COUN 694:
Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Community Counseling
Winter 2008
2 credit hours
Wednesdays 5:30 to 7:15 p.m.
Instructor: Dibya Choudhuri, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, ACS
Office: 304 Porter Building
Phone: 734-487-0255
Office Hours: Mon, Wed, Thurs 1:00 to 4:00, and by appointment
E-mail: Dibya.choudhuri@emich.edu
Course Website:
Course Description
In order to work effectively in community settings, counselors must be aware of continuous changes in the profession. Of particular importance are ethical and legal issues that affect counseling, along with professional considerations such as community counselor identity, relationships with other mental health professionals, credentialing of mental health professionals, and managed care and third-party reimbursement. This course provides an opportunity for indepth study of these areas.
Course Objectives
To become familiar with ethical decision-making models
To use ethical decision-making models to examine current ethical and legal issues/problems facing community counseling professionals
To learn about licensing and certification for counselors and other mental health professionals in the state and nation.
To understand and be able to communicate information about the counselor’s scope of practice as defined by Michigan licensure law
To be familiar with issues pertinent to community counselors, such as recognition of the profession, right to practice, and third party reimbursements.
To be familiar with professional issues pertinent to practice in community settings
To be prepared for a job search in community settings.
Course Expectations:
Since this is a seminar, class attendance and participation are extremely important. It is expected that students will have done the assigned readings, will come to class prepared to discuss those readings, and will submit all written work on time. Missing more than 1 class will lower a student's grade by half a grade (E.g. from A to an A-).
Required Reading:
E-Reserves Readings at http://reserves.emich.edu/eres/

COUN 694 W08 - 2
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Professional Disclosure Statement (due February 20) (15%)
After the topics of informed consent and professional disclosure are discussed in class, students will draft their own disclosure statements. Disclosure statements should be professionally appropriate for submission as part of an LLPC application and should reflect community agency/mental health counseling work (unless presented by a student in another program track)
Analyses of Ethical Dilemmas (due March 12) (30%)
Several ethical dilemmas will be assigned. This paper will include a discussion of how you would handle the situations and your rationale for doing so. (Dilemmas and questions to answer will be distributed in class)
Reflective research and literature paper (due April 9) (25%)
Based on a topic relevant to the student’s area of professional interest, the student will search the available literature, and develop a paper of approximately 10-12 pages in length.
Obtaining Employment in Community Agency Settings (due March 26)
The final project consists of two parts; the first part will be done individually, and the second will be done in dyads.
Part 1 (15 %)
Each student will select an ad (or a composite of several ads) for a counseling job in an agency setting. Note that this must be a community agency and not a school or college/university. The job must require a master’s degree in counseling or a related mental health profession (social work, psychology), along with the appropriate state licensure/certification.
The student will "apply" for the selected position and submit an application that includes the following: o Professional resume/vita o A letter of interest/introduction that describes: your master’s degree program; “core” areas your training covers; specialty courses/areas of interest to you; your internship requirement and setting (use a hypothetical setting if you have not begun your internship); how your degree compares with degrees in other mental health professions (social work and psychology); your counseling license; a counselor’s scope of practice.
To prepare an accurate and convincing letter of introduction, you may need to do some investigation beyond the class on issues such as how your training compares to master’s level training in social work and psychology; insurance reimbursement for LPC’s; counselor’s scope of practice: and what master’s level social workers and psychologists can do with their licenses or certification.
Part 2 (5%)
In dyads, students will develop a 15 – 20 minute roleplay of a job interview. The interview should be based on one of the positions for which a student developed an application in Part 1 above.
Students will work together to develop the interviewer’s questions and the interviewee’s responses.
Roleplays will be presented to the class at the end of the semester.
Class Participation and engagement (10%)
Each student will take on responsibility of leading the group discussion of assigned readings for 2 weeks, preparing questions for discussion based off the readings and addressing ethical, legal, and

COUN 694 W08 - 3 professional issues. All students must have completed the readings and be ready to discuss the articles and related issues.
CPCE/Portfolio
Students who are graduating in April, June, August, or December 2008 must either complete the CPCE or present their portfolios to their advisor by April 8, 2008. This is a program requirement for graduation.
Grading : Possible points and grade equivalents are as follows:
Class participation and engagement
Due na
Points
10 points
Reflective research and literature review paper April 9
Ethical dilemmas analysis March 12
Disclosure statement
Final Project
Feb 15
March 26
25 points
30 points
15 points
20 points(15 individual/5 dyad)
95 - 100 A 83 - 86.5 B 73 - 76.5 C
90 - 94.5 A- 80 - 82.5 B- 70 - 72.5 C-
87 - 89.5 B+ 77 - 79.5 C+

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COURSE OUTLINE
DATE TOPIC
1/ 9
1/16
Introduction/Course overview
Professional Identity
Professional associations and advocacy
Community and mental health counseling
1/23
Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling
2005 ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of
Practice
NBCC Code of Ethics
AMHCA Code of Ethics
Ethical decision-making models
1/30
2/6
2/13
2/20
2/27
3/5
3/12
3/19
3/26
4/2
4/9
4/16
Client Welfare, Client Rights
Risk management
Informed consent – disclosure statements
Michigan Mental Health Code
Confidentiality and Privileged Communication
Definitions
Clients who are dangerous to others
Psychopharmacology
Clients who are dangerous to self
Minor Clients: Ethical and Legal Considerations
Rights of minors, Child abuse reporting
Winter Break
Counselor credentialing
Michigan Licensure Law
Diagnosis
Record Keeping
Boundary Issues and Multiple Relationships
Specific boundary issues
Multicultural considerations
Guidelines for decision-making
Supervision
Counselor Competence
Impairment
Role play interviews
Consultation and Advocacy
Current Issues in Community Counseling
Marketing yourself as a professional counselor
READING
Professionalism’s
Challenges -Gale & Austin
Advocacy - Myers,
Sweeney, & White
Counselor Licensure &
Scope of Practice (pp.14-16,
Appendix E, F)
Revision to Code of Ethics
ACA
AMHCA
Refusal to Counsel GLBT
Counselor Licensure &
Scope of Practice (p. 17)
Risk Management
MI Mental Health Code
Privileged Communication
Harm to others
Psychopharmacology
Suicide
Minors
Child Protection law
PDS Due
Counselor Licensure &
Scope of Practice (pp.9 –40)
Dr. Ametrano presents
Diagnosis
Subpoenas
Ethical Dilemmas Due
Professional Issues – read relevant professions descriptions
Professional Will
Ethical decision making
Sutter
Impaired Colleagues
Burnout
Final Project Application
Research Presentations

COUN 694 W08 - 5
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