social workers who provide supervision should evaluate supervisees' performance in a manner that is fair and respectful. 

3.02 Education and Training

1. Social workers who function as educators, field instructors for students, or trainers should provide instruction only within their areas of knowledge and competence and should provide instruction based on the most current information and knowledge available in the profession.

2. Social workers who function as educators or field instructors for students should evaluate students' performance in a manner that is fair and respectful.

3. Social workers who function as educators or field instructors for students should take reasonable steps to ensure that clients are routinely informed when students are providing services.

4. Social workers who function as educators or field instructors for students should not engage in any dual or multiple relationships with students in which there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm to the student. Social work educators and field instructors are responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries.

3.03 Performance Evaluation

Social workers who have responsibility for evaluating the performance of others should fulfill such responsibility in a fair and considerate manner and on the basis of clearly stated criteria.

3.04 Client Records

1. Social workers should take reasonable steps to ensure that documentation in records is accurate and reflects the services provided.

2. Social workers should include sufficient and timely documentation in records to facilitate the delivery of services and to ensure continuity of services provided to clients in the future.

3. Social workers' documentation should protect clients' privacy to the extent that is possible and appropriate and should include only information that is directly relevant to the delivery of services.

4. Social workers should store records following the termination of services to ensure reasonable future access. Records should be maintained for the number of years required by state statutes or relevant contracts.

3.05 Billing

Social workers should establish and maintain billing practices that accurately reflect the nature and extent of services provided and that identify who provided the service in the practice setting. 

3.06 Client Transfer

1. When an individual who is receiving services from another agency or colleague contacts a social worker for services, the social worker should carefully consider the client's needs before agreeing to provide services. To minimize possible confusion and conflict, social workers should discuss with potential clients the nature of the clients' current relationship with other service providers and the implications, including possible benefits or risks, of entering into a relationship with a new service provider.

2. If a new client has been served by another agency or colleague, social workers should discuss with the client whether consultation with the previous service provider is in the client's best interest.

3.07 Administration

1. Social work administrators should advocate within and outside their agencies for adequate resources to meet clients' needs.

2. Social workers should advocate for resource allocation procedures that are open and fair. When not all clients' needs can be met, an allocation procedure should be developed that is nondiscriminatory and based on appropriate and consistently applied principles.

3. Social workers who are administrators should take reasonable steps to ensure that adequate agency or organizational resources are available to provide appropriate staff supervision.

4. Social work administrators should take reasonable steps to ensure that the working environment for which they are responsible is consistent with and encourages compliance with the NASW Code of Ethics. Social work administrators should take reasonable steps to eliminate any conditions in their organizations that violate, interfere with, or discourage compliance with the Code.

3.08 Continuing Education and Staff Development

Social work administrators and supervisors should take reasonable steps to provide or arrange for continuing education and staff development for all staff for which they are responsible. Continuing education and staff development should address current knowledge and emerging developments related to social work practice and ethics.

3.09 Commitments to Employers

1. Social workers generally should adhere to commitments made to employers and employing organizations.

2. Social workers should work to improve employing agencies' policies and procedures and the efficiency and effectiveness of their services.

3. Social workers should take reasonable steps to ensure that employers are aware of social workers' ethical obligations as set forth in the NASW Code of Ethics and of the implications of those obligations for social work practice.

4. Social workers should not allow an employing organization's policies, procedures, regulations, or administrative orders to interfere with their ethical practice of social work. Social workers should take reasonable steps to ensure that their employing organizations' practices are consistent with the NASW Code of Ethics.

5. Social workers should act to prevent and eliminate discrimination in the employing organization's work assignments and in its employment policies and practices.

6. Social workers should accept employment or arrange student field placements only in organizations that exercise fair personnel practices.

7. Social workers should be diligent stewards of the resources of their employing organizations, wisely conserving funds where appropriate and never misappropriating funds or using them for unintended purposes.

