Ward-Vs-Wilbanks: A Legal Case Analysis

The nature of the article is to address the ethical implications of a legal case against the counseling profession by Ward -vs-Wilbanks. Ms. Ward was a graduate student enrolled at EMU in the clinical counseling program during her practicum. During such time, Ms. Ward refused to render services to a client because of her values and religious beliefs; therefore she referred the client to another student. The ACA standard prohibits such practice especially when the counselor’s values are inconsistence with the client’s goals or are discriminatory in nature as this case was. This conflict became evident when Ms. Ward was suspended from the program indefinitely. According to the ACA Codes of Ethics by refusing the client services became a violation of the ethics code for counseling profession. Mr. Ward believed her the First Amendment Rights was violated. According to this the author of this article there were two reasons why the ACA became involved. One was to support the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs …show more content…
Ward simply decided that homosexuality is immortal therefore subjecting her views on the client choice. Ms. Ward beliefs and values along with her religious beliefs and in her defense she used the ACA Codes of Ethics against the courts to make her point. She referred to the End of Life Care for Terminally III clients Standard A. 9.b. However, the ACA Codes of Ethics implies that referral can be made but only for “inability” not “unwillingness.” There are three conditions under which a counselor/client relationship can be terminated. The ACA Code of Ethics described these as the client no longer needing assistant, does not benefits from counseling and is harm if counseling continues. The argument was that the client was not a client because Ms. Ward never came in contact with the client but, ACA clarified that the moment the client request service the counselor/client relationship