Build knowledge you can put to work.
Follow the reasoning in a worked case. Test it in a different situation. Know what to read next.
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Legal and Ethical Issues
A reading path through related lessons. Shared lessons can appear in more than one path. View curriculum coverage and limits →
What this path helps you do
- Practice supported here
- Build an ethical decision rationale, compare disclosure choices, and distinguish law, professional codes, and agency policy.
- Preparation
- Bring your program’s assigned ethics code and the jurisdiction relevant to the fictional case.
- Where to go further
- State-specific legal advice, jurisprudence preparation, and a complete review of every professional code are outside this path.
Start with ethical reasoning
Explain an ethical decision instead of simply naming a rule.
Consent, privacy & the limits of confidentiality
Distinguish informed consent from a one-time signature.
Boundaries, values & thoughtful referrals
Distinguish a competence concern from a values-based avoidance.
Prepare for group privacy and consent
Recognize what a group leader can and cannot promise.
Risk, trauma & reporting: organize the questions
Recognize safety concerns and identify the correct supervised response process.
Telehealth, documentation & continuity
Identify what changes when counseling crosses a screen or a service boundary.
When an ethical dilemma has two defensible options
Distinguish a genuine conflict between defensible options from an action prohibited by a clear rule.
Responding to a records request: a consultation walkthrough
Distinguish a client access request, a third-party authorization, a subpoena, and a court order before responding.
Independent study support alongside coursework and supervision. Course paths are editorial reading lists, not complete university courses. Find your program’s reading map →