chapter 12

PLAYING ACCORDING to the RULES

Scenario 12.1: Therapeutic Counseling

A middle school counselor has ten years of experience as a mental health counselor specializing in self-injury among adolescent girls. She now works in a rural school without ready access to local mental health services. Teachers have referred a few female students to her because they have observed self-injurious behaviors. The counselor feels competent in working with these students and has parental permission in each case. A central office curriculum supervisor, however, wants each school counselor to follow the ASCA National Model, which states that counseling services delivered in a clinical and therapeutic mode by school counselors are inappropriate (Reiner, Colbert, & Pérusse, 2009). What is your position on this issue? What are the ethical and legal implications? If you were her principal, what would you advise this counselor to do?

In today’s schools, administrators, teachers, counselors, and other professionals face increasingly difficult and complex legal and ethical issues. For you as a practicing school counselor, the responsibility of making the most appropriate decisions is dependent on a clear knowledge and understanding of legal and ethical guidelines. Such understanding begins with knowing the difference between ethical and legal issues.

You establish working relationships with students and other clients in accordance with legal parameters and ethical standards developed by professional associations and certification or licensing boards. Although legal and ethical guidelines are frequently in agreement, there are times when they appear to be in conflict with each other. At these times, your own professional knowledge and judgment will be the most important guide.

In daily practice, you interpret each legal and ethical situation within the context of school policies and your responsibilities for serving students, parents, and the local administrative unit. To place yourself in a knowledgeable position and to make appropriate decisions about legal and ethical issues, learn about state and national laws as well as local policies that relate to the practice of counseling in your school setting. At the same time, you want to have a clear understanding and working knowledge of professional ethics for school counselors. The ethical guidelines commonly followed by school counselors are the ethical standards of the American Counseling Association (2005) and the American School Counselor Association (2004). In addition, counselors who are certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors or other licensing boards follow their respective ethical codes.

This chapter examines legal and ethical considerations you might encounter as an elementary or middle school counselor. If you are not already knowledgeable and well versed in these issues, you may want to obtain up-to-date resources, attend conferences, participate in pertinent workshops, and read professional journals. Strengthening your knowledge base protects you, your clients, and the school from unwanted legal entanglements.

A first step in becoming informed is to learn about local, state, and national laws and policies that govern schools. As a professional school counselor you provide services according to regulations set by your administration, policies enacted by the local school board, state laws and procedures, and federal laws. All these come under the heading of legal considerations when you face decisions involving a law, policy, or other regulation.

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS AND RESOURCES

Many resources are available to help you explore the breadth and complexity of legal issues faced by today’s counselors. Your school principal, your counseling supervisor, the local school board, and professional associations can help you gain knowledge about local, state, and federal laws and policies.

School Principal

Ask your principal to locate manuals and guides for you to learn school regulations and local policies. These materials might include a copy of the student handbook, a faculty manual, school board policies, and a school principal’s guide to state law. Such documents present the policies and regulations by which your administration manages the school. As a professional hired by the school system, you want to adhere to these policies and regulations; in particular, you want to be aware of potential conflict between these regulations and your ethical standards. If you have questions in this regard, ask your principal to discuss these issues with you. In these discussions, listen carefully to the principal’s point of view, even if you do not always agree. In practice, balance your adherence to school policies with concern for student welfare and development. Sometimes it may be appropriate to illustrate for the principal how local regulations are inhibiting rather than facilitating student well-being and educational progress.

Overcoming differences of opinion about how regulations affect student development will be less difficult and stressful if you and your principal begin with a good working relationship. For this reason, it benefits you and the students to communicate consistently and openly with your principal about the school counseling program, the issues it addresses, and the services it provides. By maintaining open communications with your principal, you improve the likelihood of negotiating changes in school procedures and policies when they are detrimental to student welfare. Candid communication also places you in a stronger position to win the support of your principal when local policies raise ethical dilemmas regarding counseling services. The responsibilities you have to students, parents, and the school may not always be in harmony with one another, and having the support of your principal to help you satisfy each of these responsibilities is essential.

Counseling Supervisor

If your school system has a supervisor or director of school counseling services, ask this person for published state manuals related to the practice of school counseling. Determine which local school board regulations and state policies are applicable to the school counseling program.

