CPC Ethics, Boundaries & Professional Conduct 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client discloses they are in a romantic relationship with their previous therapist. What is the coach's primary ethical obligation?
- Immediately report the therapist to licensing authorities
- Acknowledge the disclosure, maintain the coaching focus, and avoid becoming a fact-finder in another professional's ethics case (Correct answer)
- Refuse to coach the client until the relationship ends
- Contact the therapist directly to discuss the situation
Correct answer: Acknowledge the disclosure, maintain the coaching focus, and avoid becoming a fact-finder in another professional's ethics case
Coaches should stay within their scope and not investigate or adjudicate ethical violations by other professionals.
Question 2: Which practice BEST demonstrates a coach maintaining professional boundaries with a long-term client?
- Sharing personal struggles to build rapport
- Accepting small gifts as tokens of appreciation without comment
- Consistently beginning and ending sessions at the scheduled times (Correct answer)
- Extending sessions when the client is emotionally distressed at no extra charge
Correct answer: Consistently beginning and ending sessions at the scheduled times
Consistent time boundaries signal professionalism and reinforce the structured nature of the coaching relationship.
Question 3: A coach realizes mid-engagement that a client's goals have shifted to grief counseling needs beyond coaching scope. The ethical response is to:
- Continue coaching while subtly incorporating grief techniques
- Immediately terminate the coaching relationship
- Discuss the shift with the client and provide a referral to a licensed grief counselor (Correct answer)
- Ask the client to sign a waiver allowing the coach to address grief
Correct answer: Discuss the shift with the client and provide a referral to a licensed grief counselor
When client needs exceed coaching scope, the ethical action is transparent communication and referral to an appropriate professional.
Question 4: Under ICF ethics, how should a coach handle a situation where two clients who know each other are both in the coach's practice?
- Inform each client that the other is also a client
- Maintain strict confidentiality and never disclose either client relationship to the other (Correct answer)
- Ask both clients to sign a mutual waiver acknowledging the overlap
- Decline to coach one of them to avoid any conflict
Correct answer: Maintain strict confidentiality and never disclose either client relationship to the other
Confidentiality requires the coach never to reveal that someone is a client, regardless of their social connections.
Question 5: A coach is offered equity in a client's startup as payment for coaching services. What ethical consideration is MOST important?
- Whether the equity valuation is fair market value
- The potential for a conflict of interest that could compromise the coach's objectivity (Correct answer)
- Whether the arrangement is legal in the coach's jurisdiction
- How the arrangement will be taxed
Correct answer: The potential for a conflict of interest that could compromise the coach's objectivity
Financial stake in a client's outcome can bias a coach's guidance and undermine the client's best interest.
Question 6: When is it ethically permissible for a coach to break client confidentiality without consent?
- When a family member sincerely requests information about the client's progress
- When the coach believes the client is making poor life decisions
- When there is a credible risk of imminent harm to the client or others (Correct answer)
- When the client has not paid their coaching fees
Correct answer: When there is a credible risk of imminent harm to the client or others
Imminent safety threats are the primary exception to confidentiality in professional coaching ethics.
Question 7: A coach's former client asks them to write a glowing testimonial for a business the client is launching. The most ethical response is to:
- Write the testimonial since the coaching relationship has ended
- Decline, as any endorsement could still reflect undisclosed bias from the prior relationship
- Write the testimonial but disclose the prior coaching relationship (Correct answer)
- Ask the client to pay for the endorsement to keep it at arm's length
Correct answer: Write the testimonial but disclose the prior coaching relationship
Disclosure of the prior coaching relationship allows readers to weigh the testimonial with full context, which is the transparent and ethical approach.
CPC Ethics, Boundaries & Professional Conduct 2
A client discloses they are in a romantic relationship with their previous therapist.
What is the coach's primary ethical obligation?