Running head: ETHICS RESEARCH PROJECT 1

Kalie Godsey
Ethics Research Project
CO 500
Summer One 2017
University of West Alabama
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Ethics Research Project

School counselors are required to keep confidentiality and privacy with all students.

Counselors must recognize that trust is a cornerstone of the counseling relationship.

Counselors aspire to earn the trust of clients by creating an ongoing partnership, establishing

and upholding appropriate boundaries, and maintaining confidentiality. Counselors

communicate the parameters of confidentiality in a culturally competent manner.

Summary of Chosen Code of Ethics

Confidentiality and privacy with school counselors involve a lot of different aspects. A

school counselor must respect client rights. There are a few exceptions such as serious and

foreseeable harm, end of life decisions, life threatening disease, court ordered disclosure, and

minimal disclosure. School counselors must be care with the information that they share with

others. School counselors must also be careful with groups and families. Lastly, counselors must

be aware of records and documentation, clients lacking capacity to give informed consent, and

case consultation. The confidentiality and privacy code matches with section B of the ACA code

of ethics.

Background

According to Rhonda Williams, one of the most difficult ethical questions for

professional school counselors to resolve is when to tell parents about a counseling session with

their child and break confidentiality. Section B. 3 states, When counseling clients who are

minors or individuals who are unable to give voluntary informed consent, parents or guardians

may be included in the counseling process as appropriate. Yet in the same paragraph the

standard goes on to say, Counselors act in the best interests of the clients and take measures to

safeguard confidentiality. A school counselor must make their best judgement as to what to do.
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It can sometimes be very confusing for a counselor. If a counselor choses to break

confidentiality, there are a number of other considerations and suggestions to take into account.

In Lazovskys study, he also confirmed that breaking confidentiality with minors is one of the

hardest dilemmas of school counselors. He stated that is will lose the minors trust in the

counselor but sometimes it is absolutely necessary and you have to do what is best for the child.

Personal Application

I was actually unaware how important confidentiality was when dealing with minors. I

thought that since they were minors, we were able to discuss things with their families. As a

teacher, I knew that we do not share any information to other people, but I do talk to parents

about how they are doing in school. I will make sure that I know that the students are coming to

me for help and I keep whatever they tell me a secret unless it is an extreme for me to share such

as harm to themselves or others. I learned that a school counselor is sometimes the only person a

child can trust so confidentiality is extremely important for them.

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References

Lazoysky, R. (2008). Maintaining Confidentiality with Minors: Dilemmas of School Counselors.

Professional School Counseling, 5(3), 335-346

Moyer, M. (2008) Student Risk-Taking Behaviors: When Do School Counselors Break

Confidentiality? Professional School Counseling, 11(4), 236-245

Williams, R. (2007) To Tell or Not to Tell: The Question of Informed Consent. Inside Insight.

Retrieved from http://www.schoolcounselor.org/magazine/blogs/september-october-2007/to-tell-

or-not-to-tell-the-question-of-informed-consent