Lesson 3: Rights and Responsibilities, and Accountabilities of Counselors

Code of ethics help counselors to remind them of their rights, responsibilities

and accountabilities in the counseling profession. The rights, responsibilities and
accountabilities of the counselors are based on the counselor’s associations of Code of
Conduct.

The code of ethics of the counselors is divided into seven sections, namely, (a)
counseling relationship, (b) confidentiality (c) professional responsibility (d)
relationships with other professionals, (e) evaluation, assessment, and interpretation,
(f) teaching, training and supervision (g) research and publication (Gladding, 2000 ).
We shall only present in details three of the seven areas, namely, counseling
relationships, confidentiality, and professional responsibility. The following three
tables below provide a sample code of ethics of the American Counseling
Association.

Areas Description
The Counseling
Relationships
1. Client welfare Counselor’s primary responsibility is to respect the
dignity and promote the welfare of clients. They are
also expected to encourage client’s growth.
Counselors and clients are expected to work together
in crafting individual counseling plans consistent with
the client’s circumstances.
2. Respecting Diversity Counselors do not engage in discrimination based on
age, color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender,
race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status and
socio economic status. Counselors shall respect
differences and understand the diverse cultural
backgrounds of their clients.
3. Client Rights Counselors shall disclose the purposes, goals,
techniques, procedures, limitations, potential risks,
benefits of the services to be performed and other
pertinent information to the client throughout the
counseling process. Counselors offer clients the
freedom to choose whether to enter into a counseling
relationship and determine which professional will
provide counseling, except when the client is unable
to give consent.
4. Clients Served by others In cases where the client is receiving services from
another mental health professional, with clients
consent, inform the professional person already
involved to develop an agreement.
5. Personal Needs and Maintain the clients and avoid actions that seek to
values meet their personal needs at the expense of the clients.
Counselors shall be aware of their values, attitudes,
beliefs, and behavior and how these apply in a diverse
society and avoid imposing their values on clients.
6. Dual Relationships Counselors are aware of their influential position over
their clients avoid the exploiting the trust and
dependency of the clients. Counselors should not
accept as superiors or subordinate’s clients’.
7. Sexual Intimacies with Counselors should not have any type of sexual
Clients intimacies with clients and do not counsel persons
with whom they have sexual relationship. Counselors
should not also engage with sexual intimacies with
their former clients within a minimum of two years.
8. Multiple Clients In cases where counselors agree to provide counseling
services to two or more persons who have a
relationship, counselors clarify at the outset which
person or persons are clients and the nature of
relationship they will have with each other involved
person.
9. Group Work Counselors screen prospective group counseling /
therapy participants to determine those with
compatible needs. In group setting, counselors take
reasonable precautions to protect clients from physical
or psychological trauma.
10. Fees Prior to entering the counseling relationship, the
counselors clearly explain the clients all financial
arrangements related to professional fees.

Source: Gladding, 2000

Areas
Confidentiality
1.Right to Privacy  Counselors respect a client’s right to privacy and
avoid illegal and unwarranted disclosures of
unwarranted information.
 The right to privacy may be waived by the clients
or their legally recognized representative.
 The general requirement that the counselors keep
the information confidential does not apply when
disclosure is required to prevent clear and
imminent danger to the client or others or when
 legal requirements demand that confidential
information is be revealed.
 Counselors who received information confirming
that a client has a disease known to be
communicable and fatal is justified in disclosing
information to an identifiable third party, who by
his/her relationship with the client is at high risk of
contracting the disease.
 When court orders the counselors to release
confidential information without client’s permit,
counselors request to the court that the disclosure
should not be required due to potential harm to
client or counseling relationship.
 In group work, counselors clearly define
confidentiality and parameters for the specific
group being entered, explain its importance, and
discuss difficulties related to confidentiality
2. Group and Families
involved in group work.
 In family counseling, information about one
family cannot be disclosed to another member
without permission.
 When counseling clients who are minors or
3. Minor Incompetent individuals who are unable to give voluntary,
client informed consent, parents or guardians may be
included in the counseling process as appropriate.
 Counselors maintain necessary records for
rendering professional services to their clients and
as required by laws, regulations, or agency or
institution procedures.
 Counselors are responsible for securing safety and
confidentiality of any counseling record they
create, maintain, transfer, or destroy whether the
records are written, taped, computerized, or stored
in any other medium.
4. Records
 Counselors recognized that counseling records are
kept for the benefits of the clients therefore
provide access to record and copies of record
when requested by competent clients unless it
contains information that may be misleading or
detrimental to the clients.
 Counselors obtain written permission from clients
to disclose or transfer records to legitimate third
parties unless exception to confidentiality exists.
5. Research and Training  Use of data derived from counseling relationships
for purposes of training, research, or publication is
confined to content that is disguised to ensure the
 anonymity of the individuals involved.
Identification of the client involved is permissible
only when the client has reviewed the material and
has agreed to its presentation or publication.
 Information obtained in consulting relationship is
discussed for professional purposes only with
persons clearly concerned with the case. Before
6. Consultation sharing information, counselors make efforts to
ensure that there defined policies that effectively
protect the confidentiality of information with
other agencies serving the counselors clients.

Source: Gladding, 2000

Areas Description
Professional
Responsibility
 Counselors have a responsibility to read,
1. Standards Knowledge understand, and follow the Code of Ethics and
Standards of Practice
2. Professional Competence  Counselors practice only within the boundaries
of their competence based on their education,
training, supervised experience, state and
national professional credentials and
appropriate professional experience.
Counselors will demonstrate a commitment to
gain knowledge, personal awareness,
sensitivity, and skills pertinent to working with
diverse client population.
 Counselors practice specialty areas new with to
them only after appropriate education, training,
and supervised experience. While developing
skills in new specialty area, counselors take
step to ensure the competence of their work and
to protect other from possible harm.
 Counselors accept employment only for
positions which they are qualified by education,
training, supervise experience, state and
national professional credentials, and
appropriate professional experience.
 Counselors continually monitor their
effectiveness as professionals and take steps to
improve their skills and knowledge.
 Counselors refrain from offering or accepting
professional services when their physical,
mental, or emotional problems are like to harm
 clients or others.

Revised Knowledge:

1. What is the importance of counseling?

Counseling is important in life. The difficulties and challenges of life are real.
Each person has their own stories and struggles of life. Some may pretend to
act tough in life but struggling inside. Hence, counseling helps individuals to
process the things that are happening in life. Counseling is not confined only
in addressing problems because the goals mentioned in our discussion aims to
bring about the best in us as we face the challenges of life.

2. What are the roles and functions of counseling?

The roles and functions of counseling as discussed above are Individual

Assessment, Individual Counseling, Group Counseling and Guidance,
Consultation, Research, evaluation and accountability, referral, and
prevention. These roles and functions are commonly observed in the field of
counseling.

Generalization:

In the field of counseling, the roles and functions, rights, responsibilities and
accountabilities of professionals and practitioners are very vital. Learners pursuing in
this field are expected to learn by heart these roles and functions because as you
extend your service to your future clientele, you are involving yourself in their lives.
Professionals and practitioners also become part in the lives of their client as they talk
about the facts and realities of life and move forward.