Acting Ethically

Part of the counseling profession is adhering to a code of ethics most often the American Counseling Associations code of ethics. As part of my ethics course our instructor invited us to post our view and reaction to the case of Julea Ward Vs. Eastern Michigan University (find info about case here). Mrs. Ward was a counseling student at EMU that was dismissed from the counseling program because of her refusal to counsel homosexual clients. Mrs. Ward also stated that she would not counsel a host of other clients including those who took part in fornication.It was interesting to see the stance and thoughts of my classmates on this issue. Most took the same stance that Mrs. Ward should not be allowed to be a counselor but there where a few that thought that Mrs. Ward was wrongly dismissed. I have to say this pushed my buttons.

My personal stance is this: refusing to counsel ANY clients in my opinion is a disservice to this profession. This is not to say that all counseling students/counselors have to counsel everyone but it is to say that we must be OPEN to counseling anyone. It would be unrealistic to state that counselors must work with anyone who comes to them for help however in the same stance we should be willing and able to try. As counselors people come to us for help and expect us to be accepting and non judgmental because of their life choices be it homosexually, adultery, leaving behind their children, or severing ties with their parents.

Our job is to provide guidance to them on how to make the best choice for them and my personal values and beliefs should never come into play in our counseling relationship and clearly Mrs. Ward is not able to place her own values and beliefs aside and serve her clients. So yes EMU made a good choice in my opinion when they dismissed her from the program because I don't personally believe she deserves to represent my soon to be profession.