3.10 Labor-Management Disputes

1. Social workers may engage in organized action, including the formation of and participation in labor unions, to improve services to clients and working conditions.

2. The actions of social workers that are involved in labor-management disputes, job actions, or labor strikes should be guided by the profession's values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. Reasonable differences of opinion exist among social workers concerning their primary obligation as professionals during an actual or threatened labor strike or job action. Social workers should carefully examine relevant issues and their possible impact on clients before deciding on a course of action.

4.     Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities as Professionals

4.01 Competence

1. Social workers should accept responsibility or employment only on the basis of existing competence or the intention to acquire the necessary competence.

2. Social workers should strive to become and remain proficient in professional practice and the performance of professional functions. Social workers should critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work. Social workers should routinely review the professional literature and participate in continuing education relevant to social work practice and social work ethics.

3. Social workers should base practice on recognized knowledge, including empirically based knowledge, relevant to social work and social work ethics.

4.02 Discrimination

Social workers should not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political belief, religion, or mental or physical disability.

4.03 Private Conduct

Social workers should not permit their private conduct to interfere with their ability to fulfill their professional responsibilities.

4.04 Dishonesty, Fraud, and Deception

Social workers should not participate in, condone, or be associated with dishonesty, fraud, or deception.

4.05 Impairment

1. Social workers should not allow their own personal problems, psychosocial distress, legal problems, substance abuse, or mental health difficulties to interfere with their professional judgment and performance or to jeopardize the best interests of people for whom they have a professional responsibility.

2. Social workers whose personal problems, psychosocial distress, legal problems, substance abuse, or mental health difficulties interfere with their professional judgment and performance should immediately seek consultation and take appropriate remedial action by seeking professional help, making adjustments in workload, terminating practice, or taking any other steps necessary to protect clients and others.

4.06 Misrepresentation

1. Social workers should make clear distinctions between statements made and actions engaged in as a private individual and as a representative of the social work profession, a professional social work organization, or the social worker's employing agency.

2. Social workers who speak on behalf of professional social work organizations should accurately represent the official and authorized positions of the organizations.

3. Social workers should ensure that their representations to clients, agencies, and the public of professional qualifications, credentials, education, competence, affiliations, services provided, or results to be achieved are accurate. Social workers should claim only those relevant professional credentials they actually possess and take steps to correct any inaccuracies or misrepresentations of their credentials by others.

4.07 Solicitations

1. Social workers should not engage in uninvited solicitation of potential clients who, because of their circumstances, are vulnerable to undue influence, manipulation, or coercion.

2. Social workers should not engage in solicitation of testimonial endorsements (including solicitation of consent to use a client's prior statement as a testimonial endorsement) from current clients or from other people who, because of their particular circumstances, are vulnerable to undue influence.

4.08 Acknowledging Credit

1. Social workers should take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed and to which they have contributed.

2. Social workers should honestly acknowledge the work of and the contributions made by others.

5.     Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities to the Social Work Profession

5.01 Integrity of the Profession

1. Social workers should work toward the maintenance and promotion of high standards of practice.

2. Social workers should uphold and advance the values, ethics, knowledge, and mission of the profession. Social workers should protect, enhance, and improve the integrity of the profession through appropriate study and research, active discussion, and responsible criticism of the profession.

3. Social workers should contribute time and professional expertise to activities that promote respect for the value, integrity, and competence of the social work profession. These activities may include teaching, research, consultation, service, legislative testimony, presentations in the community, and participation in their professional organizations.

4. Social workers should contribute to the knowledge base of social work and share with colleagues their knowledge related to practice, research, and ethics. Social workers should seek to contribute to the profession's literature and to share their knowledge at professional meetings and conferences.

5. Social workers should act to prevent the unauthorized and unqualified practice of social work.

5.02 Evaluation and Research

1. Social workers should monitor and evaluate policies, the implementation of programs, and practice interventions.

2. Social workers should promote and facilitate evaluation and research to contribute to the development of knowledge.

3. Social workers should critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work and fully use evaluation and research evidence in their professional practice.

4. Social workers engaged in evaluation or research should carefully consider possible consequences and should follow guidelines developed for the protection of evaluation and research participants. Appropriate institutional review boards should be consulted.

5. Social workers engaged in evaluation or research should obtain voluntary and written informed consent from participants, when appropriate, without any implied or actual deprivation or penalty for refusal to participate; without undue inducement to participate; and with due regard for participants' well-being, privacy, and dignity. Informed consent should include information about the nature, extent, and duration of the participation requested and disclosure of the risks and benefits of participation in the research.

6. When evaluation or research participants are incapable of giving informed consent, social workers should provide an appropriate explanation to the participants, obtain the participants' assent to the extent they are able, and obtain written consent from an appropriate proxy.

7. Social workers should never design or conduct evaluation or research that does not use consent procedures, such as certain forms of naturalistic observation and archival research, unless rigorous and responsible review of the research has found it to be justified because of its prospective scientific, educational, or applied value and unless equally effective alternative procedures that do not involve waiver of consent are not feasible.

8. Social workers should inform participants of their right to withdraw from evaluation and research at any time without penalty.

9. Social workers should take appropriate steps to ensure that participants in evaluation and research have access to appropriate supportive services.

10. Social workers engaged in evaluation or research should protect participants from unwarranted physical or mental distress, harm, danger, or deprivation.

11. Social workers engaged in the evaluation of services should discuss collected information only for professional purposes and only with people professionally concerned with this information.

12. Social workers engaged in evaluation or research should ensure the anonymity or confidentiality of participants and of the data obtained from them. Social workers should inform participants of any limits of confidentiality, the measures that will be taken to ensure confidentiality, and when any records containing research data will be destroyed.

13. Social workers who report evaluation and research results should protect participants' confidentiality by omitting identifying information unless proper consent has been obtained authorizing disclosure.

14. Social workers should report evaluation and research findings accurately. They should not fabricate or falsify results and should take steps to correct any errors later found in published data using standard publication methods.

15. Social workers engaged in evaluation or research should be alert to and avoid conflicts of interest and dual relationships with participants, should inform participants when a real or potential conflict of interest arises, and should take steps to resolve the issue in a manner that makes participants' interests primary.

16. Social workers should educate themselves, their students, and their colleagues about responsible research practices.

6.     Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities to the Broader Society

6.01 Social Welfare

Social workers should promote the general welfare of society, from local to global levels, and the development of people, their communities, and their environments. Social workers should advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs and should promote social, economic, political, and cultural values and institutions that are compatible with the realization of social justice.

6.02 Public Participation

Social workers should facilitate informed participation by the public in shaping social policies and institutions.

6.03 Public Emergencies

Social workers should provide appropriate professional services in public emergencies to the greatest extent possible.

6.04 Social and Political Action

1. Social workers should engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that all people have equal access to the resources, employment, services, and opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs and to develop fully. Social workers should be aware of the impact of the political arena on practice and should advocate for changes in policy and legislation to improve social conditions in order to meet basic human needs and promote social justice.

2. Social workers should act to expand choice and opportunity for all people, with special regard for vulnerable, disadvantaged, oppressed, and exploited people and groups.

3. Social workers should promote conditions that encourage respect for cultural and social diversity within the United States and globally. Social workers should promote policies and practices that demonstrate respect for difference, support the expansion of cultural knowledge and resources, advocate for programs and institutions that demonstrate cultural competence, and promote policies that safeguard the rights of and confirm equity and social justice for all people.

4. Social workers should act to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and discrimination against any person, group, or class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political belief, religion, or mental or physical disability.

v Code of Ethics

LPC Code of Ethics

§681.32. General Ethical Requirements.

