Legal, Ethical, and Professional Issues

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Table of Contents

Solving Ethical Dilemmas
Comparison of Organizations
Licensing and Certification
Supervision
Importance of Using Therapeutic Modalities
Legislative Control
References

Solving Ethical Dilemmas

Psychological counseling is closely linked to the daily resolution of ethical dilemmas concerning client interaction. The fundamental issues of this problem include disclosure of information about a teenager to their parents, appealing to law enforcement agencies in case the patient has unhealthy and sociopathic tendencies, and introducing feelings and emotions into professional practice.

In the event of an issue, I prefer to take a balanced approach to the solution, with a preliminary assessment of all stakeholders in the process, their rights, and responsibilities. For example, if a teenager has suicidal thoughts, I asked for a family consultation with the parents to discuss the problem, only if this approach would suit the patient.

Comparison of Organizations

The modern world is characterized by a variety of academic approaches to forming a route map for the promotion of psychological sciences in society. The majority of organizations strive to develop this direction by funding research projects, educational conferences, meetings, and lectures, but some of the most influential structures have the authority to set global ethical and professional standards to which psychologists should adhere. However, this does not mean that membership in organizations is limited to academics and practicing psychologists: in fact, students of specialized fields and teachers can join the community.

Membership in the APA

First of all, it should be noted that APA is the leading complex association of professional psychologists, which consists of many subdivisions responsible for specific areas. To achieve the effect of mutually beneficial communication, which is especially essential for the world’s scientific research and practicing psychologists, APA annual organizes conferences, continuing education programs for its members, and publishes magazines, information leaflets, and thematic books.

The official website of the organization informs the applicants for a membership that contributions of the participants are directed to lobby the interests of APA in the promotion of psychology and the creation of state and national programs to improve the quality of life in society. Subscriptions are issued annually and cost from $22 to $100, depending on the type of membership and member privileges (“Join APA,” 2016).

The main appeal for new members is to help them develop their professional careers, access to exclusive subject matter materials, and the opportunity to mentor during the training phases. It should be noted separately that the benefits of APA membership include the use of all new tools of the organization, risk management services, training in public speaking skills from professionals, subscription to scientific journals, financial savings on the purchase of training materials, and obtaining bonus referrals by studying highly specialized articles followed by online tests.

Membership in the ACA

The non-profit organization ACA aims to provide professional psychological counseling services to patients with problems. In other words, the ACA is an educational, scientific, and professional organization that aims to improve the overall level of human development throughout life. Membership in the Association is aimed at providing participants with information platforms and materials to enhance their professionalism (“Join/reinstate,” 2018).

It is worth noting that the cost of membership varies depending on the desired competencies and services provided: the cheapest subscription costs students, new professionals, and retired consultants.

According to the official data provided, each ACA member gets access to educational materials, articles, and notes to become an ACA Career Central member providing an opportunity to develop professionally. Moreover, the Association presents free platforms for a cross-cultural approach to learning, brings together new members with a Code of Ethics recognized worldwide, and allows each partner to be heard on the promotion and development of psychological sciences. Finally, all ACA members can participate in regular exhibitions, conferences, and meetings that facilitate the exchange of data between professionals.

Membership in the ASCA

The cost of membership in ASCA for students and retirees is noticeably lower than in ACA but also varies depending on the type. The organization states that “An ASCA membership offers you more than just periodicals, professional development, and peer networking”: in particular, each participant has the opportunity to study case studies in school practice through thematic magazines and conferences (“Member benefits & info,” 2017, para 2).

The main advantage of ASCA is its focus on adolescents, which makes the Association more professional in the areas of teenage drug abuse, violence, depression, and especially in career choices. Benefits include the organization providing members with professional insurance, access to a variety of online materials covering all kinds of school problems, and providing 24-hour professional support. In addition, it is interesting to note that the company allows each participant to use the corporate logo on business cards, handouts, or website.

To emphasize its specialization in educational issues, ASCA has separated itself from ACA by gaining full independence (“The latest news from ACA,” 2018). In particular, this division denotes the difference in membership approach, expressed through the provision of various thematic materials and cooperation with specialized companies providing educational, career, and professional opportunities.

Compare and Contrast

It is significant to say that the three organizations described above have some fundamental similarities, although they differ in some factors, which is evident in the detailed study. Thus, each organization seeks to improve the psychological sciences and create a set of rules and guidelines that participants should use. The structure of organizations also reveals similarities – these are open companies with subscription memberships.

