https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t en-us 2018-10-26 15:56:09 UTC 2026-01-15 15:22:09 UTC hello@padlet.com tgarner6 https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297467581 TOP 5 LEGAL & ETHICAL ISSUES IN COUNSELING
Person Interviewed: Ashantia Wolfe
Position: Lead Counselor, Houston ISD

Ashantia is a counselor who is currently working towards gaining her LPC. As such she is required to adhere to American Counseling Association standards along with HISD's counseling requirements. Here are the top five issues she identified.

1. Confidentiality with student information
Ashantia identified specific issues that she deals with regarding educational "need to know". With the influx of students viewing "13 Reasons Why" where students have more exposure to topics like suicide, depression, and death she expressed concern with the ethical dilemma regarding student confidentiality. When she counsels a student who is constantly down, at what point should other teachers be alerted, or when should parents be involved. The lack of understanding of true student intention behind their sadness, and how home factors can contribute to their depressed feeling was also mentioned. Because Ashantia counsels middle school students, the issue of suicide and the popularity of the show was slightly delayed, but it is still an ethical dilemma she faces.

2. Maintaining legal rights of students with disabilities
With constantly changing standards of how to handle students with disabilities in her district, Ashantia emphasized how important it was to legally advocate for students with disabilities to receive their services. She also made mention of the counselors position to promote the mission of the diagnostician

3. Potential liabilities with improper techniques by other school counselors
Ashantia spoke candidly about training newer counselors in the process of interventions. One of her biggest challenges is the liabilities of newer counselors improperly counseling students. Without much detail, she mentioned how important it is to maintain state mandated requirements. Failure to do so could result in investigation by the state of Texas.

4. Keeping ACA standards while counseling at her sons school
Ashantia is working on obtaining her LPC in the state of Texas. Additionally, she is a counselor at the same school that her son attends. Since she is required to abide by American Counseling Association requirements, she has a number of legal requirements that she needs to be aware of to avoid violation. The ACA specifically prohibits counselors from providing services to family, friends or anyone they are unable to remain impartial with. This stops her from being able to attend field trips with her son, or give certain presentations in a group that her son might be a part of.

5. Houston ISD and counseling as a "related service"
The biggest interference with this concept is that, at Ashantia's school, there is a battle with the special education department and counselors. The main question is about who provides what services to students. Counselors intervene when the student has needs of "related services" but special education employees feel that counselors are not sufficiently trained to handle these issues. For her specific campus, there is a constant question of "who should handle this issue?"]]> 2018-10-26 16:12:34 UTC https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297467581 tgarner6 https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297812664 2018-10-28 21:48:52 UTC https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297812664 tgarner6 https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297813156 2018-10-28 21:52:51 UTC https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297813156 tgarner6 https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297814510 2018-10-28 22:05:30 UTC https://padlet.com/tgarner6/1f8oj61etz4t/wish/297814510