1. A licensee shall not knowingly make any misleading, deceptive, fraudulent or exaggerated claim or statement about the licensee's services, including:

2. A licensee shall not make any misleading, deceptive, fraudulent or exaggerated claim or statement about the services of a mental health services organization or agency, including the effectiveness of services, qualifications, or products.

3. A licensee shall discourage a client from holding exaggerated or false ideas about the licensee's professional services, including effectiveness of the services, practice, qualifications, associations, or activities. If a licensee learns of exaggerated or false ideas held by a client or other person, the licensee shall take immediate and reasonable action to correct the ideas held.

4. A licensee shall make reasonable efforts to prevent others whom the licensee does not control, from making misrepresentations; exaggerated or false claims; or false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements about the licensee's practice, services, qualifications, associations, or activities. If a licensee learns of a misrepresentation; exaggerated or false claim; or false, deceptive, or fraudulent statement made by another, the licensee shall take immediate and reasonable action to correct the statement.

5. A licensee shall inform an individual before or at the time of the individual's initial professional counseling session with the licensee of the following:

6. A licensee shall inform the client of any changes to the items in subsection (e) of this section prior to initiating the change.

7. A licensee shall provide counseling treatment intervention only in the context of a professional relationship, and shall not provide counseling treatment intervention by means of newspaper or magazine articles, radio or television programs, mail or means of a similar nature, electronic media, or telephonic media when that is the primary vehicle for maintaining the counseling relationship.

8. A licensee shall not intentionally or knowingly offer to pay or agree to accept any remuneration directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to or from any person, firm, association of persons, partnership, corporation, or entity for securing or soliciting patients or patronage for or from any health care professional.

9. A licensee shall not engage in activities that seek to meet the licensee's personal needs at the expense of a client.

10. A licensee shall not promote the licensee's personal or business activities to a client unless the licensee informs the client of the licensee's personal or business interest in the activity.

11. A licensee shall not provide counseling treatment intervention to the licensee's current or previous family members, personal friends, or business associates.

12. A licensee shall not knowingly offer or provide counseling treatment intervention to an individual concurrently receiving counseling treatment intervention from another mental health services provider except with that provider's knowledge. If a licensee learns of such concurrent therapy, the licensee shall take immediate and reasonable action to inform the other mental health services provider.

13. A licensee shall take reasonable action to inform medical or law enforcement personnel if the professional determines that there is a probability of imminent physical injury by the client to the client or others or there is a probability of immediate mental or emotional injury to the client.

14. A licensee to whom a school district refers a student for counseling treatment intervention shall comply with the rules adopted by the Texas Education Agency relating to the relationship between the district and the licensee. This requirement only applies to an outside counselor, not a licensee who is a school district employee.

15. In individual and group counseling settings the licensee shall take reasonable precautions to protect individuals from physical or emotional harm resulting from interaction within a group or from individual counseling.

16. For each client, a licensee shall keep accurate records of the dates of counseling treatment intervention, types of counseling treatment intervention, progress or case notes, and billing information. Records held by a licensee shall be kept for seven years for adult clients and seven years beyond the age of 18 for minor clients. Records held or owned by governmental agencies or educational institutions are not subject to this requirement.

17. A licensee shall bill clients or third parties for only those services actually rendered or as agreed to by mutual understanding at the beginning of services or as later modified by mutual agreement.

18. A licensee shall terminate a professional counseling relationship when it is reasonably clear that the client is not benefiting from the relationship. When professional counseling is still indicated, the licensee shall take reasonable steps to facilitate the transfer to an appropriate referral or source.

19. A licensee shall not evaluate any individual's mental, emotional, or behavioral condition unless the licensee has personally interviewed the individual or the licensee discloses with the evaluation that the licensee has not personally interviewed the individual.