Your supervisor may also be able to obtain information about actions related to school counseling handed down by state and federal courts. Because of the different levels and jurisdictions of courts, it is important to know which rulings apply to what situations. One avenue for learning this information is through a workshop on current legal rulings that pertain to school counseling. Your local school board attorney, a judge, or a district attorney can be an excellent resource to help plan and deliver this staff development. You also might ask the counseling supervisor to plan workshops that would help you and other counselors learn about the counselor’s role and responsibilities when being subpoenaed. When counselors become involved in counseling children about family separations, abusive situations, sexual development, and other sensitive issues, they sometimes receive subpoenas to testify in legal hearings and procedures. Workshops and seminars presented by expert counsel can help you learn about your rights, legal proceedings, and appropriate ways of responding as a court witness.

Some states have passed privileged communication statutes to protect certain student-counselor relationships. Find out whether such protection exists in your school system and what exceptions or conditions, if any, are in place in your state. Privileged communication means that counselors cannot be forced to testify in court about information students have revealed in counseling sessions. Thus privileged communication relates to the ethical practice of maintaining confidentiality. When a state law grants privileged communication, the client is protected, not the counselor. Students protected by privileged communication in counseling relationships can waive this privilege if they so desire, and in some states parents are involved in this process for minor children. Be sure to learn all you can about privileged communication, the pertinent statutes in your state, and how these affect the practice of counseling in your school.

School Board

In school systems governed by local boards of education, regularly meeting board members review and act on policies to govern and regulate school practices. Attend your local board meetings if you are allowed to do so. Check the agenda of each meeting when it is released and see whether it contains any items pertaining to the school counseling program. Sometimes school systems post the agendas in the central office before meetings or announce them in the local newspaper.

By staying informed, you are able to design and implement counseling services that conform to local policies and procedures. At the same time, you learn about local regulations under consideration by the board, which may hinder or help the delivery of comprehensive guidance and counseling services. By keeping in touch with local regulations, you take a strong position to advise decision makers, such as local board of education members, about school counseling services and the legal and ethical responsibilities of counselors.

You may find that the school board attorney is a vital support person when legal matters interact with your helping relationships. As mentioned above, the school board attorney is an excellent resource to inform you about your role and responsibilities when testifying in court as a witness. Attorneys also can provide information about an array of subjects that influence or interfere with counseling services in schools. Competent attorneys can address matters related to exceptional children’s rights, parent custody and access to children at school, privileged communications between students and counselors, due process, counselor malpractice, use of e-mail or other electronic forms in delivering counseling services, and limitless other topics.

The situations you face are not always simple to handle in legal or practical terms. For example, conflicts may occur between a principal and a counselor because of how each person perceives his or her role, authority, and responsibilities. Imagine that a teacher suspects that one student is being physically abused. This teacher has brought the evidence to you, the school counselor. In your school system, it is proper procedure to bring such cases to the school principal immediately, and you do so. The principal listens and says, “I know this family. This is not abuse; it is simply firm discipline.” The principal makes it clear: “This will not be reported to the child protective services agency.” Both you and the teacher feel otherwise. What would you do?

According to the law, all professionals are required to report a situation when they have sufficient reason to believe a parent or caretaker has abused a child. All states have laws that require school officials to report suspected child abuse. Knowing this, however, may not be sufficient in helping you and the teacher make a decision to act against your principal’s orders. What you need is guidance from a local policy that clearly shows the legal responsibilities of all school personnel, in accordance with state and federal laws regarding child abuse. You may also need to consult your supervisor or the personnel director in the school system. In cases of suspected child abuse, the report is usually required within a specific time frame. Therefore, you may not have time to research the legal position of the school system on this matter. For this reason, it is all the more important that you have a working knowledge of local school regulations and the authority of the school principal and other administrators as well as your own. As noted in Chapter Nine, suspicion of child abuse requires a report to an investigative agency.

Most school officials—administrators and board members—want counselors to provide services that meet the expectations of local policies, state mandates, and federal laws. Hence, school systems generally are willing to provide staff development and make available legal experts who can educate counselors, teachers, and other professionals about appropriate regulations. In addition to the training that the school system provides, you could seek further information and education from professional counseling associations both nationally and in your state.

