OLERE Rules of Professional Conduct 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The Oklahoma Professional Code of Ethics for licensed counselors is primarily derived from:
- Federal HIPAA regulations only
- The ACA Code of Ethics and Oklahoma-specific statutory and administrative rules (Correct answer)
- The American Psychological Association's ethics code
- The National Association of Social Workers' ethical standards
Correct answer: The ACA Code of Ethics and Oklahoma-specific statutory and administrative rules
Oklahoma's professional conduct standards for LPCs draw primarily from the ACA Code of Ethics, supplemented by Oklahoma-specific statutes and licensing board administrative rules.
Licensed Professional Counselors in Oklahoma are governed by the ACA Code of Ethics, which is incorporated by reference into Oklahoma's licensing regulations, along with the Oklahoma State Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Supervisors administrative rules and the Oklahoma Professional Counselor Licensing Act. The ACA Code of Ethics is the primary ethical framework for LPCs in Oklahoma.
Question 2: An Oklahoma LPC provides counseling services for which they lack sufficient training. This violates which core professional ethics principle?
- Fidelity
- Competence (Correct answer)
- Justice
- Autonomy
Correct answer: Competence
Practicing in areas where the counselor lacks adequate training and supervised experience violates the ethical principle of competence. Counselors are ethically obligated to practice only within the boundaries of their demonstrated competence.
The ethical principle of competence requires counselors to practice only within the boundaries of their education, training, supervised experience, state licensure, and professional credentials. Practicing beyond competence can harm clients who may not receive adequate services or may receive inappropriate interventions. The ACA Code of Ethics Standard C.2 explicitly requires counselors to practice within their areas of competence.
Question 3: An Oklahoma LPC is asked by a colleague to serve as a reference for their license application, but has concerns about the colleague's professional conduct. The counselor should:
- Provide a positive reference to support a colleague
- Decline to serve as a reference if they cannot provide an honest, positive assessment (Correct answer)
- Provide the reference but omit the concerns
- Inform the licensing board of the concerns without telling the colleague
Correct answer: Decline to serve as a reference if they cannot provide an honest, positive assessment
Providing a misleading or false reference violates professional ethics. If the counselor cannot provide an honest and positive assessment, the ethical course is to decline to serve as a reference.
Professional references are relied upon by licensing boards to assess an applicant's fitness for licensure. Providing a positive reference for someone the counselor believes may be unfit for practice could harm the public and violates the ethical obligation of nonmaleficence. The ethical response is to decline to serve as a reference if the counselor cannot do so honestly.
Question 4: According to professional conduct rules for Oklahoma LPCs, advertising counseling services must be:
- Pre-approved by the licensing board before publication
- Accurate, honest, and not misleading to the public (Correct answer)
- Limited to licensed professional directories only
- Based only on outcomes from specific measurable client results
Correct answer: Accurate, honest, and not misleading to the public
Oklahoma professional conduct rules require that counselor advertising be truthful, accurate, and not misleading. This protects the public from misrepresentation about the counselor's qualifications, services, or expected outcomes.
The ACA Code of Ethics Standard C.3 and Oklahoma professional rules require that counselors' public statements and advertising be accurate, honest, and not create false impressions about their qualifications, services, or expected outcomes. Advertising must not use misleading testimonials, make guarantees about treatment outcomes, or make false comparisons with other professionals.
Question 5: An Oklahoma LPC has a strong personal belief that conflicts with a client's lifestyle choices. Under professional conduct rules, the counselor's obligation is to:
- Share their values with the client to model ethical living
- Provide competent services without discriminating and refer if the values conflict prevents effective counseling (Correct answer)
- Decline the client immediately based on the values difference
- Continue services while attempting to help the client change their lifestyle
Correct answer: Provide competent services without discriminating and refer if the values conflict prevents effective counseling
Oklahoma professional conduct rules require counselors to provide non-discriminatory services. If a counselor's personal values would interfere with providing competent, ethical services, they may refer the client, but they cannot refuse service based on personal moral disapproval alone.
The ACA Code of Ethics and Oklahoma professional rules prohibit counselors from refusing services to clients based on personal values or lifestyle choices. Counselors must examine their own biases and work to provide competent services to all clients. A referral is only ethically appropriate when the counselor genuinely cannot provide competent services. Imposing the counselor's values on clients and attempting to change clients' lifestyles to match the counselor's beliefs violates client autonomy.
Question 6: An Oklahoma LPC discovers that a former supervisor engaged in ethical violations during the time they supervised the counselor. The counselor's most appropriate response is to:
- Do nothing because the supervisory relationship has ended
- Consult with a professional and report the violations through appropriate channels (Correct answer)
- Confront the former supervisor privately without reporting to authorities
- Only report if the former supervisor is still actively practicing and supervising
Correct answer: Consult with a professional and report the violations through appropriate channels
Professional ethics require counselors to address ethical violations by colleagues, including former supervisors. The appropriate response is to consult with a professional and report through appropriate channels such as the licensing board.
The ACA Code of Ethics and Oklahoma professional rules require counselors to take appropriate action when they become aware of colleagues' ethical violations. The fact that the supervisory relationship has ended does not eliminate this obligation. The counselor should consult with a trusted colleague or attorney to ensure their understanding of the violations is accurate, then report through appropriate channels. Documentation of the specific violations and when they occurred is important when making such a report.
OLERE Rules of Professional Conduct 2
The Oklahoma Professional Code of Ethics for licensed counselors is primarily derived from: