Code of Ethics and Ethical Standards for Guidance Counselors in the Philippines

CODE OF ETHICS FOR REGISTERED AND LICENSED GUIDANCE COUNSELORS Preamble Guidance and Counseling in the Philippines is now recognized as a profession and as such, it carries with it certain responsibilities and expectations. The role of the Guidance Counselor is significant in the lives of people. The nature of his work demands competence, excellence, integrity, trust, and service. He must be guided by recognized ethical standards, which define his functions and responsibilities and which provided guidelines for his practices as Guidance Counselor. Article I General Ethical Principles Section 1. Observance of Principles. – Guidance Counselors shall observe the following basic and general principles: 1.1 Abide by the ethical principle laid down by the Guidance and Counseling Profession. 1.2 Not misuse the professional relationship for profit, power, or prestige, or for professional gratification nor consonant with the welfare of his Counselee. 1.3 Realize that his professional time and effort are fully, faithfully, conscientiously, and truthfully devoted to the accomplishment and improvement of the guidance and counseling profession. 1.4 Grow professionally and keep abreast with current trends in guidance work through continuing professional education and affiliate himself with reputable and recognized local, national and international guidance associations. Article II Relationship with Counselee Sec. 2. Counselor’s Relationship with Counselee. – Counselors shall establish and maintain good relations with their counselees and, accordingly, shall: 2.1 Respect the personhood and integrity of the person with whom he works. 2.2 Recognize individual differences. 2.3 Clarify his role to the Counselee. 2.4 Establish professional relationship with the Counselee. 2.5 Explain results of tests and other diagnostic tools in a comprehensive and constructive manner. 2.6 Give information about the Counselee only to person who can be of help to the Counselee and is done only with the approval of the Counselee and/or his parents or guardian. When revelations may result in possible harm to the Counselee or to someone else, or may endanger the community of the country, he must report the facts to appropriate authorities and take emergency measures to prevent any untoward event or harm to Counselee. 2.7 Recommend a referral when it is indicated that the Counselee does not benefit from the guidance relationship, but assume responsibility for the welfare of the Counselee until the guidance responsibility is assumed by the person whom the Counselee has been referred. Article III Relationship with the Community Sec. 3. Counselors’ Relationship with Community. – Guidance Counselors shall establish and maintain good relations with their community, and, accordingly, shall: 3.1 Establish a relationship between the community and the guidance program in a manner that is beneficial to both. 3.2 Show sensible regard for and ethical recognition of the social code and moral expectations of the community in which he works and strives to elevate the understanding of its social and cultural traditions.

3.3 Attend to the needs, problems, aspirations, and human resources of the community in order to enable him to give relevant service responses, and to develop a wholesome community spirit. Article IV Relationship with Colleagues in the Profession Sec. 4. Guidance Counselors’ Relationship with their Peers. – Guidance Counselors shall establish with their colleagues, and, accordingly, shall: 4.1 Initiate peer relations and maintain high standards of professional competence in the guidance and counseling discipline. 4.2 Keep relationships on a professional level by refraining from petty personal actions. 4.3 Consult colleagues as a matter of professional courtesy, when planning to initiate a professional activity likely to encroach upon his colleagues’ recognized academic disciplines or researches. 4.4 Give accurate information and avoid any misrepresentation or unclear explanations. 4.5 Hold responsible for proper permission from and adequate recognition of authors and publishers of counseling and testing instruments which he uses and sees to it that psychological tests are administered only by professionally-trained and competent guidance personnel under his direct supervision. Article V Research and Publications Sec. 5.Guidance Counselors’ Attitude on Research and Publications. – Guidance Counselors shall undergo research and publications and, accordingly, shall: 5.1 Undertake research to contribute to the achievement of the Guidance and Counseling profession. 5.2 In conducting research, adhere to the highest standards of research methodology. 5.3 In reporting results of researches, reveal the identity of the subjects of research only with the permission of the subjects concerned and only for professional purposes. 5.4 Acknowledge the source of his ideas and material in his research as well as in his publications, and recognize divergent opinions from responsible person. Article VI Miscellaneous Provisions Sec. 6. Administrative Penalties. – Any registered and licensed Guidance Counselor who violates any provision of this Code shall be administratively liable under Sec. 24, Art. III of R.A. No. 9258 and Sec. 24, Rule III of Board Resolution No. 02, Series of 2007, the “RR of R.A. No. 9258”. Sec.7. Separability Clause. – If any part of this Code is declared unconstitutional or invalid, the remaining provision/s or part/s thereof not affected thereby, if separable, shall continue to be valid, enforceable, and operational.

