AT 5255 Professional Ethics and Law I
This course covers application of California’s laws and professional ethics governing counseling processes and psychotherapeutic standards of practice used by marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, and art psychotherapists in a culturally diverse society. Students receive an orientation to the profession and study the ethical standards and legal considerations of counseling. Topics covered include licensing law and process; regulatory laws that delineate the profession’s scope of practice; counselor-client privilege; confidentiality; what to do if the client is dangerous to self or others; treatment of minors with or without parental consent; the relationship between a practitioner’s sense of self and human values; functions and relationships with other human service providers; strategies for collaboration; and advocacy processes needed to address institutional and social barriers that impeded access, equity, and success for clients.