How to Protect Yourself Ethically as a School Counselor

On my way to lunch today, a news story popped up on my phone about a private school counselor in California who sounded the alarm about a falsified college application for one of the students attending his/her school.  The counselor reported to the college that the student, a Caucasian student, was falsely identified as an "African American tennis wiz" on a college application he/she reviewed.   Unfortunately, this story is part of the multimillion dollar college scandal involving Lori Laughlin, Felicity Hoffman, and other wealthy parents that we have been hearing about for months (sigh).   Also this week, a news story surfaced that wealthy parents are giving up guardianship of their high school students so their family can get the maximum amount of financial aid for college.  Although no school counselors have been involved in these two scandals, it concerns me that school counselors could be easily pressured in participating in unethical behavior by parents or administrators to give some students an unfair advantage over their peers.  Since it is the beginning of the new school year, I decided that it may be helpful to write a post on what steps you can take to protect yourself as a school counselor if or when you are pressured to falsify information or be involved in some type of cover up.

In my opinion, if you are under pressure to do something that doesn't feel quite right in your school, you need all the correct information and assistance you can get!  Unfortunately, you cannot wait until you are in the heat of the moment to prepare for a crisis...you have to know your resources.  Hopefully this post will give you some direction on making preparations on how you can go about getting the right information you need especially when you hear a million voices telling you what you should or should not do.  From my own experiences as a school counselor, I want to share what I think could be helpful.

1.  Discover how to address complications professionally by learning your ethical code and district policies.

This is uber important!  ASCA has gone to great lengths to publish guidelines for school counselors that cover issues such as confidentiality, sharing student information, bullying, etc.  I believe it may be helpful to have these guidelines handy so you can refer to them; therefore, I have included the link to the pdf so you can print it out (please do this for real!). According to Dr. Carolyn Stone, our ethical code is not just the right thing to do based on our personal beliefs, but it is the ethical thing to do based our position as a school counselor. So, what are the most common and challenging ethical dilemmas of counselor at different levels? Nancy Bodenhorn comprised a list of ethical concerns for school counselors.

Most Common:
1. Dual relationships with faculty 
2. Recommendation writing 
3. Cultural diversity 
4. Awareness of colleague’s ethical breach 
5. Dual relationships with students  
Most Challenging:
1. Dual relationships with faculty 
2.  Recommendation writing 
3.  Dual relationships with students 
4.  Peer helper programs 
5.  Student confidentiality (personal disclosures) 
6.  Parental rights

Being aware of these dilemmas and having the right guidance from our code can help a school counselor avoid mishaps. Also, Dr. Carolyn Stone has a treasure of information about counselor ethics and covers a myriad of issues from reporting child abuse to negligence in writing recommendation letters. It is important to pull out your ethical code when someone tries to box you in or convince you to do something unethical when working with a client (i.e. parent, student, or teacher).

Also, if you want more information about counselor ethics, consider taking ASCA's Legal and Ethical Specialist course.

Other great resources:

2016 Ethical Standards for School Counselors Webinar

Legal and Ethical Issues When Working with Minors Webinar

ASCA: Role of the School Counselor

2. Consider creating a counseling brochure describing your roles and responsibilities

It is important to educate your students, staff, and parents about your role and responsibilities as a school counselor so that everyone is on the same page about what you can and cannot do.  One great way to do this is by creating and circulating a counseling brochure.  Here are some examples from different school counseling departments that may give you some ideas about creating your own.

Harford County Public School
Cleveland Metro Schools
Howard County Public Schools
Lakeland High School
Upper Marion School District

3.  Know about standard of care and how to consult with other professionals

Standard of care is defined as "what would a reasonably competent school counselor do in your shoes" while consulting tests to see if we are stepping outside this standard of care. Unfortunately, our profession is not risk free and counselors should consult and seek supervision when they are unsure of a decision.

