This discussion will require you to draw on several competencies you have acquired as you have progressed through this course.

Consider the following scenario:

Scenario
Imagine that you are on a team of counselors who have been called in to provide consultation for the Common Sense Counseling community agency. On their Web site and on social media sites, Common Sense Counseling describes their approach as “a fresh, new approach to changing lives” having a high rate of success (based on numerous testimonials), and displays friendly pictures of everyone who works there.
You begin your work by interviewing trainees at the site. Your first interview is with Lorena, who is doing an internship at the agency. Lorena mentions that her most interesting client is an Eastern European male named Dominik; he has been in the United States for about a year on a work visa. Dominik sought counseling, because his employer suggested that it might help him get along better at work and improve his ability to complete tasks. Lorena notes that she gets along fine with Dominik but diagnosed him with ADHD, because he was having difficulty sitting still and focusing. She did not refer him for further evaluation.
Lorena expresses confidence that things are going well with the case. Dominik schedules appointments over his lunch hour, so he will not miss work, and he brings extra food to share with Lorena. Lorena wants Dominik to feel welcome and comfortable, so she accepts what he brings. Sometimes they sit outside if the weather is nice, Lorena notes, because she believes that fresh air is good for the well-being of her client. Lorena confides to you that yesterday, Dominik asked if they could meet at a restaurant instead of eating at the office. Lorena says she felt a little funny about this but agreed to it, thinking that it was consistent with the friendly approach of the agency.
Lorena also discloses that recently Dominik sent her a friend request on Facebook, which she accepted. He has only four more sessions of counseling left at the agency, and she hopes they can still be friends after he completes treatment.
When you ask to review Lorena’s case notes, you do not see a supervisor’s signature. Lorena explains that because things are going well, she has not felt the need to staff this case. Apparently, the supervisor agreed that Lorena could exercise her own professional judgment. On the treatment plan, you see that Lorena describes using a directive approach and supplementing it with humor therapy, which she read about on the Internet. She describes this as “common sense counseling,” but she is not able to articulate why it will be helpful for Dominik or discuss the evidence that this approach helps clients get better. When you ask Lorena how she knows her counseling sessions are benefitting Dominik, she says, “Well, he keeps coming back, so it must be worth his while, right?”

Using your text, the Web sites for the ACA and AMHCA ethics codes and the Calmes, Piazza, and Laux (2013) article assigned in this unit’s studies, prepare a draft of your conclusions regarding this case that you will review with your consulting team. In your post, complete the following:

• Detail at least two potential ethical violations in this case that may harm the client, citing a specific standard of one or more of the ethical codes for clinical mental health counselors.
• Identify a potential ethical violation that may be harming Lorena.
• Discuss ways in which Lorena’s practices may harm public perceptions of the accountability and credibility of counselors.
• Prepare a multi-step plan for the agency to follow in re-aligning its interns’ and supervisors’ clinical work with professional standards.

Support your ideas with citations of readings and Web sites from this course, using APA style.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

 

Ethics And Accountability Consultation