Professional Associations

You can acquire resources concerning legal issues and professional responsibilities from state, regional, and national counseling and educational organizations. The American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association, and their state divisions provide opportunities for counselors to learn about the legal and ethical standards and practices of professional organizations. This information will help you compare local school policies with the positions of various counseling associations, which will, for example, help you prepare a case to convince your principal and school system to adjust policies that are seemingly in conflict with the legal views or ethical standards of the counseling profession.

By attending state conferences, national conventions, and local workshops, you can learn from colleagues who are counseling in other elementary and middle schools and facing issues similar to those you confront in your school. Take advantage of these opportunities to increase your knowledge, and place yourself in a position of being able to prevent legal and ethical entanglements.

Although you may want to attain a general working knowledge of the law and how it relates to the practice of school counseling, your best resource in times of conflict will be the specific law or policy in question and an expert in the practice of law. Ethical considerations, however, are less precise than legal mandates (although many of these are also imprecise) and are guided by your knowledge, understanding, and acceptance of professional codes and standards.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

ASCA has presented its own code of conduct to foster and maintain standards of practice for school counselors. In these ethical standards, ASCA defines seven broad areas of counselor responsibility—to students, parents or guardians, colleagues and professional associates, the school and community, one’s self, the profession, and maintenance of standards. You want to obtain and review a complete copy of this ethical code, which you can download from the ASCA Web site (www.schoolcounselor.org). The following sections offer a brief summary of counselor responsibilities as outlined in the ASCA ethical standards.

Responsibilities to Students

School counselors are primarily concerned with the total development of students, including their educational, vocational, personal, and social growth. You accept responsibility for informing students about procedures and techniques used in counseling relationships and encourage students to explore their own values and beliefs in making decisions and plans about life goals.

As a counselor, you are responsible for knowing about the laws and regulations regarding student welfare as you seek to protect the rights of all children. To protect the confidentiality of information received in your helping relationships, release information according to existing laws and policies and always use student records and data in an accurate and appropriate manner. In addition, balance the student’s right to privileged communication with parents’ rights to be involved in guiding their child’s development.

As noted earlier in this chapter, confidentiality is an important ethical issue. Research indicates that school counselors have not reached a consensus about when to break confidentiality and what risk-taking behaviors by students might influence such decisions (Moyer & Sullivan, 2008). Because elementary and middle school students are minors according to law, when you should break confidentiality is a delicate and sometimes complex issue (Lazovsky, 2008). This is all the more reason for you to know your position in this matter. In brief, you inform parents or guardians and appropriate authorities when you believe situations present clear and imminent danger to students. Use careful consideration in doing so, and consult other professionals whenever possible. Furthermore, you will want to make necessary referrals when your assistance is no longer showing adequate progress with students who are receiving counseling. Your ability to make such referrals is contingent on your knowledge of existing resources in the school system and community.

According to the ASCA code, you want to avoid relationships with students or other persons that compromise your objectivity or increase the risk of harm to the student. Such relationships are referred to as “dual relationships,” and sometimes they are unavoidable. For example, a dual relationship might exist if you were the only counselor in the school, and a student who is also the son of your best friend needs immediate assistance. When these types of relationships are unavoidable, you have the responsibility to minimize the risks to the student and thereby reduce the potential for harm.

Other responsibilities to students include appropriate selection and use of tests and other assessment procedures, evaluation of the effectiveness of the counseling program, adherence to professional procedures when facilitating group work, maintenance of student records used in rendering responsive services, and appropriate use and promotion of technology in delivering services.

Responsibilities to Parents

Although counselors in elementary and middle schools have the ethical obligation to protect the rights of children and confidential relationships established with students, they also have a responsibility to involve parents and keep them informed of services that are available to their children. According to the ASCA code, counselors recognize the rights and responsibilities of parents, and establish cooperative relationships with parents to ensure the progress and development of students. However, these rights and responsibilities are not always clearly defined, and today’s challenging social issues, such as child neglect and abuse, coupled with continuously shifting family structures place you and your school in precarious ethical and legal positions. For this reason, be knowledgeable about your school’s views on parental involvement in all services for children and about your role as counselor. In general, your role should include the following responsibilities:

• Know local policies and state laws that pertain to counseling with minors and to guidance and counseling services in schools.

• Communicate frequently with your principal about your program of services and about the nature of concerns that students bring to you. Although information about particular children is confidential, you generally inform your principal of the types of concerns that students are having in school.