20. A licensee may not persistently or flagrantly overtreat a client.

21. A licensee shall be subject to disciplinary action if the licensee is issued a public letter of reprimand, is assessed a civil penalty by a court, or has an administrative penalty imposed by the attorney general's office under the Crime Victims Compensation Act, Texas Civil Statutes, Article 8309-1.

22. A licensee shall not aid and abet the unlicensed practice of professional counseling by a person required to be licensed under the Act.

23. An applicant for licensure shall not participate in anyway in the subversion of licensing materials.

§681.33. Sexual Misconduct.

1. For the purpose of this section the following terms shall have the following meanings.

2. A licensee shall not engage in sexual contact with a person who is:

3. A licensee shall not engage in sexual exploitation of a person who is:

4. A licensee shall not practice therapeutic deception of a person who is a client or former client.

5. It is a defense to a disciplinary action under subsections (b) - (d) of this section, if the person was no longer emotionally dependent on the licensee when the sexual exploitation began, the sexual contact occurred, or the therapeutic deception occurred, and the licensee terminated counseling with the person more than two years before the date the sexual exploitation began, the sexual contact occurred or the therapeutic deception occurred.

6. It is not a defense under subsections (b) - (d) of this section, if the sexual contact, sexual exploitation, or therapeutic deception with the person occurred:

7. The following may constitute sexual exploitation if done for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification or sexual abuse of any person:

8. Examples of sexual contact are:

9. A licensee shall report sexual misconduct as follows:

If a licensee has reasonable cause to suspect that a client has been the victim of sexual exploitation, sexual contact, or therapeutic deception by another licensee or a mental health services provider during professional counseling or any other course of treatment, or if a client alleges sexual exploitation, sexual contact, or therapeutic deception by another licensee or a mental health services provider during professional counseling or any other course of treatment, the licensee shall report the alleged conduct not later than the 30th day after the date the licensee became aware of the conduct or the allegations to:

§681.34. Testing.

1. Prior to or following the administration of any testing, a licensee shall make known to clients the purposes and explicit use to be made of any testing does as a part of a professional counseling relationship.

2. A licensee shall not appropriate, reproduce, or modify copyrighted tests or parts thereof without the acknowledgment and permission of the copyright owner.

3. A licensee shall not administer any test without the appropriate training and experience to administer and interpret the test.

4. A licensee must observe the necessary precautions to maintain the security of any test administered by the license or under the licensee's supervision.

§681.35. Drug and Alcohol Use.

A licensee shall not:

1. use alcohol or drugs in a manner, which adversely affects the licensee's ability to provide counseling treatment intervention services;

2. use illegal drugs of any kind; or

3. promote, encourage, or concur in the illegal use or possession of alcohol or drugs.

§681.36. Confidentiality.

1. Communication between a licensee and client and the client's records however created or stored are confidential under the provisions of the Health and Safety Code, Chapter 611 and other state or federal statutes or rules where such statutes or rules apply to a licensee's practice.

2. A licensee shall not disclose any communication, record, or identity of a client except as provided in the Health and Safety Code, Chapter 611 or other state or federal statutes or rules.

3. A licensee shall comply with the Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 611, concerning access to records.

§681.37. Licensees and the Board.

1. All licensees are bound by the provisions of the Licensed Professional Counselor Act (Act) and this chapter.

2. A licensee shall have the responsibility of reporting alleged violations of the Act or this chapter to the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (board's) executive secretary.

3. A licensee shall keep his or her board file updated by notifying the board in writing of changes of name, highest academic degree granted, address, telephone number, and employment.

4. A licensee shall cooperate with the board by furnishing required documents or information and by responding to a request for information from or a subpoena issued by the board or its authorized representative.

5. A licensee shall comply with any order issued by the board relating to the licensee.

6. A licensee shall not interfere with a board investigation by the willful misrepresentation of facts to the board or its authorized representative or by the use of threats or harassment against any person.

7. A licensee shall not file a complaint with the board in bad faith.

§681.38. Assumed Names.

