What This Document Is
This is a final paper completed by Loralynn Wharton for COUC 501: Professional, Ethical & Legal Issues in School Counseling at Liberty University. The paper applies the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) Decision Making Model to a specific ethical dilemma scenario involving a 7th-grade student expressing suicidal intentions.
Why This Document Matters
This assignment is intended for students enrolled in counseling courses, particularly those focusing on ethical and legal considerations. It serves as a demonstration of how to apply a recognized ethical decision-making framework to a real-world counseling situation. It’s valuable for understanding the complexities of confidentiality, informed consent, and duty to protect within the school counseling context.
Common Limitations or Challenges
This paper represents one student’s application of the ACA model to a single scenario. It is not a comprehensive guide to all ethical dilemmas or a substitute for thorough training in ethical decision-making. It focuses specifically on a suicide risk scenario and may not cover other common ethical challenges.
What This Document Provides
The full document includes: an abstract summarizing the paper’s focus; a detailed application of the ACA Decision Making Model, broken down into steps (Identify the Problem, Apply ACA Code of Ethics); specific ACA code references (A.1.a, A.2.d, etc.); and analysis of the legal and ethical issues present in the given scenario. This preview does *not* include the full analysis of the ACA model, the complete list of referenced codes, or the student’s detailed conclusions and recommendations.
