Questions

1. What are the advantages of having a membership to NBCC?

2. What is the history and mission of the American Counseling Association (ACA)?

3. According to the text, the American Counseling Association is a not-for-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession. Founded in 1952, ACA is the world's largest association exclusively representing professional counselors in various practice settings.

There are 19 chartered divisions within the American Counseling Association. These divisions provide leadership, resources and information unique to specialized areas and/or principles of counseling. ACA has four regions, which serves members in those regions. Fellow classmates, are there any areas in your region that the practices of the American Counseling Association influenced?

4. Great post! I found your opening sentence to be so on point especially when you say "to have integrity you must have law and if you have law you must allow ethics to guide."

As members of this profession because eventually if not already we will all be members of ACA, we are expected to exhibit the highest standards of honesty and integrity throughout our profession. As students after paying a fee, we benefit with internship opportunities, insurance liability and career guidance. These are important opportunities for each and every one of us as students to obtain. I wonder these memberships do they benefit us more as certified counselors or degree in progress students?

5. I think that the ACA is a benefit both as you said a "degree in process student" and also later as certified counselors. This is because as students the ACA is a guide to help us learn the ethical standards of practice in the field we are attempting to certify in as well as an educational resource where we can find much needed answers and support throughout our academic journey into counseling.

As certified counselors the ACA will be an organization that serves to help us better serve our clients, protects and governs through ethical dilemmas and provides an association with which we can broaden our professional affiliations and knowledge through as well. What are your thoughts?

6. The text discusses two perspectives on ethics. The first is Principle ethics, it "is a set of obligations and a method that focuses on moral issues with the goals of (a) solving a particular dilemma or set of dilemmas and (b) establishing a framework to guide future ethical thinking and behavior."

This is a 'what shall I do principle'. The second is Virtue ethics, it "focuses on the character traits of the counselor and nonobligatory ideals to which professionals aspire rather than on solving specific ethical dilemmas." This principle asks, 'am I doing right by my client'. Virtue ethics also encourages higher ethical awareness from the counselor. Is this higher ethical standard deep rooted in our internal makeup? Is it part of who we are? Can it be learned? I think there has to be some underlying development of morality within to be an ethical being.

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Most virtue ethics theories take their inspiration from Aristotle who declared that a virtuous person is someone who has ideal character traits. These traits derive from natural internal tendencies, but need to be nurtured; however, once established, they will become stable. For example, a virtuous person is someone who is kind across many situations over a lifetime because that is her character and not because she wants to maximize utility or gain favors or simply do her duty."

Thoughts?

Corey, Gerald. Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions with 2014 ACA Codes, 9th Edition. Cengage Learning, 20140718. VitalBook file.

7. Explain thecodes of ethics for counselors?

8. According to the text, the most visible benefit of board certification is the use of NBCC's certification mark. NBCC's board certification and corresponding certification marks are owned and controlled by NBCC. No individual may use the mark without prior written authorization and its use is limited to the established policies and procedures.

Board certified counselors may use the marks in their professional materials. One initiative that board certified Counselors have is opportunities to earn free approved continuing education, including webinars from the NBCC Foundation. Fellow classmates, can you name other perks of being board certified?