• Inform parents about the school counseling program by making presentations at PTA or PTO meetings, distributing brochures, writing a column for the school newspaper, and inviting local media to cover special events in the school. When parents know you and are aware of their children’s progress in school, they are more likely to accept confidential relationships between you and their children to some degree.

• Seek permission from children to involve their parents in the helping process. With young children in elementary and middle schools, the support and involvement of parents are critical in determining the success of a counseling relationship. Young people do not have sufficient control of their lives to make all the decisions necessary for moving the helping process forward, and parental input is essential in most cases. When appropriate, you should encourage children to inform their parents about their concerns and permit you to communicate with and involve their parents in helping relationships. As noted previously, when a student is in danger, you take the necessary steps to inform and involve parents and guardians. An exception is when the parents or guardians themselves are responsible for the imminent danger, such as in cases of child abuse. At these times, you follow local and state regulations for reporting to the proper authorities.

• Provide accurate and objective information to parents. When it is appropriate to share information with parents, you should give an accurate, complete, and unbiased account of the situation. Interpreting test data, discussing school policies, and sharing other information reliably and accurately build parent confidence in you and the school. One cardinal rule is that when you are unsure of the accuracy of data (for example, test results) or other sources, say so, and assume responsibility for following up and obtaining the most current and correct information.

Responsibilities to Colleagues and Professional Associates

The degree to which you form successful partnerships with professionals in your school and community is a measure of the regard and respect you will earn as a counselor. Your relationship with other professionals, beginning with your teaching colleagues, must be facilitative and genuine, because an effective counseling program cannot exist without sufficient collaboration among all professionals in the school.

Be respectful toward teachers, staff members, and administrators in your school. Let them know that you hold them in high regard as professionals and admire them for accepting the challenge of educating all children. Inform teachers and administrators about your role in the school and the ethical guidelines by which you practice. Be open, trustful, accurate, and objective when communicating and consulting with school staff.

Rely on the knowledge and expertise of teachers and other professionals to make appropriate decisions in your role as counselor. Teachers, media specialists, psychologists, social workers, and nurses offer a wide range of expertise and knowledge. By seeking assistance from these professionals, you avoid overextending yourself and running the risk of providing services and information beyond your competency level.

It is your responsibility to be informed about the roles and capabilities of professionals with whom you work. Learn about the other specialists who serve your school and find out about their professional preparation and skills. Also acquire such knowledge about professionals outside the school to whom you will refer children and families. You have an ethical responsibility to know your referral sources and to seek professionals and agencies that are highly competent, appropriate, and effective with their respective client populations.

Gathering this type of information may take time. One way to begin is to follow up regularly with the referrals you make. Ask students and parents whom you have referred to other professionals and agencies about the services they have received. Call referral agencies and, if appropriate, ask for progress reports. Base future decisions of whether to continue using various community resources on the follow-up you receive about past referrals.

In your relationships with community agencies and professionals, always consider the welfare of the students, parents, and teachers with whom you work in the school. It is improper to place your own personal and professional interests before those of the clients you serve, particularly when working with referral agencies and professionals in the school and community. The primary consideration should be: What is best for the student, parent, or teacher?

Responsibilities to the School and Community

As an employee of a school system, you have certain legal and ethical responsibilities regarding your role as an elementary or middle school counselor. As noted earlier, a working knowledge of the rules and policies governing the school and your counseling program is essential to function appropriately. It is imperative for you as a representative of the school system to follow these regulations in your practice as a school counselor.

Ethically, you have a responsibility to students first and the school second. At times, you may experience conflict between your ethical responsibilities and the regulations mandated by the school. When this happens, mention this concern to the school administration. By showing your principal, for example, how a strict school policy on attendance is limiting or jeopardizing your effectiveness and ability to assist a school-phobic child gradually return to school, you may be able to get the regulation changed for more flexibility. This could have a positive effect on many students. The potential for this type of conflict is another reason to have an open, cooperative relationship with your school administration from the outset.

On rare occasion, a school policy that contradicts your ethical standards cannot or will not change, and you will face a difficult professional and career decision. It comes down to two basic questions: Can I ethically continue in this counseling position, or should I resign? and, If I remain in this position, do I behave against policy to do what I believe to be best for students?