Consultation is imperative if you are a school counselor!  You never know when you may face an ethical and/or legal issue that you need to run past a colleague, professor, counseling supervisor, or fellow counselor. Want to connect to other counselors (especially if you are a party of one)? If you have time during the school year, consider joining one of these communities for some great conversations on Twitter for school counselors.

#scchat  – School Counseling Chat

#mscchat -Middle School Counseling Chat 
#escchat-Elementary School Counseling Chat
#edchat-Educator Chat

4.  Meet regularly with your parents and students 

Communication with parents and students is imperative as a school counselor.  It is important to create as many opportunities for parents and students to communicate or interact with you during their tenure in high school.  These meetings don't have to just include one on one conferences, but can be a myriad of opportunities.  Maria Grovner, Atlanta Public Schools Counseling Coordinator, suggests trying out these ideas for connecting with parents to provide information:

Coffee and Conversation
Lunch and Learn
Saturday Seminars
Book Clubs
Evening Events/Workshops
Parent Resource Centers
Webinars/Podcasts/You Tube Videos

In addition, consider setting up a two-way communication with parents using various forms of technology.  This can include:

Creating a website (need ideas???? check out my blog post on 175 High School Websites and Resources)
Blog
Parent emails/listservs
Mass telephone messages about events
Text messages using apps like Remind
Videos for missed presentations (You Tube)
Newsletters

Resource: Getting Parents Involved in Your School Counseling Program by Maria Grovner, GA DOE

When meeting with parents and students, it is important to document the conversation for future reference and to clear up any misunderstandings.  I typically give parents a copy of our notes for their own reference.

Communication Documentation Form

5.  Build a build trusting relationship with your administration

Okay, I cannot overemphasize the important of meeting with your principal or supervisor.  Here are where good counselors feel supported or become broken by the unrealistic expectations of administration.  Need help with talking to your administration about school counselor roles and responsibilities?  Download the Executive Summary from ASCA for a great overview of talking points. 

Need some tips on improving your relationship with your principal?  Check out the Enhancing Principal-School Counselor Relationship.

6.  Provide a Comprehensive School Counseling Program that is equitable for all students 

As a school counselor, it is important that we provide services for all students and not just a few.  Often school counselors are blamed when students are not accepted into a college or given an opportunity to apply for a scholarship.  Case in point, the infamous valedictorian speech blasting the school counselor for being unavailable to her or her parents for advisement. When it comes to academic advising, it can be extremely difficult to disseminate information to all parents and students (especially with a large caseload).  Carolyn Stone suggests that school counselors empower students and parents for having and giving the right information when it comes to postsecondary options and disseminate information in as many forms as possible.  Another suggestions to is have students and parents sign off on critical pieces of information in your meetings (i.e. parent sign in sheets) and desegregate data to find who is being left out.

Resource: "Building your School Counseling Program: Start Small and Build Big"

7.  Get involved in your own professional development

Recently, an article was published about counselor staff development and how it is often an afterthought for administrators.  Counselors realize that relevant staff development is imperative for keeping up with changes in policies and information.  There are many reasons for the lack of staff development which you can read in the article, but what do we do about it?  I believe it is important to advocate for your own staff development.  This can include co-teaching a PLC in your school, starting a school counselor book club in your school or district, attending a state or national conference and bringing back information to share with other counselors, attending workshops or webinars, or collaborating with other colleagues in your school.

There are many conferences, webinars, and workshops that you may be interested in attending as a school counselor. If you need a some ideas, check out my list of conferences and webinars for school counselors on my blog.

Conferences and Trainings for School Counselors

(By the way, the next ASCA conference will be in Seattle, Washington).

In addition, I have a list of resources that may be useful to you.

Counseling Resources

Also, there may be some books you might want to explore that were a big hit at the 2019 ASCA Conference.

Well, these are my suggestions and I am sure you have some additional ideas that you can share with school counselors.  Feel free to write about them and send to me!

Have a great school year!!!