CODE OR MANUAL OF TECHNICAL STANDARDS FOR REGISTERED AND LICENSED GUIDANCE COUNSELORS IN THE PHILIPPINES This Technical Standards of Good Practice considers the changing circumstances in which Guidance and Counseling is now being delivered – changes in the range of issues and levels of need presented by clients; professional growth in levels of expertise from practitioners, ongoing continuing education programs; and the accumulated experience of the Guidance and Counseling Profession Association over four decades. Guidance and Counseling practice is found in various settings. The diversity of settings oftentimes may have a practitioner working alone or two or more practitioners providing Guidance and counseling services within an institution (school, community, industry, private counseling clinic, hospital, counseling center, and hospice). Modes of delivery services vary from one setting to more than one. Thus, practitioners are faced with the challenge of responding to diverse clients in diverse settings and helping them effectively. The term “practitioner” refers to anyone providing professional Guidance and Counseling services as mandated by Republic Act No. 9258 (The Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004) and the Implementing Rules and Regulations attached to this Law. Professional Guidance and Counseling services rendered for free or for a fee must be delivered only by licensed professionals. The term “client” as a generic term refers to the recipient of any of these services. Terms “practitioner” and “client” may have alternative names in the practice setting as terminology varies according to context and custom. I. MAINTAINING A STANDARD OF GOOD PRACTICE All clients are entitled to a standard of practice from practitioners in Guidance and Counseling. Standards of good practice require professional competence; good relationships with clients and colleagues; and commitment to and observance of professional ethics. Good quality of practice requires competently-delivered services that meet the client’s need by practitioners who are appropriately supportive and accountable. 1. Practitioners should give careful consideration to the limitations of their training and experience and work within these limits, taking advantage of available professional support. If work with clients requires the provision of additional services operating in parallel with guidance and counseling, the availability of such services ought to be taken into account, as their absence may constitute a significant limitation. 2. Good practice involves clarifying and agreeing to the rights and responsibilities of both the practitioner and client at appropriate points in their working relationship. 3. Dual relationships arise when the practitioner has two or more kinds of relationship concurrently with a client, for example, client and trainee, acquaintance and client, colleague and supervisee. The existence of a dual relationship with a client is seldom neutral and can have a powerful beneficial or detrimental impact that may not always be easily foreseeable. For these reasons, practitioners are required to consider the implications of entering into dual relationships with clients, to avoid entering into relationships that are likely to be detrimental to clients as they are accountable to clients and colleagues for any dual relationship that may occur. 4. Practitioners are encouraged to keep appropriate records of their work with clients. All records should be accurate, respectful of clients and colleagues and protected from unauthorized disclosure. Practitioners should take into account their Guidance and Counseling Act (Republic Act 9258), the Code of Ethics, and any other legal requirements. 5. Clients are entitled to competently-delivered services that are periodically reviewed by the practitioner. These reviews may be conducted, when appropriate, in consultation with clients, supervisors, managers, or other practitioners with relevant expertise. II. MAINTAINING COMPETENT PRACTICE 6. All practitioners must have regular and on-going continuing education in view of professional development. Managers/directors, coordinators/supervisors, educators, researchers and providers of counseling services including volunteers in counseling centers and various

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settings are required to review periodically their need for professional and personal growth and to upgrade their skills, knowledge, and competencies. Regularly monitoring and reviewing one’s work is essential to maintaining good practice. It is important to be open to appraisals and assessments and be conscious in considering feedbacks from colleagues. Responding constructively to feedbacks helps to advance the practice. Practitioners should be conscientiously aware of any legal requirements concerning their work and be legally accountable for their practice.