Ethical codes and legal regulations do not always provide clear answers. Each case is unique, and policies and laws are subject to interpretation. Sometimes you might decide that the best and most appropriate action to take is to behave against policy. If so, you risk losing your job. Only you can decide whether such a risk is worth taking. As a professional counselor, you encourage students and other clients to take risks in their lives and develop to their fullest potential. Sometimes you want take risks, too, and heed your own advice.

Responsibilities to Yourself

The ASCA ethical code states that school counselors should function within the boundaries of their professional competence and accept responsibility for the consequences and outcomes of their decisions and actions. Behaving in any other way places you, your clients, and the institution in physical, emotional, and legal jeopardy. In addition to practicing within your professional limitations, you also want to choose approaches and techniques that have the probability of generating positive outcomes with minimal risk to clients and yourself. You are committed to choosing the most beneficial services that will enhance rather than hinder the development of others.

By consistently behaving in a competent manner and demonstrating your commitment to ongoing professional development, you demonstrate a high level of self-responsibility. Keeping abreast of issues in school counseling, attending conferences and workshops, returning to school, and reading professional literature are a few ways to remain current and improve your counseling, consulting, and technological skills. Chapter Thirteen explores in detail some additional approaches to caring for yourself as a person and as a professional.

Another way that you demonstrate self-responsibility is by recognizing the diversity of students and communities your school serves. This includes an awareness of your own perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs about cultural values and differences, which, as noted in Chapter Six, are important aspects of your development and performance as a professional counselor.

Responsibilities to the Profession

As a member of the counseling profession, you join thousands of counselors who serve in a variety of settings and institutions. Although these various settings may differ in the populations they serve, their primary mission and the nature of services offered enable their clientele to reach common goals for human development and learning. For this reason, counselors from every area of practice—schools, universities, mental health centers, prisons, hospitals, and other settings—collectively establish a stance by which the general public views the entire counseling profession. All practicing counselors, regardless of the institutions in which they function, have an obligation to behave in the most responsible and ethical manner possible.

Behaviors you choose and the ways you function in an elementary or middle school will add to or detract from the credibility and worth of the school counseling profession. Everything you do and say will make a positive or negative difference in the ways people view you as a counselor and in their perceptions of your profession. Furthermore, each personal and professional action, interaction, and decision you make has the potential for either a negative or positive impact on some person or group. Realizing this responsibility and accepting the challenge of behaving in a dependably ethical and knowledgeable manner are the hallmarks of professionalism.

You also demonstrate professional responsibility through the accountability processes you use to assess your school counseling program. In this guide, you have learned the importance of measuring what you do and how well you do it. When undertaking program evaluation, conduct yourself ethically by collecting data in appropriate ways and reporting results accurately, completely, objectively, and in accordance with acceptable research practices. Counselors who exaggerate outcomes or omit data attempt to paint an untrue picture of their programs or themselves and behave irresponsibly and unethically.

Related to an accurate reporting of program evaluation results is the practice of presenting yourself to your clientele and the public in a clear, truthful manner. This means giving accurate information about your training and credentials as well as understanding your level of competence and skills in delivering appropriate services. Misrepresentations about your background and training are improper, and you should immediately correct any information that you or others have mistakenly conveyed. For example, if you are introduced to the PTA as a “certified family counselor” when you hold no such credential, it is your responsibility to correct this information for the audience before beginning your presentation.

Identifying your level of skill and practicing within the boundaries of your competencies are not always as simple as correcting misinformation about your background. For example, in a critical situation you might be the only professional available to help. Due to the immediate circumstances, you must take action quickly. In such cases, you intervene to the best of your ability and seek assistance from more qualified professionals as soon as possible. Behaving in accordance with your level of training and making appropriate referrals are ways of demonstrating responsibility to yourself as a professional and adhering to standards of practice.

Responsibilities to Maintain Ethical Standards

The last section of the ASCA ethical code encourages counselors to observe ethical practices and be aware of the responsibility and procedures for reporting instances of suspected unethical practice by other professional counselors. Such procedures begin with a confidential consultation with a colleague to confirm the suspicion of unethical practice, followed by a face-to-face conference, when feasible, with the counselor whose behavior is questionable.

This section also mentions state association ethics reviews and the ASCA Ethics Committee. You want to know the procedures, outlined by ASCA and other organizations that publish ethical standards of practice for counselors, for bringing suspected violations up for review.

