Informed Consent: American Counseling Association (ACA)

Informed consent is one of the first doctrines addressed in the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) Code of Ethics (2014):

Clients have the freedom to choose whether to enter into or remain in a counseling relationship and need adequate information about the counseling process and the counselor. Counselors have an obligation to re¬view in writing and verbally with cli¬ents the rights and responsibilities of both counselors and clients. Informed consent is an ongoing part of the counseling process, and counselors appropriately document discussions of informed consent throughout the counseling relationship. (p. 4)

It is an integral component of the counseling relationship as it provides the client with information needed to be autonomous,

Barnett & Johnson (2014) recommend developing a checklist of all relevant information that is specific to the therapeutic setting. The counselor should present this checklist and verbally review it with the client, after which the client’s signature indicates understanding of the contents and voluntary participation in the counseling relationship. Hence, the main elements of this form should contain all the information needed to make this decision, including the counselor’s experience, credentials, and training, as well as fees, duration and frequency of treatment, potential risks and benefits of treatment, and the provision of specific services (Barnett & Johnson, 2015). An excellent sample informed consent document (Scroppo, Taube, & Zelechoski, n.d.) is available on the website of a national agency (The Trust) which provides liability insurance for mental health professionals, and it can be used as a template for any new counselor desiring to create an informed consent document containing these essential

4). Confidentiality and privacy has many legal implications associated with them, and have an entire section of the ACA Code of Ethics dedicated to them, so they should be treated with due diligence. Regarding confidentiality and privacy, the ACA (2014) states, “Counselors recognize that trust is a cor¬nerstone of the counseling relationship. Counselors aspire to earn the trust of cli¬ents by creating an ongoing partnership, establishing and upholding appropriate boundaries, and maintaining confi¬dentiality. Counselors communicate the parameters of confidentiality in a culturally competent manner” (p. 6), particularly the exceptional circumstances in which confidentiality must be breach. Most of these situations are legal requirements such as “Serious and Foreseeable Harm” (APA, 2014, p. 7), in regard to “End-of-Life Decisions” (p. 7) and “Contagious, Life-Threatening Diseases” (p. 7), and “Court-Ordered Disclosure” (p. 7). The client should be assured that in such events the counselor will observe the “Minimal Disclosure” (p. 7) practice of providing no more than essential