Each of them provides its members with access to thematical material and training courses useful in clinical practice. However, the cost of an annual subscription is different, but the approach to psychological activities is also different. As mentioned above, organizations strive to promote codes of ethics, and these rules may vary. For example, in terms of establishing a fee, the ACA provides that the specialist takes into account the client’s financial situation, and the priority for APA members is the law.

Licensing and Certification

Depending on the current state legislation, most professional psychological services are subject to licensing and certification. Based on Cherry’s data (2020), it is essential to note that both words are very similar, but have different contextual meanings in terms of the psychologist’s work. Regardless of the activity, be it a school, clinical counselor, or a family specialist, each employee must have the relevant competencies acquired through the training.

The legality of an educational organization to issue certificates for a course completed is regulated by the APA or regional organizations responsible for the accreditation of training programs. Specifically, the APA CoA standards for accreditation consist of four steps: registration of the participant, self-study of materials, verification of the organization by APA agents, and program expertise (“APA accreditation process,” n.d.).

To be more specific, the accreditation standards for doctoral programs postulate an assessment of all available data on professional practice (Commission on accreditation, 2016). At the same time, a certificate from an accredited educational institution is not sufficient for a professional career activity: any state requires a candidate to pass a qualification exam (Cherry, 2020). A positive result often means the issuance of a license that allows one to work legally within a profession.

In general, it should be clarified that the process of certification and licensing of specialists varies depending on the legislative requirements of the state. For example, in order to freely and legally provide social psychologist services in California, candidates must have at least a master’s degree from an accredited center (“California social work,” 2020).

In case the organization does not have the competence and improperly provides the educational process of the student, there is a risk of not receiving a certificate and, accordingly, a license to work. Each beginner can acquire professional competence at an accredited center on three levels: regional, national, and professional (“Accreditation,” 2018).

Regional accreditation standards cover the entire geography of the United States, regulating the work of American educational institutions. The level of national standards is controlled by DOE and CHEA, which regulate supraregional relations and institutional responsibilities. Finally, a professional accreditation standard such as the APA CoA covers a specific, sometimes highly specialized area of psychological science, such as doctoral programs and follow-up training.

Ultimately, the use of different accreditation technologies maintains the multifunctionality and diversity of views spread among the global community of psychologists and consultants. Accreditation, regardless of the mechanism of its action, leads to a culture of professionalism, academic, and reliability of actions taken by a certified specialist. In the absence of accreditation pressure or under relatively easy rules of issuing training rights, many incompetent workers would exist.

Supervision

A specialist with substantial professional experience and reputation faces the fact that young colleagues begin to seek their help actively. As a rule, more inexperienced specialists need supervision and control over their career activities, assistance in training, or solving personal situation causes.

In this case, the role of the supervisor to support candidates for consultants becomes relevant. Due to the diversity of relations between subordinates and supervisors, academic research highlights several models that reflect the supervisor’s conceptual and methodological basis, as well as their approaches to work. These types of relationships may include feminist, cognitive-behavioral, personality-centered, and psychodynamic surveillance models (Smith, 2009). Based on the difficulties the supervisor’s students find themselves in, an experienced professional chooses the role to play with them.

The importance of diversity and multiplicity of consultants is reflected in the work of ACA Members (2016), which demonstrates that there are three critical roles for any supervisor — teacher, consultant, and adviser. As a teacher, the supervisor draws the learner’s attention to the theory and challenges him to justify his decisions. In addition, the supervisor-teacher shows ways of assessing and understanding client behavior as well as the dynamics of interaction between the therapist and the client.

If, as a teacher, the supervisor can diagnose the client, then, as a consultant, they are more likely to diagnose the therapeutic system — the interaction between the therapist and the client. If in training the position of supervisor and supervised are, to some extent, hierarchical, then the consultation process is a process of cooperation. (ACA members, 2016). The supervisor-consultant keeps all relevant systems in view: the client’s extended system, the client’s therapist’s system, and, the supervisor-therapist’s system.

It should be mentioned separately that although supervision is not mandatory, it is a beneficial experience for young professionals. While confident professionals make their own mistakes, supervised students build their career path through strategies, mistakes, and supervisor ideas, which is a plus in subjectivity therapy.

The work of Kabir draws attention to this issue, showing the importance of a supervisor at all stages of training a competent professional: the researcher writes that “all counselors and those involved in the area of ‘people helping,’ regardless of experience, need supervision” (Kabir, 2016, p. 377). This, in turn, determines the relevance of supervision to the profession of consultant psychologist.