Thus far, this chapter has reviewed legal and ethical issues to consider when establishing and implementing a school counseling program of services. These considerations are important in establishing a framework for professional practice, but they will not provide clear, precise answers for every situation. Although ethical standards do not supersede the law, legal knowledge is not always sufficient to guide decisions about the most appropriate course of action to take. Because each case is different and the welfare of the student or other client is paramount, your judgment always plays a pivotal role in legal and ethical issues.

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR ETHICAL PRACTICE

This concluding section offers general guidelines to aid in establishing your own professional framework for making ethical decisions and demonstrating sound judgment. By establishing professional and personal guidelines, you become more consistent and dependable in the decisions you make and the actions you choose. These qualities lend credibility to your performance as a professional school counselor, and students, parents, teachers, and others come to rely on your judgment.

Over the years, businesses, industries, and other organizations have sought to define appropriate and pragmatic ethical standards. Many have adopted the Four-Way Test of the International Rotarian Society for establishing ethical relationships. The test was first published in the early 1930s and continues to be a template for many businesses. You can adapt the four key questions of this test, shown in Exhibit 12.1, to create a framework for ethical practice in professional counseling.

EXHIBIT 12.1

Four Key Questions
Ask yourself the following questions in your helping relationships:
1.	Am I being truthful? Providing accurate information is essential to ethical practice in professional counseling. Counselors who function at the highest level behave genuinely and honestly at all times. They handle information appropriately and respect confidentiality in accordance with ethical guidelines. At times you may need to withhold information for the protection and welfare of a student or other person, but you choose to omit or withhold information only with the utmost care and respect for the individual.
2.	Am I being fair to everyone involved? Fairness is frequently a matter of perception. It is also a condition to assess in examining your behavior. One way to ensure a high degree of fairness is to seek input from everyone involved. By including all parties, you increase the likelihood that people will agree with the decisions made.
3.	Will my actions result in cooperative relationships? The goal of every helping relationship is to enable people to work jointly toward a common, beneficial goal. When counseling or consulting with others, you have an obligation to establish cooperative
	relationships with all who are involved in the process. If you avoid seeking input from others or diminish their contribution to the helping process, you threaten the success of these relationships and damage your credibility.
4.	Are my actions beneficial to all parties? You want every action to produce results that enhance human development. Therefore, behaviors that demean, degrade, and dehumanize in any way, shape, or form cannot be ethical, responsible actions. When you function at the highest level of ethical practice, you take every precaution to ensure that your behaviors lead to beneficial outcomes for every party involved, including the school.

In addition to the four key questions of the Four-Way Test of ethical behavior, there are other ethical considerations to include in your personal guidelines for professional functioning. These considerations include advertising your services clearly and accurately, knowing when to refer cases, understanding the voluntary nature of counseling, following through on cases, understanding your own values, informing parents, seeking appropriate assistance, and caring for yourself personally and professionally. Consider each of these components of ethical practice as you develop your program.

Advertising Your Services

This guide has encouraged you to be visible as a counselor in your elementary or middle school and to advertise who you are and what you do. As you prepare materials for distribution to students, parents, teachers, and other groups, check their accuracy. Counselors who announce their functions and services through appropriate channels and according to ethical standards are careful to describe their roles and functions clearly and correctly. Brochures you create, news releases you send out, Web sites you develop, and interviews you give are carefully prepared and presented so your audience has little doubt about the services of the school counseling program and your role as the school counselor.

It is also professional behavior to accurately describe your level and area of training when requested to give this information. In such a description, you want to offer a general summary of your preparation to become a counselor. Typically, school counselors who are properly trained during their graduate work have studied a range of human development theories, such as multicultural theories, numerous helping skills and processes, and measurement and evaluation theories and techniques. ASCA (2008) developed and published its School Counselor Competencies to help counselors establish comprehensive programs of services for all students. Competencies are those behaviors that professional school counselors are capable of performing and include in the comprehensive program of services. Exhibit 12.2 gives a brief outline of the areas of competency proposed by ASCA. To have a full understanding of the ASCA School Counselor Competencies, however, you will want a full copy for your professional library. You will find the competencies published in the July-August 2008 issue of ASCA School Counselor magazine, which is listed in the Resources at the end of this guide.

