Ethical Decision Making

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Ethical Decision Making Name Date School Class Abstract The following report is intended to show how the American Counseling Association (ACA) ethical decision making model can be applied to make decisions concerning situations that may occur during a counselor’s career. In the following case, a counselor is faced with situation involving a client outside the professional boundaries of the practice. Using the ACA decision making model Scenario Wilma, a counselor in a community agency, has been working with Donna for several months for anxiety and panic disorder. On multiple occasions, Wilma has given Donna homework to complete between sessions that has not been completed by Donna. This past week, Wilma sees Donna again in session and assigns her some more homework. Later that week, Wilma and a friend go out to dinner. Wilma looks up to see that Donna is her waitress. Frustrated with Donna’s lack of effort with her homework and in an effort to hold Donna accountable, Wilma decides to inquire if Donna has done her homework and says, “Donna, I am glad I ran into you. Have you done your homework since our last session?” Ethical Decision Making Model 1. Identify the Problem In this situation, Wilma has asked Donna about her homework. This is problematic because Wilma and Donna are not in a clinical environment and this presents issues of professionalism and ethics. Having asked Donna about her counseling outside of the clinical setting, Wilma has created a situation whereby confidentiality could be broken due to the fact that they are in public and Wilma has a friend with her who is not privy to the relationship. Wilma has also jeopardized the client counselor relationship by showing a lack of fidelity. In this instance, Wilma needs to consult the ACA code of ethics to understand the significance of the problem and the dilemma she has created. 2.
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