III. KEEPING TRUST 9. The practice of Guidance and Counseling depends on gaining and honoring the trust of clients. Keeping trust requires an attentiveness to the quality of listening and respect offered to clients, culturally appropriate ways of communicating that are courteous and clear, maintaining respect for privacy and dignity, and careful attention to client’s consent and confidentiality. 10. Clients should be adequately informed about the nature of the services being offered. Practitioners should obtain a written and informed consent from their clients and respect a client’s right to choose as to whether to continue with or withdraw from the services. 11. Practitioners should ensure that services are normally delivered on the basis of the client’s explicit consent. Reliance on implicit consent is more vulnerable to misunderstandings and is best avoided unless there are sound reasons for doing so. Practitioners should be accountable to clients, colleagues and the profession if they override a client’s known wishes. 12. When clients pose a risk of causing serious harm to themselves or others, the practitioner should be alert to the possibility of conflicting responsibilities between those concerning their client, significant others, and society. Consultation with a supervisor or experienced practitioner is strongly recommended, whenever this would not cause undue delay. In all cases, the aim should be to ensure for the client a good quality of care that is as respectful of the client’s capacity for self-determination and trustworthiness as circumstances permit. 13. Working with young people requires specific ethical awareness and competence. The practitioner is required to consider and assess the balance between young people’s dependence on adults and their progressive development towards independent living. Working with children and adolescents requires careful consideration of issues concerning their capacity to give consent to receiving any professional service independent of parental consent and the management of confidences disclosed by these clients. 14. Respecting confidentiality is a fundamental requirement for keeping trust. The professional management of confidentiality concerns the protection of personally identifiable and sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure. Disclosure may be authorized by client’s written consent or the law. Any disclosures should be undertaken in ways that best protect the client’s trust. Practitioners should be accountable to their clients and to their profession for management of confidentiality in general and particularly for any disclosure made without their client’s consent. 15. Practitioners should be willing to respond to their client’s requests for information about the way they are working and any assessment that they may have done. This professional requirement does not apply when imparting this information would be detrimental to the client or inconsistent with the counseling or psychotherapeutic approach previously agreed with the client. Clients may have legal rights to this information and this must be taken into account. 16. Practitioners must not abuse their client’s trust in order to gain sexual, emotional, financial or any other kind of personal advantage. Sexual relations or any other type of sexual activity or sexualized behavior with clients are prohibited. Practitioners should exercise caution before entering into personal or business relationships with former clients and should be accountable if the relationship becomes detrimental to the client or to the profession. 17. Practitioners should not allow their professional relationships with clients to be prejudiced by any personal views they may have about lifestyle, gender, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, beliefs, or culture.

18. Practitioners should be clear about any commitment made with the clients and colleagues and honor these commitments. IV. TEACHING AND TRAINING 19. All practitioners are encouraged to share their professional knowledge and practice in order to benefit their clients and the public. 20. Only qualified doctoral-degree holders are to teach the doctoral program courses in Guidance and Counseling. 21. Practitioners who provide counselor education and training should have professional continuing education, knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies to be effective teachers, facilitators and trainers. 22. Practitioners involved in teaching and training must update their syllabi, modules, curricular programs and courses periodically to be relevant and be within the prescribed Guidelines of RA 9258, the Implementing Rules and Regulations, and the Commission of Higher Education (CHED). 23. Internship and practicum courses should be done in diverse settings to enhance the skills, knowledge and competencies of Guidance and Counseling students. 24. Curricular programs, training courses, learning modules, and seminar programs should be evaluated in terms of contents, strategies or techniques, implementation process, and the expected output to ensure total effectiveness. 25. Practitioners should always be fair, accurate, and honest in their assessment of their students. 26. A written consent is required from clients if they are to be observed, recorded, or if their personally-identifiable disclosures are to be used for training purposes. 27. Practitioners must serve as role models for professional behavior. V. SUPERVISING AND MANAGING 28. Practitioners are responsible for clarifying responsibility for the work with the client. 29. Counselors, guidance specialists, guidance mentors, supervisors, and trainers may receive supervision/consultative support independently. 30. Supervisors and managers have a responsibility to help practitioners acquire professional competencies, maintain and enhance further the guidance and counseling practice for the clients’ welfare. 31. Practitioners give due credit to clients or supervisees for their contributions to research and scholarly projects through co-authorship, acknowledgment or other appropriate means, in accordance with such contributions. VI. RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION 32. Guidance Counselors are committed to fostering research that will inform and develop the guidance and counseling practice. Practitioners are encouraged to support research undertaken on behalf of the profession and to participate actively in relevant research work. 33. Researches should be undertaken with rigorous attentiveness to the quality and integrity both of the research itself and of the dissemination and application of the research results, if appropriate. 34. Articles and researches for publication must be peer-refereed. 35. Responsibility and accountability as well as intellectual honesty in doing research by the Practitioner should be upheld and observed respectively at all times. 36. The rights of research participants should be carefully considered and protected. The rights include the right to freely give an informed consent, and the right to withdraw at any point. 37. The research methods used should comply with the standards of good practice in guidance and counseling, Code of Ethics, and RA 9258. 38. Practitioners acknowledge other researchers who have contributed significantly to the research and/or publication, and those who have done previous work on the topic. 39. Research work should be presented in for a, conventions, and conferences for public dissemination.

