Article Summary
I selected the article “Duty to Warn and Protect: Not in Texas” for review, as it applies to the state in which I reside. The article cites Texas Health and Safety Codes, based on a 1999 Texas Supreme Court ruling that states counselors do not have a duty to warn or protect. Having a duty to warn and protect is defined as protecting clients or others from perceived harm (Jackson-Cherry & Erford, 2014). An example would be that a client tells their counselor in a confidential session that he is considering stabbing his ex-girlfriend. The duty to warn would mean the counselor should notify authorities and the ex-girlfriend thus breaking confidentiality. The duty to protect would be to admit client to a facility for the client to be assessed for a propensity for violence towards the ex-girlfriend. This became important after a 1969 incident where a counselor, had a client expressed harm towards a girl and the counselor contacted the authorities, yet never contacted the girl, who was subsequently killed by the client a few months later, known as the Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California case (Jackson-Cherry & Erford, 2014).
The article “Duty to Warn and Protect: Not in Texas” cites the 1999 Texas Supreme court decision in the case Thapar v. Zezulka; which stated that counselors do not have a duty to warn and protect because it breaks client/counselor confidentiality (Barbee, Combs, Ekleberry, & Villalobos, 2007). As a result of the 1999 ruling the
The duty to warn and protect is the result of the Supreme Court case Tarasoff v Regents of the University of California. (Gehring 1982) In this case the courts decided that a psychotherapist having knowledge of the
Professional counselors and their staff are exposed to sensitive client information and records. The helpful receptionist and whose privilege videos, show how to apply both the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics (ACA Code of Ethics) and state board counseling laws to common ethical scenarios. The content explores aspects designed to call attention to favorable and unfavorable skills and techniques in handling such matters. These two videos demonstrate the limitations of confidentiality and privileged information. As a professional counselor one is expected to uphold the principles of confidentiality and privilege according to the ACA Code of Ethics and state laws. One may conclude that the helpful receptionist video shows clear violations of confidentiality. While the whose privilege video indicates the significance of insuring that counselors comprehend state laws and ethics codes pertaining to confidentiality and privilege. Furthermore, counseling professionals are held accountable for violating ethics codes and state laws as well as training staff on informed consent.
The first ethical issue that counselors have to worry about in counseling children is to be a competent counselor. It includes that the counselor must be familiar with child and adolescent development. Also, in order to be competent in counseling children, a counselor must frequently participate in trainings, specialized education, and supervised practice (Henderson & Thompson, 2011). Another ethical issue in counseling minors is privacy and confidentiality. According to the American Counseling Association (ACA) (2014) Code of Ethics, when counseling minors a counselors protect the confidentiality of information received (ACA, 2014, B.5.a). Counselors also have responsibilities with the child’s parents such as inform parents about the role of counselors and the confidential nature of the counseling relationship (ACA, 2014, B.5.b). When a counselors needs to release confidential information, he needs to seek permission from the child’s parents, legal guardians, or the appropriate third party in order to disclose the information (ACA, 2014, B.5.c). According to Henderson and Thompson (2011), children have to have their parents’ consent to see a
This paper is a response to a video discussing the issues of confidentiality, privilege, reporting, and duty to warn. This paper looks at these issues and their explanations in the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics as well as the Georgia State Board of Professional Counselor’s ethical guidelines and provides a commentary on the laws. It was found that these issues are not always black and white, but there is some debate on these issues. Confidentiality is both an ethical and a legal responsibility yet there are often times when the ethical demands clash with the legal demands. This paper explores some of those crashes and explains what I have learned from the video and the professional and stage guidelines concerning confidentiality and its implications and how I will apply what I have learned into future practice.
On the contrary, if wife A can prove emotional distress due to the receptionist 's breach of confidentiality, she may be entitled to a settlement. From this vignette it was evident that wife A was not ready to disclosed to her husband that she was seeing a counselor. Texas Health and Safety Code, chapter 611 states "a licensee shall not disclose any communication, record, or identity of a client” (Rule § 681.45). Although, a novice counselor may believe this was a minor in fracture that the receptionist has caused without a doubt a violation to wife A’s right to privacy. A licensee’s is held legally responsible for a breach of confidentiality cause by even their subordinates namely
Counselors need to be guided by the ethical standards set forth by the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics. These standards define ethical conduct in the counseling profession, and provide guidance for maintaining professionalism in any situation. I have become familiar with many of the sections included in the ACA Code of Ethics from the research and assignments completed in this class. Garnering an awareness of the ACA Code of Ethics as it pertains to informed consent, confidentiality, professional responsibility, and resolving ethical issues, has given me confidence to discuss and evaluate the legal issues and ethical obligations associated with this profession. The section regarding professional responsibility of this document resonated with me the most, and elicited a feeling of confidence about counseling ethics and law, that was not present before this class. Professional responsibility sets the tone for everything else we do. As counselors, we must be guided by professionalism and high standards. Standard C.1 of the ACA Code of Ethics (2014) states that counselors have a responsibility to read, understand, and follow the ACA Code of Ethics, and abide by all applicable laws and regulations. While there are a plethora of legal and ethical issues that may arise for professional counselors throughout their careers, I feel that this class has given me a broad overview of how to be proactive and use appropriate decision-making tools to work
Video presentation: The video clip was quite interesting I found it to be very educational as to the legal obligations of therapists in the mental health field. There were issues that were brought up that were quite important, such as therapists need to understand confidentiality, privileged information, and a therapists responsibility related to reporting suspected child abuse, elder abuse, and/or suicidal ideations, and possibly the most important of them all is a therapists duty to warn. The first case they were
The objective of this work is to examine Texas state laws relating to the counselor certification licensure process. Laws related to school counseling, mental health counseling, addictions counseling and marital family therapy are also be examined.
