Counseling Skills & Ethics Flashcards
7 cards from real CRC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Counseling Skills & Ethics flashcards as text
A client asks their retirement counselor to recommend a specific mutual fund. The counselor holds shares in that fund. What is the ethical requirement?
Answer: Disclose the personal ownership interest before making any recommendation
Personal financial interest in a recommended product constitutes a conflict of interest that must be fully disclosed to the client.
In motivational interviewing applied to retirement counseling, what is the counselor's primary role?
Answer: To elicit the client's own motivation for change by exploring ambivalence
Motivational interviewing aims to draw out the client's intrinsic motivation by exploring their ambivalence and values rather than imposing the counselor's agenda.
Which scenario best illustrates a breach of confidentiality in retirement counseling?
Answer: Sharing a client's account balances with their employer without consent
Sharing identifiable client financial information with their employer without consent violates confidentiality unless the client has authorized it.
When a client's retirement goals are clearly unrealistic given their savings rate, how should an ethical counselor respond?
Answer: Provide honest, evidence-based feedback while exploring adjustable variables such as savings rate or retirement age
Ethical counseling requires honest feedback delivered with sensitivity, focusing on actionable adjustments rather than simply criticizing the client's goals.
A CRC professional is asked to testify as an expert witness in a legal dispute involving retirement assets. What ethical consideration is paramount?
Answer: Provide objective, factual, and unbiased testimony regardless of who retained them
Expert witnesses have an ethical duty to provide objective, accurate testimony; advocacy bias undermines professional integrity and the judicial process.
What is the significance of 'documentation' in ethical retirement counseling practice?
Answer: It creates a contemporaneous record of advice given, decisions made, and client acknowledgments, supporting accountability
Thorough documentation protects both counselor and client by providing an accurate record of the counseling process and the basis for recommendations.
A client from a collectivist cultural background defers all retirement decisions to their adult children. How should the counselor ethically handle this?
Answer: Respect the client's cultural preference while ensuring the client themselves has capacity and consents to this arrangement
Ethical counselors respect culturally different decision-making styles while still verifying client capacity and ensuring the arrangement reflects the client's own wishes.