- National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination Professional Practice and Ethics Flashcards

A counselor's client is a mandated reporter who discloses they have failed to report a colleague's suspected child abuse. The counselor's primary obligation in this situation is to:

Answer: Encourage the client to fulfill their mandated reporting obligation and address barriers

The counselor's first responsibility is to therapeutically address the client's barriers to fulfilling their own legal and ethical reporting obligation.

Which ethical principle is MOST directly implicated when a counselor tailors their therapeutic approach to align with a client's cultural worldview?

Answer: Beneficence

Culturally responsive counseling reflects beneficence—the obligation to act in the client's best interest—by ensuring interventions are effective within the client's cultural context.

A client who is a licensed professional discloses they are impaired at work due to substance use and poses a potential safety risk to others. After exhausting all other options, the counselor may ethically consider breaching confidentiality when:

Answer: There is a foreseeable and identifiable threat of serious harm to others

The Tarasoff-derived duty to protect permits or may require confidentiality breach only when there is a foreseeable, identifiable, and serious threat of harm to others.

According to the ACA Code of Ethics, bartering for counseling services is:

Answer: Permissible when the client requests it and a clear written agreement is established

The ACA Code permits bartering when it is not exploitative, when the client requests it, and when a transparent, written agreement is established.

A counselor is contacted by an estranged family member who offers to pay for a client's treatment. The counselor should:

Answer: Obtain the client's written consent before accepting any third-party payment

Third-party payment arrangements are permissible but require the client's informed, written consent to ensure transparency and protect the therapeutic relationship.

The ACA's 'aspirational' ethical standards differ from 'mandatory' standards in that aspirational standards:

Answer: Define ideals counselors strive toward beyond minimum requirements

Aspirational standards represent the highest ideals of the profession, whereas mandatory standards define the floor below which conduct becomes unethical.

When a counselor has a values conflict with a client's legal lifestyle choices (e.g., polyamory), the most ethically appropriate response is to:

Answer: Disclose the conflict, seek consultation, and provide competent services or facilitate referral

The ACA Code requires counselors to acknowledge values conflicts, seek supervision or consultation, and either provide competent services or facilitate a referral that does not abandon the client.