1. An individual practice by a licensee may be established as a corporation, a limited liability partnership, a limited liability company, or other allowable business entity in accordance with state or federal law.

2. An assumed or trade name used by a licensee must not be false, deceptive, or misleading.

§681.39. Consumer Information.

1. A licensee shall inform each client of the name, address, and telephone number of the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (board) for the purpose of reporting violations to the Licensed Professional Counselor Act (Act) or this chapter:

2. A licensee shall display the license certificate and current renewal card issued by the board in a prominent place in the primary location of practice.

3. A licensee shall not display a license certificate or current renewal card issued by the board, which has been reproduced or is expired, suspended, or revoked.

4. A licensee shall not make any alteration on a license certificate or renewal card issued by the board.

§681.40. Advertising and Announcements.

1. Information used by a licensee in any advertisement or announcement shall not contain information, which is false, inaccurate, misleading, and incomplete, out of context, deceptive or not readily verifiable. Advertising includes, but is not limited to, any announcement of services, letterhead, business cards, commercial products, and billing statements.

2. False, misleading, or deceptive advertising or advertising that is not readily subject to verification includes advertising that:

3. A licensee who retains or hires others to advertise or promote the licensee's practice remains responsible for the statements and representations made.

4. The highest academic degree earned from an accredited college or university and relevant to the profession of counseling or a counseling-related field may be used when advertising or announcing counseling treatment intervention to the public or in counseling-related professional representations. A degree received at a foreign university may be used if the degree could be accepted as a transfer degree by accredited universities as reported by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. A licensee may advertise or announce his or her other degrees from accredited colleges or universities if the subject of the degree is specified.

5. The Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (board) imposes no restrictions on advertising by a licensee with regard to the use of any medium, the licensee's personal appearance, or the use of his or her personal voice, the size or duration of an advertisement by a licensee, or the use of a trade name.

6. All advertisements or announcements of counseling treatment intervention including telephone directory listings by a person licensed by the board may clearly state the licensee's licensure status by the use of a title such as "Licensed Counselor", or "Licensed Professional Counselor ", or " L. P. C. ", or a statement such as "licensed by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors."

§681.41. Research and Publications.

1. In research with a human subject, a licensee shall take reasonable precautions to ensure that the subject does not suffer emotional or physical harm.

2. A licensee shall confine the use of data obtained from a professional counseling relationship for the purposes of education or research to content that can be disguised to ensure full protection of the identity of the subject client.

3. When conducting or reporting research, a licensee must give recognition to previous work on the topic as well as observe all copyright laws.

4. A licensee must give due credit through joint authorship, acknowledgment, footnote statements, or other appropriate means to those persons who have contributed significantly to the licensee's research or publication.

§681.42. Finding of Non-Fitness for Licensure Subsequent to Issuance of License.

The Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (board) may take disciplinary action based upon information received after issuance of a license, if such information had been received prior to issuance of the license and would have been the basis for denial of licensure under §681.163 of this title (relating to Finding of Non-Fitness for Licensure).

§681.43. Required Reporting.

A licensee shall report if required by any of the following laws:

1. the Family Code, Chapter 34, concerning abuse or neglect of minors;

2. the Human Resources Code, Chapter 48, concerning abuse, neglect, or exploitation of elderly or disabled persons;

3. the Health and Safety Code, Chapter 161, Subchapter K, §161.131 et seq., concerning abuse, neglect, and illegal, unprofessional, or unethical conduct in an in-patient mental health facility, a chemical dependency treatment facility or a hospital providing comprehensive medical rehabilitation services; and

4. the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Section 81.006, concerning sexual exploitation by a mental health services provider.

v Code of Ethics

LCDC Code of Ethics

6150,61. Ethical Standards.

1. All applicants, and licensed chemical dependency counselors shall comply with these ethical standards.

2. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall not discriminate against any client or other person on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or economic condition.

3. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall maintain objectivity, integrity, and the highest standards in providing services to the client.

4. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall:

5. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall not engage in the practice of chemical dependency counseling if impaired by, intoxicated by, or under the influence of chemicals, including alcohol.

6. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall uphold the law and refrain from unprofessional conduct. In so doing, the licensed chemical dependency counselor shall:

7. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall: 

9. In any publication, the licensed chemical dependency counselor shall give written credit to all persons or works, which have contributed to or directly influenced the publication.

10. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall respect a client's dignity, and shall not engage in any action that may injure the welfare of any client or person to whom the counselor is providing services. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall:

10. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall protect the privacy of all clients and shall not disclose confidential information without express written consent, except as permitted by law. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall remain knowledgeable of and obey all state and federal laws and regulations relating to confidentiality of chemical dependency treatment records, and shall:

11. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall inform the client about all relevant and important aspects of the professional relationship between the client and the counselor, and shall:

12. The licensed chemical dependency counselor shall treat other professionals with respect, courtesy, and fairness, and shall:

13. Prior to treatment, the licensed chemical dependency counselor shall inform the client of the counselor's fee schedule and establish financial arrangements with a client. The counselor shall not:

v Ethical Decision Screens

Ethical Rules Screen

1. Examine the Code of Ethics to determine if any of the Code rules are applicable. These rules take precedence over the worker's personal value system.

Ethical Principles Screen

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 1: Principle of the protection of life

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 2: Principle of equality and inequality

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 3: Principle of autonomy and freedom

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 4: Principle of least harm

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 5: Principle of quality of life

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 6: Principle of privacy and confidentiality

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE 7: Principle of truthfulness and full disclosure

v Knowledge Survey for the NASW Code of Ethics

by Carlton E. Munson

The following true-false questions are to measure your familiarity with the NASW Code of Ethics. This is not a test. Please answer all questions. If you do not know the answer to a question, select what you consider the most reasonable answer. Check the box to the left of the question to indicate your answer. Before answering the questions, we would like you to provide some background information.

Name: ________________________________ Sex:________ Age: ________

Highest Degree Earned: ________BA ________MSW ________PHD _______Other

Have you read the NASW Code of Ethics? _________YES _________NO

If you answered YES above, how long ago did you read it? ____________

Were you required to read the NASW Code of Ethics as part of your social work education program?

________YES _________NO

Please check your answer in the blank to the left of each question.

THE NASW CODE OF ETHICS………

1993 by the Washington Area Supervision Institute and the Haworth Press, Inc

ASSIGNMENTS: Module I

Reflect on and note briefly:

1. Who or what has most nurtured you as a learner and as a MH-CD professional?

2. What do you know about your own needs and style as a learner?

3. What has your experience been with other professionals who work in chemical dependency?

General comments, thoughts:

4. What does the term "clinical" conjure up for you?

5. What theories of human behavior you consciously apply in your practice most often?

6. What do you do regularly to keep current and improve your effectiveness?

7. How is the agency/setting where you work impacting staff morale?

8. Give an example of supervision as an art or process.

General comments, thoughts:

Questions From the Chapter

1. What are some advantages and disadvantages of having the functions of supervision separated, of having them integrated?

2. What is your own working definition of clinical supervision?

3. Give two examples of using theory to help you make a clinical decision and describe the result. What would you do differently now?

4. How do you define theory and distinguish it from method and technique?

5. What is intuition or practice wisdom? Is it valid, and is it enough?

Questions From Readings

Use of Theory Study Questions

6. Why is it important to integrate theory with clinical material in supervision?

7. What is theoretical speculation and how can it be avoided?

8. What are the differences between modalities, philosophy of practice and practice theory?

9. List the functions and components of a theory.

Values and Ethics Study Questions

10. What is the difference between values and ethics?

11. How are values and knowledge related?

12. How does one learn about the ethics according to the profession?