Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Welcome to The Voice of Counseling, from the American Counseling Association. I'm Dr. Aprille Woodson. And joining me today is Dr. Jazmone Wilkerson, who is the co-chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Counseling Association. And she is here to talk about the role of the Ethics Committee.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Just to give you a little background about Dr. Wilkerson, she's an adjunct professor at Antioch University, New England Campus. Dr. Wilkerson is a former ethics and curriculum development specialist at ACA, and the junior co-chair for the Ethics Committee at ACA as well. She's currently a project manager at the Council of State Governments Justice Center. And she's passionate about ethics, and hopes to help clinicians make more informed decisions to help them avoid common ethical pitfalls. Especially, where it intersects with the law.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Dr. Wilkinson is a licensed clinical professional counselor in Maryland, and has clinical experience working in crisis counseling, community-based counseling organizations, and private practice. She earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Argosy University, Northern Virginia Campus. And a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from Lindsey Wilson College, in Columbia, Kentucky.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Welcome, Dr. Wilkinson, to the ethics podcast, on the Ethics Committee's role in the adjudication process.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
And we're happy that you're here because you have a lot of experience. But you also have an interesting take on the Ethics Committee because you also were a former staff employee at ACA.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
So I'd like you to tell me about the role of the Ethics Committee at ACA. What is their function?
So the purpose of the Ethics Committee is to protect the public at large from ethical violations of its members. We do this by providing education to the public and members about the professional standards of our profession. We also provide a mechanism of a peer review process of reviewing ethical complaints that allege violations of our members on the ACA Code of Ethics. We interpret the ACA Code of Ethics as it relates to processing ethical complaints. And we also, periodically, review and revise documents and procedures regarding the policies for processing those ethical complaints.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
So thank you for answering that.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
You mentioned about ethical complaints, tell me about that complaint process. And I understand there is an adjudication process, if you accept a complaint. What does that look like from start to finish?
So generally... and I'm going to throw out this little caveat, this is a quick overview. I would recommend that anybody who has questions, read the policies and procedures for further details about this.
But ideally, the complainant would confer with either yourself, as the program manager of ethics, or one of our ethics consultants to consult about their potential complaint. They can meet with you all several times to finalize the complaint, should they decide to move forward.
After the complainant has submitted a formal complaint, complete with the alleged ACA Code of Ethics that were violated, contact information for both themselves and the member, and that's required information and that person has to have been a member either at the time of the alleged violation or currently a member, along with their signature. The complainant should also include any and all evidence that they think will support their complaint.
From there, the program manager, yourself, will then make the complaint and supporting documentation available for review by the two co-chairs, which would be myself and Jeannette Baca, currently, to determine if everything noted in the complaint were true. Would it be a violation of the Code of Ethics? If either of us determined that the answer to that question is yes, then the complaint and its documentation moves forward for the entire committee to consider. It is also during this time that, we as the co-chairs, could ask for any more information that we feel like we need in order to make a determination.
So then, ACA staff would send out the complaint and its supporting documentation, as well as the policies and procedures, to the respondent. Respondents at that point, can decide whether they'd like to respond to the complaint and whether they want to request a hearing.
Respondents are not required to respond. After that timeframe has expired for the respondent to respond, or if they respond to the complaint prior to that date by submitting their response and corresponding evidence to ACA staff, the ACA staff who would then submit all of that documentation related to the matter to the Ethics Committee.
The Ethics Committee would then schedule the hearing or adjudication with ACA staff and legal counsel present. At that meeting, the Ethics Committee would then review all of the documentation submitted and deliberate as to whether the respondent has violated the Code of Ethics. And if so, what the sanction should be.
It's important to note that the committee could only consider the information put forth in the complaint, including the codes that are alleged to have been violated. The committee would then work with ACA staff to write a formal letter with our findings to send them both to the complaintant and respondent.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Thank you, for going through that thorough explanation of that process.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
I heard you mention a possible hearing, if the respondent requests that. Is that independent of the adjudication process of the complaint, and how does that work?
It is in place of the adjudication. So adjudications generally occur when somebody does not request a hearing. And all that means is that we meet behind closed doors, or on the internet virtually these days, to talk about the documentation that was presented and then deliberate.