EXHIBIT 12.2

In using the ASCA School Counselor Competencies, you may find that some of the proposed competencies do not fit your preparation or belief system as an elementary or middle school counselor. For example, the ASCA National Model is fundamental to these competencies. If you use another model in designing, implementing, and evaluating your school counseling program, some of the competencies may seem irrelevant. In this case, you could adjust some of the competencies to fit your situation. If there are some competencies that you believe are important but are not prepared to deliver, you will want to acquire those competencies. You might do this by pursuing additional graduate work, attending conferences or workshops, and undertaking self-education through reading and forming collegial relationships.

Knowing When You’ve Gone Far Enough

As a practitioner you borrow methods and strategies from several disciplines, including human development and learning, sociology, psychology, group dynamics, and educational research. With this broad background of study, you are able to provide many beneficial services in your school. Yet your expertise and level of competency have limitations, and you should practice within these boundaries. In sum, know when you have gone far enough.

How long do you continue seeing any student for individual counseling? I once heard a consultant respond to this question by commenting that a counselor should refer a student if the counseling relationship lasts more than five or six sessions. It is important to set parameters for the duration of your counseling relationships, but such simple quantitative responses are troubling. You may find many factors to consider when deciding how long a counseling relationship should continue and when it is appropriate to refer. You want to develop guidelines for making these important and sometimes difficult decisions. Here are a few questions to ask yourself during this process:

1. Do I have the knowledge and skills to help this person explore the problem, examine alternatives, make decisions, and act accordingly?

2. Is there another professional who is better able to help than I am, and who is available and accessible to the person needing services?

3. Do I want to involve parents or guardians in this helping relationship?

4. By seeing this person on a regular basis, am I denying other people services or neglecting other vital functions in my role as a school counselor?

5. Am I making progress with this person, and can I show evidence of this progress?

Students in elementary and middle schools often need someone to listen to them on a regular basis and guide them toward appropriate decisions. Not all children and adolescents require intensive therapy; some simply need a caring person to be their confidant, ally, and friend. How much time to give to regular clients is a question only you can answer. The essential factor should be whether the services you provide make a positive difference in the life of a student, in classroom relationships, in educational development, and in the overall functioning of the school.

Developing guidelines for addressing these questions will help you be consistent in the services you provide. Ask members of your advisory committee for their opinions and suggestions about how to determine the length and duration of your counseling relationships with students. Of course, students also have something to say about this issue, based on their level of commitment and their voluntary participation in the helping process.

Understanding Volunteerism in Counseling

The issue of voluntary counseling is of particular importance in institutions in which clients make up a captive audience. Schools are among these institutions because students are required to attend and, in some cases, are required to receive counseling services. Classroom guidance, orientation services, and annual registration are a few activities that include all students. Individual and group counseling relationships occasionally are expected for some students who have behavior problems, learning difficulties, or other concerns that inhibit their progress. How you handle these expectations and at the same time respect the rights of students is a measure of your ethical and professional practice.

When students are referred involuntarily for services, the initial steps you take in developing helping relationships are critical. It is essential that all students view your assistance as genuine and potentially beneficial for them. In this regard, find out what each student would like to see changed in his or her life or in school. As you and the student explore these wishes, you are better able to determine what goals are possible within the scope of the helping relationship. When students are particularly resistant to your help, it may be necessary to establish a personal relationship before expecting them to accept your professional assistance. If after a reasonable time you are unsuccessful in winning acceptance, it is appropriate to seek assistance from other professionals.

On rare occasion, students will refuse help, even from the most competent and caring counselors. You do not want to coerce or pressure a student who does not wish to be involved in a helping relationship, or who absolutely refuses to participate in any form of a relationship. Referral to another professional is an option to consider, but elementary or middle school children may not respond any better to other professionals than they do to you. A second option is to provide indirect services by assisting the parents, teachers, and other students in the class. Such services as parent education programs, teacher consultation, and classroom guidance may help others discover new, appropriate behaviors to try when relating to the child in question. When others connected with the child make changes, the student in question may begin to make adjustments in his or her own views and behaviors. Whatever route you choose, it is important to follow through on all referrals, even when the student resists or rejects your assistance.

Following Through

You probably receive many referrals from students, teachers, and parents. By following through on all these referrals, you behave in an ethical manner and you function at an effective level of professional practice. To accomplish this, you need a workable referral system and a process for following up on the cases you receive.

