ACA Code Of Ethics: Ethical Dilemmas And Professional Challenges

Ethical dilemmas and professional challenges surround us on a daily basis, how we respond to them is crucial to our professional career. In 2005, the American Counseling Association (ACA) published a document titled the ACA Code of Ethics which was designed to aid counselors in the ethical decision making process and, in response, “expand the capacity of people to grow and develop” (Alexandria, 2014, p. 3). Counselors are obligated to follow these sets of guidelines on a daily basis, in and out of the workplace, and will be reprimanded for violating any given rule. Currently I am interning at East Coast Counseling here in Greenville, NC. East Coast is a private practice used for individual counseling, group counseling, DWI assessments, and …show more content…
While I was writing out his receipt he handed me a ten dollar bill, in hopes that I would take it as a gift and buy myself something for lunch. As sweet as the gesture was, and I know it did not come from a place of romance, I could not accept the offer. I simply told the client that I could not accept his money unless it was towards his account balance, so that is what I did. I added the extra ten dollars towards his group counseling sessions on Thursday afternoons. Before the client walked away I got a whiff of alcohol, which might not have been a big deal if he #1: was suppose to be abstaining from alcohol, and #2: if he was not driving. The client was also not suppose to be driving, as he had his license suspended until all charges are cleared and treatment is complete. Even though I hated to, I had to call my supervisor to the front, and ask the client to stay. According to our code of ethics, A.10.f discusses accepting gifts from clients. Also, our Code of ethics talks about non-maleficence which means doing no harm to the client. By allowing the client to drive off in the car, I was doing more harm than good. I as a counselor have to uphold the law as well as my code of ethics. I could not in good practice, allow this client to leave the premises without proper transportation. This was a tough decision for me because I genuinely felt for this particular client. He had had a …show more content…
I had built rapport with this client (strictly professional) and the client often related to me as far as interests go. They were in their early 20’s, as I am in my late 20’s, but I do not think they wanted anything romantic, I think it was more of wanting a friendship. I explained to the client that I could not give out my personal number, that I could only have a professional relationship with him. He seemed to understand and thought it would be okay, given that I am the intern and not actually working for the agency. I further explained that I like to keep my personal life separate from my work/internship role, and even though I was not employed I still had to uphold the same rules as if I were. For me this was an awkward encounter because I did not want to hurt the client’s feelings, nor did I want him to regress from our rapport. I wanted him to feel free to call or come in if he needed further guidance, but at the same time I simply could not be his friend. It puts you in a weird position too because I wanted to delicately approach the issue at hand, without it seeming like he was not good enough for me to ever be friends with. As counselors we want what is best for our clients but we do not want to make them feel unworthy either. I think I handled the situation well, and I documented