Blog 11 Nakia Eckert

I am extremely interested in ethics as it relates to our future careers as School Counselors and really enjoyed reading these case scenarios. Some were easy decisions and some were more challenging. The first one that was personally challenging was #3 from the Romley article. This situation involved a client who was exhibiting suicidal indicators but the Counselor was not sure whether or not to inform the student’s parents. The Counselor decided to consult with her peers and go with what they said, regardless of how she felt about the situation. I do not believe the Counselor acted ethically in this situation. While consulting with her peers was the right thing to do, ignoring her gut instincts could have fatal consequences for her client. Gaining a consensus is a great idea, but she also needs to acknowledge that she is the one with the relationship to the client and her peers do not have firsthand knowledge about this client’s situation. Further consultation with the client and perhaps a private session (or family session) with the client’s family to discuss other issues would help the counselor delve deeper into the client’s behaviors. Ethical standards that make this dilemma challenging are the rules of confidentiality (Ethical Standards for School Counselors, 2010) A.2., particularly © and (d) which state that counselors must balance the confidentiality to the students with an understanding that parents also have a legal right to know what is going on in their children’s lives and to be a guiding voice. Personally, this situation is difficult because I would hate to ignore my instincts and follow someone else’s opinion and then have the student harm themselves.

The second dilemma is from Ethical Scenarios as Case Examples from Professional School Counseling. This scenario involves a well-known football coach from a university wanting to look at the academic records of a student athlete and the School Counselor gives the coach access without the student’s or parent’s permission. I do not think that the School Counselor acted ethically in this situation, although I can understand how difficult this situation would be for a Counselor who wants to advocate for the best interests of their students. This situation puts the Counselor in a violation of the student’s FERPA rights, “which safeguards student’s records and allows parents to have a voice in what and how information is shared with others regarding their child’s educational records” (ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors, 2010). The Counselor should have held their ground and not let the coach look at the student’s records, even though he might have had a good intentions regarding why he wanted access to that information. What is personally challenging is balancing the desire that all Counselors should have to see their students be successful with their obligation to protect their privacy.

The third dilemma is #8 from Romley’s Ethics Quiz involving the Counselor who wants to conduct group counseling sessions in an Internet format and does not have the proper policies and procedures in place. I do not believe that the Counselor acted ethically in this situation even though I feel that he was trying to find a new and innovative way to connect with his students. Even though Internet counseling is so new, the Counselor should have first set up a group counseling policy and procedures outline and figured out how he was going to ensure confidentiality through the Internet. This should be done before going to the Principal. In addition, the Counselor should have obtained informed consent from parents and students which relates directly to Ethical Standard A.6. Group Work from ASCA. The Counselor will also need to consider how to comply with FERPA guidelines and how to disclose to the students when confidentiality might need to be broken. Another consideration will be how to handle confidential discussions online and how to ensure that no one else is reading the group’s conversations that is not a part of the group. What is personally challenging is how to balance the desire to be innovative and connect technology with counseling techniques while maintaining the student’s privacy.

American School Counselor Association. Ethical Standards for School Counselors (2010).

Ethical Scenarios as Case Examples. Professional School Counseling, (14). p. 444-447.

Romley (2012). An ethics quiz for school counselors.