The referrals you receive as a counselor may often be spontaneous comments from teachers. You could be walking down the hall, having lunch, or getting your mail in the front office when a teacher says, “I have a student who needs counseling.” Because you have many responsibilities and provide services throughout the school, these spontaneous referrals are sometimes difficult to remember. Help yourself and your teachers by keeping a small notebook handy during the day. By writing these messages down, you accept responsibility for receiving the referral, which is more efficient than handing teachers a referral form and saying, “I would love to help. Please fill this out.” It is also a better way to facilitate professional relationships. Although referral forms have their place, they are not always practical; a notepad will demonstrate to teachers that what they have shared with you is important and that you value their input and time.

Understanding Your Values

Another aspect of counseling in schools that relates to ethical practice is having a clear understanding and appreciation of your own values and their effects on various helping relationships. The ASCA ethical code states that counselors should refrain from forcing opinions and values on students and others whom they counsel. Yet it is impossible not to have one’s beliefs color and influence personal and professional relationships. At the same time, you also want to follow the policies and guidelines established by your school, which have their own sets of values.

A few suggestions may help you in handling this value-laden issue. First, know where you stand. A clear understanding of your belief system helps you assess how others view you and how they perceive the assistance you offer them. Second, withhold your values and beliefs unless sharing them facilitates the client’s progress toward a beneficial goal. When you share your beliefs, do so openly and honestly, and allow others to disagree. Third, provide several options from which clients can choose. Encourage students to list as many alternatives as possible, and refrain from judging these options solely on what you believe.

When working with students, some values that enter the relationship invariably will be those of their parents. With young children, these family values raise another issue related to ethical practice—the involvement of parents.

Informing Parents

Legal precedent may supersede ethical standards when considering the involvement of parents in counseling relationships with children. As we noted earlier in this chapter, you have an obligation to know your state laws and local policies regarding parent permission. Sometimes there is a delicate balance between your duty to protect the rights of the child and the ethical and legal obligations to honor the rights and responsibilities of parents. In counseling elementary and middle school students, it is good practice to involve the parents or guardians as soon as possible in the helping relationship.

With the exception of instances in which imminent danger is apparent and therefore immediate notification of authorities and parents is imperative, counseling relationships with school children should eventually include parent or guardian participation at some level. Students in elementary and middle schools do not control their lives to the extent that adolescents and adults do. For this reason, progress in helping relationships with young children can be greatly enhanced by the involvement and support of parents. In most cases, students will give you permission to include their parents in the helping process. If possible, involve students in planning how to inform their parents and what to tell their parents. By combining forces, counselors and parents can offer children stronger and more consistent support in resolving conflicts and addressing concerns. Parent input is also essential when deciding to refer a child to other services.

Seeking Assistance from Others

As discussed throughout this guide, you sometimes will be unable to provide optimal services, and will refer students for additional services within or outside the school. To make referrals ethically and professionally, in addition to learning about the agencies and practitioners that you are recommending you also want to give parents the opportunity to select a referral resource if possible.

Avoid giving only one option simply because you think it is the “best” choice. When offering suggestions to parents, give as many options as possible, be open about your impressions of these agencies and professionals, and share results that other families have reported. Then ask parents to choose one they think will meet their needs. At this point, you might ask parents whether they would like assistance in setting up the initial appointment, arranging transportation, or seeking financial aid.

All of the issues and processes presented here will help you make appropriate and ethical decisions as an elementary or middle school counselor. Worksheet 12.1 provides a checklist to follow when you face the most challenging situations and decisions.

Caring for Yourself

A further thought on ethical and professional practice relates to your own health and well-being. Ethical counselors who practice at the highest level of professional functioning do so because they take care of themselves. They maintain physical, mental, and emotional health, which allows them to behave at a highly skilled and principled level. This is extremely important in the counseling profession—to take care of yourself so that you can offer appropriate care to others. The final chapter of this Survival Guide explores this notion of self-care more fully.

WORKSHEET 12.1

Ethical Decision-Making Checklist

Copyright 2010 by John Wiley & Sons. Inc.

———	Identify the issue or problem.
———	Gather essential information.
———	Consider your value system and beliefs.
———	Understand your responsibilities and obligations.
———	Inform the appropriate people (for example, administrators, teachers, parents).
———	Review ethical guideline(s).
———	Seek consultation.
———	Consider the options and corresponding consequences.
———	Determine the best course of action.
———	Take action.
———	Evaluate the outcome.