Chapter 3 & 14 Legal and Ethical Issues

               This is one crucial area that is extremely important to let students know you are there to help them through any predicament, problem, or any situation that they feel as though they want guidance.  Allowing the students to know the guidelines of your responsibilities (keeping everything confidential unless they are harming themselves, others, or are being harmed by others) as a counselor from the beginning of the school year will help students decide whether they want to come in or not.  This will let them know upfront where you stand before they even come into your office. 
                Being in a moral dilemma is never an easy position to be in because there are no clear cut answers.  Looking at the model adapted from Herlihy and Corey it makes thinking about a tough issue a little easier to think about how I would handle a sticky situation about whether to report an incident or not.  There is still a lot of room left for interpretation but it definitely provides a guided structure to help you to get to the ethical answer. 
                It was nice to hear it reiterated that you should collaborate periodically with a peer.  Getting feedback from another professional can help you evaluate the situation from an outside prospective.  Sometimes when you are in the situation and you know the client very well you sometimes do not see the entire picture clearly.  Having foggy lenses that you are trying to log through can cloud the full picture and may not let you act in a morally appropriate way. 

                Keeping up to date and current on legal regulations and issues will be crucial.  The laws and regulations are always changing and I don’t want to be caught in a legal situation without knowing the most current regulations.  In reading these chapters, I have really started to think about different types of questions that I should ask in an interview to figure out the climate of the school and be able to gage the administration.  Having supportive administration is crucial when dealing with cases that need to be reported to other organizations.  I have worked with multiple different administrators and there are certain personalities that I would want to work with on a long term basis and there are others that I definitely would not want to be working alongside of.  The personality of others can certainly make or break reporting something a little more easily or add unneeded stress to the already stressful situation.  In my eyes it is crucial to work in a setting whose leadership has a similar ethical opinion as your own. 

Dollarhide, C. & Saginak, K. (2012). Comprehensive School Counseling Programs: K-12 Delivery Systems in Action (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.