VII. ASSESSMENT AND REPORT 40. Practitioners should select standardized psychological tests that meet the purposes for which they are to be used and that are appropriate for their intended clients. 41. Practitioners must have the professional knowledge, skills, and competencies in test administration, test interpretation, and preparing reports. 42. Practitioners should interpret test scores based on appropriate norms. 43. Practitioners should examine and understand the specimen sets, test booklets, manuals, directions, answer sheets, scoring templates, and score reports before administering and assessing. 44. Practitioners should take into account any differences in test administration practices or the client’s familiarity with the test items. 45. In selecting tests, practitioners should use tests that are culturally-fair in terms of gender, ethnic background, religion, race, and handicapped conditions. 46. Practitioners should be aware of client’s limitations in understanding language usage and technical terminology. 47. Practitioners should ask the consent of a parent or a guardian of a minor before giving an assessment tool and explain the purpose for this. 48. Practitioners should comply with the test administration, test scoring, and test interpretation procedures as prescribed in the Test Manual. 49. Practitioners should inform the client of the assessment results in a manner that is clearly understood. 50. A copy of the psychological report stamped with the word CONFIDENTIAL may be provided by the practitioner to the client. 51. Practitioner should use assessment data by taking into account various factors and characteristics of the client being assessed that might affect the practitioner’s judgment or reduce the accuracy of interpretation. 52. Practitioners do not base assessments, recommendations, or test results that are outdated for the current purpose. 53. Practitioners make reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity or security of tests and other assessment techniques. VIII. REVIEW CENTERS AND CLASSES 54. Only degree-granting institutions offering CHED-approved Guidance and Counseling programs are regulated to have review centers and classes for licensure purposes, and must be approved by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). 55. Review classes shall be handled only by competent masters and doctoral degree holders in Guidance and Counseling. 56. A member of the Professional Regulatory Board of Guidance and Counseling (PRBGC) may serve as lecturer in Review Centers of institutions offering CHED-approved Guidance and Counseling programs only two years after his/her term in the PRBGC. IX. FITNESS TO PRACTICE 57. Practitioners have a responsibility to monitor, and maintain their fitness and update their competencies to practice at a level that enables them to provide effective service. If their effectiveness becomes impaired for any reason, including health or personal circumstances, they should inform and talk to their immediate supervisor regarding the situation. Results of consultation with supervisor and experienced colleagues will help the practitioner to make the appropriate decision. 58. Attending to the practitioner’s well-being is essential to sustaining good practice. Practitioners have a responsibility to themselves to ensure that their work does not become detrimental to their health or well-being by ensuring that the way they undertake their work is as safe as possible and that they seek appropriate professional support and services when the need arises. 59. Practitioners are entitled to be treated with proper consideration and respect consistent with Standards of Good Practice.