If somebody requests a hearing, the only real difference is the charge member and the complainant can both be at the hearing. They're allowed to present their evidence, but it is not a time to ask questions or be able to cross-examine one another.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Thank you for going over that and clarifying that information.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
So tell me, you talked earlier about the public, protecting the public. How does that process protect the public overall, this whole adjudication? How does it actually provide that public protection where there's no harm?
And that's a great question.
This process protects the public from counselors who generally do not follow the professional standards that are put forth and laid out by the ACA Code of Ethics. It's important to note that, this is a very rigorous process to review and update the ACA Code of Ethics. And this process is completed by ACA staff, contractors, and experts in the field.
If we have members who are committing ethical violations and are allowed to continue to violate the code, the outcome could definitely be detrimental for the public. Trust is the cornerstone of our profession. And thus, we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard to protect that trust and level-set the power dynamic that naturally occurs between a clinician and client. The complaint process helps to provide a level of accountability to ensure that we, as clinicians, aren't harming our clients.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Thank you for sharing that information.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
So I'm curious to know if whether the majority of the complaints are from counselors, or from the public, or is there an even split? And what type of ethical violations or complaints do you normally see as a committee?
I would say that most of the complaints are from the public. Although, they can come from peers in the field and have come from peers in a field. I think that we see a higher number of complaints from the public because, generally, and the ACA Code supports this. Peers would have a conversation with each other to see if things can be resolved, and clients may not always feel comfortable with doing that. And there are some ethical violations that you can't take back, right?
One of the more common ones is, breaking of confidentiality. Even though the ACA Code tells us that we should, if at all possible, remediate the situation before filing complaints. And I think, that's something strictly for the counselors, not our clients. If your counselor violated your confidentiality, there's nothing that they could remediate at that point, right? It's already out there.
So some of the most common ethical complaints involve issues around distance counseling. Especially, via COVID. We still have to think about the fact that our ACA Code of Ethics says that we, "Have to have training." Each individual state can define what that training looks like, but some were not prepared at all. Especially, in light of COVID. So just making sure that we have adequate training around distance counseling to be competent in order to provide that service.
But confidentiality, inappropriate sexual relationships. Which I think, for me, is super surprising. But I remember once, meeting with HPSO and they were saying that, "That is the biggest number of complaints that they also get, in terms of litigation."
Self-care, and self-care as it relates to competency, right? That we can't be out there providing counseling services if we are not in a place where we can adequately provide those services. So self-care definitely plays a role there.
Cultural competency, is always going to be a big one. Because we don't want to A, again, be harming our clients. But also, we need to think of the fact that when you think about cultural competency, that is something that is ongoing and we have to keep up to date with what is going on in the world and how culture changes. So making sure that we are being culturally competent, as much as possible, and not placing our values on our clients.
But then also, termination and referral. Making sure that we are adequately referring people and not just terminating for any good old reason. And making sure that folks are still connected to services, or feel like they can connect to services.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
You mentioned a number of areas, and thank you for going over those.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Because that one, in terms of intimate relationships or boundary crossings that counselors have found themselves in, is an issue. Why do you think there is an abundance of these types of complaints? And especially now, during COVID, and there's been a rise of in the number. Why do you think that is? And is there something that can be done? Additional training, more peer support. What is your take on that?
Yeah. No, I think that there are a lot of gray areas when you look at our professional standards. And I think that that's because, for most of us, we have to think about the individual situation that the client is in before we make a determination. Hopefully, using our ethical decision-making models to make a decision, right?
And so, when we think about the gray areas that exist, I think a lot of counselors or clinicians find themselves in violation. Because one, we don't always do a good job of documenting. We have to document when there's a ethical issue. When we've used our ethical decision-making model, who we've talked to for consultation and what they've said, all of that stuff is very important. But if there's a change in the dynamic or the type of relationship you have with your client, you've got to document that.
I know as clinicians, we are not in this field. Most of us are not attorneys, right? So we were not necessarily taught the business of counseling, rather than providing the service of counseling. And so we have to think about, from almost a legal perspective, how do we keep ourselves from some of that risk management?
One of the things that we can do, and probably should be doing, is to make sure, of course, that we have our insurance up to date. And one of the things that is super important is that you have, especially if you work in private practice, insurance for your business. But also insurance for your license, liability insurance for your license.