The judicial precedence set by Tasaroff v Regents of the University of Caliornia.17 Cal.3d 425,551 P.2D 334,131 Cal. Rptn 14 (1976) demonstrates vividly that unlike their counterparts in other medical disciplines, Psychiatrists may need a lower disclosure threshold given that they may see patients who are mentally volatile and potentially dangerous!( Farlex,2012).In this scenario, Prosenjit Poddar, a mental health patient student at the University of California, informed his Psychologist of his intent to murder Tatiana Tasaroff two months in advance. The Psychologist went ahead and disclosed this information to the campus police who held the patient for a brief period and released him upon deeming him rational only to end up killing Tasaroff !The
This paper discusses the duty to warn and protect in counseling with a high focus with the laws in Ohio. It focused on the laws in dealing with the mentally ill and violent clients and how the Tarasoff legislation effected the laws in Ohio and how therapists handle these cases. Realizing violence is not something that can be predicted with perfection, there are tools that a therapist should follow to make sure they stay within compliance and maintain ethical standards to avoid possible legal ramifications. Through special relationship and good faith, the counselor will try to find ways of ensuring that the client and any named party is warned of potential danger.
There are a great many different rules and regulations that make up the greater part of our daily lives. Often we become accustomed to many of these rules and regulations. Speed limits are there to keep people safe, crossing signals to let us know when we can safely cross a street and even there are laws in place to keep people from filling the same prescriptions at different pharmacies. These regulations and laws are there primarily for safety. There are, as well many laws and regulations in place for professionals, which similarity are in place for protection. In Arizona (as well as most states) the regulatory and credentialing process is there for both the protection of the counselor as well as the client.
If a client threatens to harm an individual, leaves the mental health professionals office, the professional attempts to contact the victim but can not reach them, and the client harms that individual minutes to hours later, the professional could possibly be held liable. The state of Kentucky protects the mental health professional against any liability for such a situation to occur, but as stated in the readings, the “duty to warn” guidelines vary from state to state. Due to the sensitivity of the situation, there might be confusion between the confidential information that a client provided and if it breaks the code of ethics to inform an individual in society something that the client revealed in confidentiality. If a client makes a statement that they have feelings of hurting someone but their statements are lacking real intent, the client might feel as though their relationship with the professional is damaged and that they can not trust them any longer. The responsibility of warning a potential victim is burdening in itself being that in such cases where the professional or third party authorities can not get a hold of the victim and something happens resulting in fatality, those that were aware of the threats prior could suffer from post-traumatic
They first used the example of a police officer who refused to release her records to the court. The judge told the jury to act as if the knife wasn’t present in the person hand that she shot and the jury ruled the victim’s family over $400,000. In this case the therapist and the client choose to keep the records confidential and judge decided to give the jury the permission to infer that there was no knife. They also mention the Tarasoff case, although the psychologist did report his findings to law enforcement which was the duty to warn the client still found a way to kill his ex-girlfriend. There was a change in the law from duty to warn to duty to protect.
The State of Oklahoma article 310:450-3-1(2010), titled Responsibility (2010) is directed to the LPC, the fact that the wording of ‘services/organizational’ are used, the receptionist who is employed by the LPC becomes a part of the representation of the LPC (Oklahoma State Department of Health, 2010). The LPC is responsible to train the employees to make sure that they adhere to the same confidentiality standard that the LPC is held too (Oklahoma State Department of Health, 2010). The Oklahoma State Department article 310:405-3-3 Client welfare & Confidentiality (2010) address specifically that ‘any’ information received about the client (such as whether or not they are receiving counseling or whether or not they are even present in the office) should be held as confidential and requires a written authorization from the client to approve any
In Texas, the therapist owes no duty to warn individuals who are under possible threat, but I strongly believe that there are terrible consequences if under the Texas Constitutions denies the duty to warn. In my personal opinion, the Tarasoff’s Law should be applied to all states because if a patient clearly presents behavioral intentions to hurt an individual, the therapist must inform the possible victim and the law enforcement. I believe that when an individual seeks for help, the therapist might detect signs of threat against others and like the Tarasoff’s case or the Peck case, the individuals states his intentions to damage a person, property or even to third party individuals. The therapist must be allow to “break the patient-client