X. RESPONSIBILITIES TO ALL CLIENTS 60. Practitioners have a responsibility to protect clients when they have good reason for believing the client’s well-being is at risk. 61. If matters cannot be resolved, practitioners should review the grounds for concerns and evidences available and have appropriate consultation. 62. If practitioners are uncertain as what to do, their concerns should be discussed with an experienced colleague or supervisor provided they strictly follow the guidelines in keeping trust. 63. Practitioners are strictly encouraged to ensure that their work is adequately covered by insurance for professional indemnity and liability. XI. WORKING WITH COLLEAGUES 64. Professional relationships should be conducted in a spirit of mutual respect and collegiality. 65. Practitioners should endeavor to attain good working relationships that enhance effective services to clients at all times. 66. Practitioners should treat all colleagues fairly and foster equal opportunity. 67. Practitioners should maintain their professional relationships with colleagues and not be prejudiced by their own personal views about a colleagues lifestyle, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, beliefs, or culture. 68. Practitioners should refrain from undermining a colleague’s relationship with clients by making unjustified or unsustainable comments. 69. All communications between colleagues about clients should be on a professional basis. XII. HANDLING PRACTITIONER-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP 70. Practitioners should respond promptly and appropriately to any written complaint received from their clients. 71. Practitioners should endeavor to remedy any harm they may have caused their clients and to prevent any repetition. 72. Practitioners should discuss, with their supervisor, manager or other experienced practitioner(s), the circumstances in which they may have harmed a client in order to ensure that the appropriate step will be taken to mitigate any harm and to prevent any repetition. 73. If practitioners consider that they have acted in accordance with good practice but their client is not satisfied that this is the case, they may use independent dispute resolution including seeking a second professional opinion, mediation, or conciliation, whichever is both appropriate and practical. XIII. AWARENESS OF CONTEXT 74. The practitioner is responsible for learning about and taking into account the different protocols, conventions, and customs that can pertain to different working contexts and cultures. XIV. MAKING AND RECEIVING REFERRALS 75. All routine referrals to colleagues and other services should be discussed with the client in advance and the client’s consent obtained both to making the referral and also to disclosing information to accompany the referral. 76. Reasonable care should be taken to ensure that (a) the recipient of the referral is able to provide the required service; (b) any confidential information disclosed during the referral process will be adequately protected; and (c) the referral will be likely to benefit the client. 77. Prior to accepting a referral the practitioner should give careful consideration to the appropriateness of the referral; (b) the likelihood that the referral will be beneficial to the client; and (c) the adequacy of the client’s consent to the referral. 78. If the referring party is professionally required to retain overall responsibility for the work with the client, it is professionally appropriate that said referring party be provided with brief progress reports. Such reports should be made in consultation with clients and not normally against their explicit wishes.

XV. PROVIDING CLIENTS WITH ADEQUATE INFORMATION 79. Practitioners are responsible in clarifying in advance to the client the terms on which their services are being offered including the client’s financial obligations and/or other reasonably foreseeable costs or liabilities. 80. All information about services should be honest, accurate, devoid of unjustifiable claims, and be consistent with maintaining the professional standing of Guidance and Counseling. 81. Particular care should be taken in maintaining the integrity of presenting qualifications, accreditation, and professional standing. XVI. ACCESSIBILITY OF SERVICES 82. Practitioners make their Guidance and Counseling services accessible to all regardless of their client’s socioeconomic status or inability to pay such professional fee. In this case, no client should be turned away or refused by the practitioner for monetary reason. Foundations may be tapped via networking. 83. Practitioners render voluntary or pro bono services in the community utilizing their knowledge and expertise in their field of specialization. 84. Practitioners have the responsibility to do advocacy in Guidance and Counseling via print media, film, TV, radio, and cyber technology. XVII. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 85. Conflicts of interest are best avoided, provided they can be reasonably foreseen in the first instance and prevented from arising. In deciding how to respond to conflicts of interest, the protection of the client’s interests and maintaining trust in the practitioner should be paramount. 86. Practitioners who own any business entity must refrain from engaging in any business activity under a Guidance Organization’s name where such personal interest is highly placed.

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