the AAMFT Code of Ethics is an aspirational/explanatory orientation to the enforceable standards that follow (AAMFT, 2015). ● Gifts: Marriage and family therapists attend to cultural norms when considering whether to accept gifts from or give gifts to clients. Marriage and family therapists consider the potential effects that receiving or giving gifts may have on clients and on the integrity and efficacy of the therapeutic relationship. ● Informed Consent: Marriage and family therapists obtain appropriate informed consent to therapy or related procedures and use language that is reasonably understandable to clients. When persons, due to age or mental status, are legally incapable of giving informed consent, marriage and family therapists obtain informed permission from a legally authorized person, if such substitute consent is legally permissible. The content of informed consent may vary depending upon the client and treatment plan; however, informed consent generally necessitates that the client: (a) has the capacity to consent; (b) has been adequately informed of significant information concerning treatment processes and procedures; (c) has been adequately informed of potential risks and benefits of treatments for which generally recognized standards do not yet exist; (d) has freely and without undue influence expressed consent; and (e) has provided consent that is appropriately documented. ● Maintenance of Competence: Marriage and family therapists pursue knowledge of new developments and maintain their competence in marriage and family therapy through education, training, and/or supervised experience. ● Multiple Relationships: Marriage and family therapists are aware of their influential positions with respect to clients, and they avoid exploiting the trust and ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors The preamble of the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (2022) states, “These standards are the ethical responsibility of all school counseling professionals.” The statement of purpose in the document includes additional clarification that the, “ASCA specifies the obligation to the principles of ethical behavior necessary to maintain the highest standards of integrity, leadership and professionalism.” Glossary of Terms: ASCA (ASCA,2022) ● Advocate: A person who speaks, writes, or acts to promote the well-being of students, parents/guardians, school and community stakeholders, and the school counseling profession. School counselors advocate to create and maintain equitable systems, policies, and practices. ● Anti-Racist: One who expresses the idea that race is a social construct and does not biologically exist while supporting policy that eliminates racial inequity and fighting against racism. ● Assent: To demonstrate agreement when a student is not competent to give informed consent to counseling or other services the school counselor is providing. ● Bias Incident: Use of hateful imagery, language or acts that are often noncriminal in nature motivated by bigotry, prejudice or hate toward individuals because of the targets’ perceived disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, nationality, race, sex, or sexual orientation. ● Boundaries: Something that indicates or affixes an extent or limits.
dependency of such persons. Therapists, therefore, make every effort to avoid conditions and multiple relationships with clients that could impair professional judgment or increase the risk of exploitation. Such relationships include, but are not limited to, business or close personal relationships with a client or the client’s immediate family. When the risk of impairment or exploitation exists due to conditions or multiple roles, therapists document the appropriate precautions taken. ● Nonabandonment: Marriage and family therapists do not abandon or neglect clients in treatment without making reasonable arrangements for the continuation of treatment. ● Professional Misconduct: Marriage and family therapists may be in violation of this Code and subject to termination. of membership or other appropriate action if they: (a) are convicted of any felony; (b) are convicted of a misdemeanor related to their qualifications or functions; (c) engage in conduct which could lead to conviction of a felony, or a misdemeanor related to their qualifications or functions; (d) are expelled from or disciplined by other professional organizations; (e) have their licenses or certificates suspended or revoked or are otherwise disciplined by regulatory bodies; (f) continue to practice marriage and family therapy while no longer competent to do so because they are impaired by physical or mental causes or the abuse of alcohol or other substances; or (g) fail to cooperate with the Association at any point from the inception of an ethical complaint through the completion of all proceedings regarding that complaint. ● Referrals: Marriage and family therapists respectfully assist persons in obtaining appropriate therapeutic services if the therapist is unable or unwilling to provide professional help. ● Breach: Disclosure of information given in private or confidential communication such as information given during counseling. ● Dual Relationship: A relationship in which a school counselor is concurrently participating in two or more roles with a student. ● Emancipated Minors: Minors who are legally freed from control by their parents/guardians, and the parents/ guardians are freed from all responsibility toward the children. ● Encryption: Process of putting information into a coded form to control and limit access to authorized users. ● FERPA: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student (“eligible student”). The FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99 (U.S. DOE, 2021). ● Informed Consent: Assisting students in acquiring an understanding of the limits of confidentiality, the benefits, facts, and risks of entering a counseling relationship. ● Serious and Foreseeable Harm: When a reasonable person can anticipate significant and harmful possible consequences.
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