Licensed Counselors and Substance Abuse

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the professional requirements for substance abuse counselors, their responsibilities and the standards they must uphold. These guidelines are based on the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, which is presented in the paper. The writer points out that substance abuse counseling is a serious and responsible task, and that the counselor must never attempt to misuse his position and take advantage of the situation in order to seek gains for himself. He must follow the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics with the utmost sincerity and caution.

From the Paper:

"Counselors must also make sure that they utilize the profession of counseling, and also practice it in such a manner that dignity and respect for the human race is kept in mind at all times, and is therefore, promoted. It must be noted that the Code of Ethics starts with a small introductory passage, in which the issue of what counselors must do in order to maintain discipline and behavior in their profession is discussed. If further goes on to state that when counselors are faced with certain ethical dilemmas that they may find difficult to resolve at that particular time, then they must perforce engage in a "carefully considered decision making process", so that they may be able to find an appropriate solution to the problem at hand. Since it is a fact that everyone has different opinions about one topic, and that there may as many different opinions as here are counselors, there is no specific decision making model that can be deemed the best or the most effective; counselors, according to the American Counselors Association are therefore expected to familiarize themselves with a credible model of decision making that would be able to stand on its own while under public scrutiny. (ACA Code of Ethics: The ACA Governing Council)"

Sample of Sources Used:

• "ACA Code of Ethics: The ACA Governing Council". Retrieved From http://www.cacd.org/ACA_2005_Ethical_Code10405.pdf Accessed 20 August, 2006
• "ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of practice" Retrieved From http://www.cacd.org/codeofethics.html Accessed 20 August, 2006
• "American Counseling Association- Code of Ethics" Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT. Retrieved From http://ethics.iit.edu/codes/coe/amer.couns.assoc.2005.html Accessed 20 August, 2006
• Boren, John J; Onken, Lisa Simon; Carroll, Kathleen M. "NIDA, Introduction and overview" Retrieved From http://www.nida.nih.gov/ADAC/ADAC2.html Accessed 20 August, 2006
• "Career Profiles, Career: Substance Abuse Counselor" Retrieved From http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/dayInLife.asp?careerID=172 Accessed 21 August, 2006

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