Our coaches accept responsibility for the consequences of our actions, by omission or commission, and make reasonable efforts to ensure that all our services are appropriate and adequate for our clients. We bear a sober responsibility because our services represent a unique expertise and because our clients using our services are extraordinarily vulnerable. We therefore commit to maintaining a high standard of practice and shall be accountable to the standards set out herein.
We recognize our limits of competence and shall communicate them at the earliest possible time and at any time thereafter to our clients. If our level of competence does not afford optimal benefits to our clients, We shall, in a timely and effective manner, recommend referral to a suitably qualified practitioner. We will not knowingly permit any client to misunderstand our competency and shall clarify our credentials, training, experiences and skills in an honest and accurate manner.
Professional Practice
We recognize the necessity and benefit of professional growth by participating in continuing professional development. We do not enter into association to practice with, or to assist, refer, aid, or promote in any manner the professional practice of an incompetent person which shall include any person whom We know who does not adhere to this code of ethics or is in violation of any relevant law. We shall not provide any remuneration, regardless of form, to any source for receiving the referral of our clients for professional services unless the source of the referral maintains continued involvement in the care of our clients. Conversely, We shall not receive any remuneration regardless of form from any source for providing the referral of our clients for professional services unless We maintain continued involvement in the care of our clients. Any such financial arrangement must be disclosed to and approved and acknowledged in writing by our clients. We agree that in the event of any impairment that impacts on the best interest of our clients, We shall, in a timely and effective manner, make a referral of our clients to a qualified and appropriate professional source so as to avoid any undue abandonment of our clients.
Moral, Ethical, and Legal Standards
We shall not enter into any dual relationship regardless of nature that jeopardizes the well-being of our clients. We shall avoid any action that might violate or diminish the rights of our clients. We shall not engage in or condone practices by any source that are inhumane or that result in bigotry, prejudice, negative bias, or unjustifiable action relevant to race, handicap, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion or national origin. We shall make only factual, honest, and clearly stated (not misleading) public announcements, statements or communications such as (but not limited to) advertising or promotional purposes.
Welfare of the Client
We accept that our clients are in a unique position of vulnerability in respect to services related to intimacy, personal relationship, and sexuality, and shall be mindful of the responsibility for protection of our client’s welfare, rights and best interests and for the rigorous maintenance of the trust implicit in the counseling alliance.
We shall, from the onset of professional contact with our clients or a potential client, clarify:
Training, experiences and competencies;
The nature of the professional services available to our clients (with an explanation of mutual roles and duties);
Personal values or professional preferences that reflect biases rather than being responsive to the needs and well-being of our clients;
Any exceptions to confidentiality and privileged communications (e.g. duty to warn, mandatory reporting, etc.); and
Any financial issues, especially the payment of obligations of our clients.
We shall treat all personal information received about our clients as confidential. We shall advocate our client’s privileged communication, as granted by the laws of the jurisdiction applicable to our clients and/or ourselves in the event that there is uncertainty about the effectiveness or validity of our client’s consent to release information that is potentially confidential and/or privileged, We shall obtain appropriate legal determination.
We shall divulge information received from our clients or prospective client to the extent required only in the following circumstances:
When our clients provide written informed consent which dictates the type and nature of information to be released, knowledge of the purpose for which the information will be used, designation of the source that will receive the information, that consent was given voluntarily and with competency; and client’s name and date on which consent is given;
When there is clear and imminent danger of bodily harm, or the life or safety of our clients (or another person) is threatened;
When applicable laws mandate such information be released;
Disclosure shall be made in accord with the laws of the jurisdiction in which We practice.
We shall obtain our client’s written informed consent for using any identifiable information about our clients for purposes of education, training, research or publication. We shall reveal our client’s confidential information to a professional source with a limited right to know, such as (but not limited to) a supervisor or consultant in an appropriate manner; it is our responsibility to take reasonable steps to assure that the other professional source will properly treat the information in a confidential manner.
We shall, when providing professional services in a group context or to a couple make a reasonable effort to promote safeguarding of confidentiality on the part of each client in the group, or couple. We shall not engage in any dual relationship, regardless of nature or circumstances, with our clients or with persons who have a primary relationship with our clients served by the member if such dual relationship could potentially be detrimental to or jeopardize the well-being of our clients. We shall not engage, attempt to engage or offer to engage our clients in sexual intercourse, which includes any form of oral or genital area to oral or genital area contact, whether our clients consent to such behavior or not. Contact to intimate areas of the body shall be limited to those practices proscribed in the counseling plan, program, intensive or workshop clearly expressed to clients. Any physical engagement between counselors and clients is voluntary and for demonstration and educational purposes only.
We will ask for informed consent at the beginning of any session involving intimate contact and verbal consent prior to any use of direct intimate touch. At all times We shall protect our client’s best interests by adhering to good hygiene practices. We shall terminate professional services to our clients when it is reasonably evident or should be evident that our clients are not obtaining benefits sufficient to justify continued counseling intervention. Upon termination We shall make reasonable efforts to refer to another professional source and/or offer reasonable follow-up to further the best interests of our clients.
This code is based loosely on the AASECT professional code of ethics:
http://www.aasect.org/codeofethics.asp