Ethics Codes Comparison

1354 Words6 Pages
A Comparison of American Counseling Association and American Association of Christian Counselors Codes of Ethics Teri Butcher Liberty University Abstract This paper compares and contrasts the American Counseling Association and the American Association of Christian Counselors codes of ethics manuals. Section I is a brief and general overview of the similarities and differences between the two codes of ethics. Section II is a more comprehensive discussion involving three individual codes, Informed Consent, Sexual Intimacies, and Referrals. A Comparison of American Counseling Association and American Association of Christian Counselors Codes of Ethics Introduction There are many Codes of Ethics encompassing the various organizations within the behavioral sciences. According to Corey, Corey, and Callanan, there is a general ethics code established for the behavioral sciences, however, many professional organizations have specialty guidelines geared toward their niche in the helping professions (2011). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the similarities and differences between the ethics codes of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), and the American Counseling Association (ACA), addressing them in the general sense; in addition to having a more in depth discussion about the similarities and differences in the aforementioned documents’ informed consent, sexual intimacies, and referrals sections. Section I The logistics of the codes are similar, each having eight main sections; the AACC’s purposes are encompassed within their “Biblical-Ethical Foundations” section, whereas the ACA’s purposes are found in their “Purpose” section. A noticible contrast exists within the mission statements from each organization; the AACC’s mission involves bringing “honor to Jesus
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