The other thing is, really, just to make sure that we are working with attorneys, whether we have somebody on a retainer or not. But when legal issues come up, how do we resolve them and how do they impact the ethical issues that might come up as well, I think, is important. And those types of violations always happen. We're not always thinking about crossing our Ts and dotting our Is, as it relates to the business portion of counseling.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
This is all excellent advice. And as I was listening to you speak about these areas, there's oftentimes counselors that will call in, and some of these areas, they're not even familiar with. So would you suggest more co-training with, maybe, their liability insurance carrier along with the CEs that they normally would complete as a part of their training so they can understand this process better? And particularly, when I think about students that have just newly graduated or people new to the practice that don't know how to really get started, what would you recommend, in terms of helping them getting more engaged, also in this process?
I think the number one thing is, to make sure training, training, training. We all have CEs that we are required to get in order to keep our license. Make sure you're doing them, and make sure you're doing them in areas that you know are steadily evolving. Competency, is always going to be one of them. Distance counseling, especially during COVID, is always going to be one of them. Ethics, should always be one of them. And of course, our individual states require different things when we talk about continuing education credits, because some of them actually require certain topics. But, I think that's important.
The other thing is, even if you are an independently licensed clinician, there is value in peer supervision and being able to talk to others in the field when you are experiencing things with your clients. So I know that counseling can feel like you're isolated, that you're all out there by yourself, you're the only person in the room with that client so you got to have all the answers. The truth is, none of us do. And so, being able to talk with one another, being able to actually even practice, for those of us that can, in a multidisciplinary arena where we have access to others who their work impacts ours. Such as, for example, psychiatrists or nurse practitioners who prescribe medicine can be definitely helpful.
And I would say the other thing is, don't forget reading. You know the old term, reading is fundamental. But when you think about the research that's happening today, when we think about evidence-based practices, all of this stuff is out there for us to grab. So don't always think that you have to wait until there's a certain CE that you're interested in, but keep up to date on the research and what's happening. Especially, if it's in an area that is of interest to you, or it's an area that you find yourself constantly having ethical dilemmas in.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
All excellent advice, Dr. Wilkerson. This is really, really awesome information. And I think the public is going to learn a lot, our members, and all of the counselors at large.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
I want to switch for a moment, and talk about the role of the Ethics Committee in higher education. I understand you will have an Annual Ethics Competition. Tell me what that consists of and how do students benefit from it?
So every year, we create a ethics competition where master's level and doctoral teams, respectively, compete to demonstrate their understanding of the ACA Code of Ethics. This competition is usually sponsored by the American Counseling Association Foundation. Big thanks to them, because it comes with an honorarium for first, second, and third place. This past year, teams that placed were provided certificates and an honorarium. And in fact, the first place team received complimentary registration to the 2022 Virtual Conference and they were recognized during that conference. Their essay was also posted online.
The competition is comprised of an ethics scenario, one at the master's level and one at the doctoral level, that requires teams to respond to specific ethics questions that are included. Students not only benefit from being recognized by their peers and colleagues at ACA, but it's also a highly coveted accolade. It's something that folks can place on their resumes. But overall, it's helpful, right?
Because I know sometimes we like to think of ethics issues only occurring while you're in your master's program or your doc program. But the reality, for anybody that's practiced, is that these things happen all the time. And so for me, it's like the more you use those skills, the more muscle memory you gain. Same thing, right? Because sometimes I know, we get out of school, sometimes we don't think we need to go through every step. But being able to practice that ethical decision-making model is huge. And the more you get in the muscle memory, I think, of doing it, the better you become at doing it and the more it becomes second nature.
So I think, students definitely benefit from being able to say like, "Hey, I was on a winning team." And the money, of course, never hurts.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Awesome. This is excellent information, Dr. Wilkerson. I really appreciate you joining us today to talk about the role of the Ethics Committee at ACA.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
And I also want to add, for all those listening to this podcast, please visit the Ethics Consultation. If you have a question or a dilemma that you need to address, feel free to reach out to ACA concerning that dilemma.
Dr. Aprille Woodson-Campbell:
Thank you so much for joining us today, and we look forward to another ethics segment in the future. Have a good day.
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