Ethical Dilemmas In Counseling Case Study

For the assignment, I was intrigued Ethical Dilemma 3 and selected this scenario for my research. The scenario is about a licensed professional counselor named Dan who works in a church based practice. Dan doesn’t feel like it’s necessary to keep records of the counseling session that he conducted with his clients since the practice that he works for is church based. Dan believes that because he’s working with clients who are high functioning and records wouldn’t serve a purpose. Dan feels that only clients who are really sick should need and benefit from documented records.
I. Identify the Problem
The issue that is prevalent is that lack of documentation that is required when counseling. Dan’s negligence is a major violation and an unprofessional practice as a counselor. The standard of care for all mental health professionals requires keeping current records for all professional contacts. (Corey, Corey, Corey, …show more content…
I would suggest for Dan to speak with each of his clients informing them of what they should expect from him as far as what they expect to be documented. Per the ACA Code of Ethics, code A.1.c. Counseling Plans, states that counselors and their clients work jointly in devising counseling plans that offer reasonable promise of success and are consistent with the abilities, temperament, developmental level, and circumstances of the client. (www.counseling.org) For documentation, I would suggest Dan store the hard copies in a storage unit that can be locked such as a file cabinet or drawer. If Dan uses the electronic route for processing his documentation, I would suggest protecting the documentation with a password or saving the files on a portable drive where it can be stored away as well. By implementing these procedures, Dan would successfully put forth the effort to provide the best services for his clients while maintaining his ethical standards as a