Chapter 10. Issues Affecting Helping
CHAPTER REVIEW
Chapter 10 focuses on the third dimension of the human relations counseling model, the societal,
professional, and personal issues that affect human relationships. The chapter begins by
emphasizing the impact of the helper’s personal values on his/her views of self, of others, and of
the world. These values shape attitudes and beliefs and are transmitted directly or indirectly to
heterosexism, racism, classism, ethnocentrism, and ageism.
This chapter also covers personal, professional, and ethical considerations, as well as
recent trends in counseling. Particular attention is paid to the complex problems of boundary
violations and crossings, privileged communication, confidentiality and duty to warn, conflict of
interest, record keeping, testing, and misrepresentation. The increasing use of computer
MAJOR TEACHING OBJECTIVES
1. To help students appreciate diverse value systems, clarify their own values, and understand
ADDITIONAL LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. Ask students to discuss their travel experiences, domestic and abroad, and present examples
of their own ethnocentrism. Have they ever exclaimed “how weird” or “that is so strange” to
2. After completing exercises 10.1 and 10.2, ask students to consider what other issues might
3. Discuss issues of heterosexism. Discuss the impact of the media on the mainstream’s
perception and acceptance of this issue. What is the status of gay marriage in your state or
4. Have students watch two television shows this week and discuss in class any examples of
heterosexism, sexism, racism, classism, ethnocentrism, or ageism that they found. Also
5. Have students interview someone who is not part of the dominant culture and/or not part of
their own group. This might be someone who is older, a person of color, or someone who is
6. Ask students to discuss what difficulties they might have as therapists working within a
7. Discuss with students possible penalties for violation of ethical guidelines. What might be
8. Ask students to give examples of appropriate and inappropriate self-disclosure. Ask them to
9. Ask students to look for announcements about continuing education and professional
11. Ask students to discuss (and write in their journal) about how this class has had an impact on
COMMENTS ON EXERCISES IN THE BOOK
Exercises in this chapter help students become more aware of the impact of their values,
attitudes, and beliefs on the helping relationship. Students clarify their values and beliefs about
INTERNET ACTIVITIES
1. Have students look at a minimum of two ethical codes and discuss key issues raised by the
codes.
Web sites include:
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National Association for Human Service Education (NOHSE), Ethical Standards of Human
Service Professionals:
nationalhumanservices.org/ethics
American Association of Pastoral Counselors, Code of Ethics:
http://www.aapc.org/about-us/code-of-ethics/
American Psychiatric Association, The Principles of Medical Ethics With Annotations
Especially Applicable to Psychiatry:
http://www.psych.org/practice/ethics/resources-standards
National Board for Certified Counselors, Code of Ethics:
http://www.nbcc.org/ethics
2. Dr. Kenneth S. Pope has developed a web site at kspope.com, Therapy, Ethics, Malpractice,
Forensics, Critical Thinking (and a few other topics). Included on this web site are links to
3. Have students look at some of the following online ethical guidelines and articles. What are
The International Society for Mental Health Online, Suggested Principles for the Online
Provision of Mental Health Services:
BOOKS AND FILMS THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR THIS CHAPTER
1. “Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations
2. The videotape A Class Divided (Frontline) shows segments of the 1970 “brown eyes/blue
eyes” lesson in prejudice and discrimination taught by Jane Elliott and the class reunion
3. Suggest that students see the 2013 film “12 Years a Slave” and write in their journal about
4. Use popular movies such as Prince of Tides, Mumford, Mr. Jones, Antwone Fisher, A
Dangerous Method, and What about Bob? as the basis for discussing ethical issues for
5. The videotape Barriers to Cross-Cultural Counseling by Derald Wing Sue (Microtraining)
presents an in-depth lecture about multicultural counseling.
6. Ethics in Action CD-ROM, Version 1.2, Stand-Alone Version, 2nd Edition (Cengage
Learning) by Gerald Corey, Marianne Schneider Corey, and Robert Haynes presents several
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. Personal values:
2. Asking the question “Is that something you would be willing to try?” is an example of which
step of values clarification?
3. Acceptance of other people means:
4. Explicit helper value statements in a session:
5. Women today tend to:
6. The Broverman et al. study:
7. Complaints of sexual abuse by helpers:
8. All of the following are examples of sexism except:
9. Ethnocentrism refers to:
10. Reminiscing refers to:
11. Good strategies for working with the elderly include all of the following except:
12. Ethical codes are based on all of the following except:
13. Dual or multiple-role relationships:
14. Most codes of ethics currently include all of the following except:
15. Self-disclosure:
16. Self-doubt:
ESSAY QUESTIONS
3. If you have difficulty being both genuine and nonjudgmental as a helper, what are two
4. In this age of greater acceptance and understanding of gender differences, how can the
5. Taking a systems perspective, how would you combat sexism? Give three examples.
6. What would you consider the most important variables in effectively helping clients from
7. Give one example of how racist views might subtly emerge in a counseling relationship.
8. Give an example of how age discrimination exists in the human services field.