Importance of Using Therapeutic Modalities

Consulting is considered a multidimensional job that requires special qualifications and skills. Not least, the use of therapeutic methods in consultation practice plays a role in providing highly competent medical services to clients. In the academic sphere, there are several works in which the application of analytical data in practical activity is described in detail. The Miller’s work (2020), which gathered the range of different therapies and practices used in counseling, is particularly noteworthy.

Miller writes about the use of group sessions in cases where the client is concerned about drug and alcohol addiction. The author also focuses on finding an individual approach to communication with the client based on silence, open questions, and reflection. In turn, in “Counseling skills” (2020), the authors point out that master’s in counseling should use specific theories to guide patient care. Thus, it is possible to distinguish the family systems model, which is reduced to the research of confrontations within the patient’s family to find the source of problems.

The application of psychological sciences to clinical medical practice produces positive results as it stimulates the development of patients’ psychological health. In particular, people who have undergone surgery often experience postoperative stress. To relieve pressure or even wholly eliminate psychological consequences, it is essential to use the services of a consultant working with this problem.

At the same time, Swift et al. (2017) point out the need for combined psycho-medical therapy, both in the postoperative phase and inpatient treatment. According to the authors’ study, Psilocybin may be appropriate in the treatment of anxiety states. On the other hand, the study by Oxhandler and Parrish (2017) refers to the possibility of direct integration of counseling services in everyday clinical practice to help patients at all stages of therapy. Researchers point to the high involvement of specialists in meeting the spiritual and religious expectations of the patient.

Legislative Control

Psychological counseling is monitored by relevant legislation within the States, as it is inextricably linked to medical intervention, patient confidentiality, and ethical issues. In order to ensure the social security and psychological well-being of the U.S. population, several laws are also suitable for counselors. In particular, HIPAA, approved by the Clinton administration in 1996, controls the disclosure of patient’s private information, which is especially important for clients with psychological problems (“Protecting your privacy,” 2019).

On the other hand, Medicare, a federal insurance program adopted back in 1965, helps elderly patients to recover some of the costs of psychological care but does not take into account the services of professional consultants at all (“Medicare reimbursement,” n.d.). This problem could not go unnoticed because patient counseling is one of the most important practical areas of psychology, so in January 2019, Senator Barrasso submitted a bill that allows patients to recover some of the funds from the services provided by psychological counselors and family therapists (“Support new legislation,” 2019).

It is interesting to add that in order to achieve a faster result, the ACA actively encourages community members to lobby for the law, which once again confirms the interest of the Association in promoting psychological sciences.

References

ACA members. (2016). Three key roles of effective supervisors. American Counseling Association. Web.

Accreditation and online psychology degrees. (2018). Online Psychology Degrees. Web.

APA accreditation process. (n.d.). APA Accreditation. Web.

California social work licensing requirements. (2020). Careers in Psychology. Web.

Cherry, K. (2020). Accreditation and Licensing Requirements for Psychologists. Very Well Mind. Web.

Commission on accreditation. (2016). C-18 D. Outcome data for doctoral programs [PDF document]. Web.

Counseling skills & techniques. (n.d.). Online Counseling Programs. Web.

Join APA. (2016). American Psychological Association. Web.

Join/reinstate. (2018). American Counseling Association. Web.

Kabir, S. M. S. (2017). Supervision in counseling. In S. M. S Kabir (Ed.), Essentials of counseling (pp. 371-380). Abosar Prokashana Sangstha.

The latest news from ACA. (2018). American Counseling Association. Web.

Medicare reimbursement. (n.d). American Counseling Association. Web.

Miller, K. (2020). 23 Therapy interventions and techniques to apply today. Positive Psychology. Web.

Member benefits & info. (2016). American School Counselor Association. Web.

Oxhandler, H. K., & Parrish, D. E. (2018). Integrating clients’ religion/spirituality in clinical practice: A comparison among social workers, psychologists, counselors, marriage and family therapists, and nurses. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74(4), 680-694. Web.

Protecting your privacy: Understanding confidentiality. (2019). American Psychological Association. Web.

Smith, K. L. (2009). A brief summary of supervision models [PDF document]. Web.

Support new legislation that would provide Medicare reimbursement to counselors. (2019). American Counseling Association. Web.

Swift, T. C., Belser, A. B., Agin-Liebes, G., Devenot, N., Terrana, S., Friedman, H. L.,… & Ross, S. (2017). Cancer at the dinner table: experiences of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of cancer-related distress. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 57(5), 488-519. Web.

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