Ethical and Legal Challenges in Professional Practice Essay Example for Free

Ethical and Legal Challenges in Professional Practice Essay The American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics is available to clarify the ethical responsibilities for professional counselors and future professional counselors. According to the ACA (2005), â€Å"the code serves as an ethical guide designed to assist members in constructing a professional course of action that best serves those utilizing counseling services and best promotes the values of the counseling profession.† As a graduate student striving to achieve a Master’s Degree in Counseling, it is crucial, not only to know and understand the ACA Code of Ethics, but also to understand any challenges that I may have in upholding them as well as ways to address these challenges effectively. In this paper I examine a section of the ACA Code of Ethics that I find personally challenging, risk management strategies used to resolve this potential ethical conflict, and a section of the ACA Code of Ethics that will not present a challenge. Personally Challenging Ethics Code According to the ACA Code of Ethics (2005), section C.2.g Impairment, counselors are alert to the signs of impairment from their own physical, mental, or emotional problems and refrain from offering or providing professional services when such impairment is likely to harm a client or others. The ACA Code of Ethics (2005) section C.2.g Impairment also states that counselors seek assistance for problems that reach the level of professional impairment, and, if necessary, they limit, suspend, or terminate their professional responsibilities until such time it is determined that they may safely resume their work. Personal Relevant History In 2005, during my senior year of undergraduate school at The University of  Arizona, I was on the fast track to law school. I was on a full scholarship, earning a 4.0 grade point average, a resident assistant for the dorms, and a member of a co-ed pre-law fraternity. I had just completed my internship working for senator John McCain and had finished the scary LSAT. This is what my friends and family saw. In the background, I was struggling. During the weekends I was â€Å"hosting† parties, or rather people would just show up and throw their own parties at my residence. I was struggling to get out of bed in the morning and often came back home to take naps and miss my next few classes of the day. My grades were slipping and so was my ambition. I took it upon myself to see a psychiatrist and was prescribed anti-depressants. This medication changed my life for the worst. I did not even notice that things were spinning out of control as I maxed out my credit cards (I would just get new cards later) and making impulsive and risky decisions. I was losing sleep as I was either out socializing or home cleaning like a madwoman, and often had bouts of irritability. My boyfriend at the time (my current husband) called my parents and asked that I come home to Phoenix and receive help. So I had a medical withdrawal from school, returned home, and was provided with psychiatric help. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and informed that by taking antidepressants I was experiencing a manic episode. As stated by Griswold and Pessar (2000, p. 1347) while referring to bipolar disorder, â€Å"the use of tricyclic antidepressants should be avoided because of the possibility of inducing rapid cycling of symptoms.† So with a new diagnosis the process of trial and error with psychotropic and mood stabilizing medications and their unavoidable side effects began. Once I was on a stable medication and dosage, I felt like myself again. I got a job at a residential treatment center to work with adolescents that have mood disorders and had gotten into trouble with the law. I found my passion. It was a few years before I could return to school with a purpose. I was graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Family Studies and Human Development in May 2011 and the future goal of becoming a therapist. Future Considerations and Risk Management  Strategies I believe that under the Impairment ethics code, mood disorders are considered a mental or emotional problem that may impair the counselor affecting the way in which a counselor provides treatment to clients. Bipolar disorder does not disappear once one takes the necessary medication. â€Å"Medication alone is often inadequate to restore and maintain physical health and quality of life† (Rheineck Steinkuller, 2009, p. 339). Rheineck and Steinkuller (2009) recommend that those with bipolar disorder participate in therapy in conjunction with taking their effective medication. It would be myopic of me to assume that bipolar disorder will never affect me as a therapist. If I am not aware of my moods while I am having either a depressive or manic episode I may become irritable with or place my own perceptions onto a client. Ethically, to manage the risks involved with being a therapist who has bipolar disorder, I need to do more than take medication and participate in therapy. According to Biegel, Brown, Shapiro (2007), a therapist should practice self-care, including self-awareness and self-regulation or coping. I think that when I am practicing, it will be self-awareness that will assist me most in terms of risk management. As an unbiased observation of my inner experience and behavior, self-awareness could also serve as an alarm to signal that I need to take appropriate actions whether to notify my supervisor, limit, or suspend my professional responsibilities. When referring to self-awareness Corey, Corey, Callanan (2008, p. 44) state that without it â€Å"mental health professionals are likely to obstruct the progress of their clients as the focus of therapy shifts from meeting the client’s needs to meeting the needs of the therapist.† To assist with my self-awareness, I plan to utilize mindfulness. Mindfulness, as defined by Campbell and Christopher (2012, p. 215), â€Å"refers to a state of being aware, with acceptance, of thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they arise.† I currently practice various mindfulness exercises in therapy to assist with my mood disorder and coping strategies. To be a positive and healthy professional counselor I will continue with mindfulness exercises throughout my career and my life. I plan on practicing this daily, on my own time, so that I will be able to recognize when I am having moods or episodes that need to be addressed.  Mindfulness will be additionally useful, as â€Å"counselors need to be immediately cognizant of signs of stress and burnout and address these immediately to practice counseling ethically† (Bradley, Brogan, Brogan, Hendricks, 2009, p. 358). By being mindful and self-aware I will be able to identify the symptoms of stress and burnout as well as any number of potentially harmful feelings. Ethics Code that Does Not Present a Challenge According to the ACA Code of Ethics (2005), section C.2.f Continuing Education, counselors recognize the need for continuing education to acquire and maintain a reasonable level of awareness of current scientific and professional information in their fields of activity. The ACA Code of Ethics (2005) section C.2.f Continuing Education also states that counselors take steps to maintain competence in the skills they use, are open to new procedures, and keep current with the diverse populations and specific populations with whom they work. Personal Relevant History In my experience while working in behavioral health, training always has been emphasized and mandated yearly. During the four years that I spent working at a residential treatment center, I had accumulated more than 500 hours of training. While working at a group home for a year, I had gone through more than100 hours of training. In the past year while working as a youth and family specialist I have completed an additional 60 hours of training. Although I found many of the training sessions over the years to be fairly repetitive, there were also several trainings providing completely new knowledge to me and therefore effective to assisting me while working with clients. Examples of recent effective trainings include crisis prevention intervention, compassion fatigue, cognitive behavioral therapy for children and adults, and behavioral health documentation. Future Considerations According to the ACA Code of Ethics (2005), Preamble, inherently held values that guide our behaviors or exceed prescribed behaviors are deeply ingrained in the counselor and developed out of personal dedication, rather than the mandatory requirement of an external organization.† To me this statement means that as a professional counselor I will further my education  and knowledge of skills because I want to and not because an agency I work at mandates it. I do not believe that when one finishes school, they have completed learning, especially if they work in behavioral health. There are always new diagnoses, methods, and forms of treatment coming out that I want to be learn to better meet the needs of my future clients. In a mail-in survey study of 1000 licensed professional counselors conducted in 2009 pertaining to counseling grief stricken clients, Granello, Ober, Wheaton (2012) found that the majority of the participants stated they were unprepared when it came to speci fic skills and lacked knowledge to address those with grief. â€Å"Counselors who received training rated themselves as more competent than those who did not, with more training related to higher levels of self-perceived competence† (Granello et al., 2012, p. 158). Another study conducted by Jameson, Poulton, and Stadter (2007), involved 38 therapists and evaluated the effect of a two-year continuing education program on their knowledge, skills, and application. â€Å"The majority (74%) felt the training helped them think clearly and specifically, both about assessment issues and specific interventions† (Jemeson et al., 2007, p. 113). It is clear when reading these findings that further training can only help a professional to work with more specific needs of their clientele. Although all agencies have mandatory trainings, I have observed that there are hundreds of additional trainings offered yearly for any counselors who want to attend voluntarily. I plan to be a counselor who takes the opportunities offered to further educate myself, in order to improve myself and to provide my clients with a better and more knowledgeable version of me. Conclusion In summation, I have examined a potentially personally challenging section of the ACA Code of Ethics, risk management strategies that I plan to utilize, and a section of the ACA Code of Ethics that aligns with my personal beliefs. Examining my personal experiences and traits that may conflict with the ACA Code of Ethics, I am better preparing myself to prevent any effects they may have had toward my future clients. It is important to me that I continue to learn and apply the knowledge I gain in graduate school and additional educational settings to improve myself as a person and as a professional counselor. References American Counseling Association (2005). ACA Code of Ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author. Biegel, G.M., Brown, K.W., Shapiro, S.L. (2007). Teaching self-care to caregivers: Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on the mental health of therapists in training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 1(2), 105-115. Bradley, L.J., Brogan, W.C., Brogan, C., Hendricks, B. (2009). Shelly: a case study focusing on ethics and counselor wellness. Family Journal, 17(4), 355-359. Campbell, J.C., Christopher, J.C. (2012). Teaching mindfulness to create effective counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 34(3), 213-226. Corey, G., Corey, M.S., Callanan, P. (2008). Issues and ethics in the helping professions ( 8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Granello, D.H., Ober, A.M., Wheaton, J.E. (2012). Grief counseling: an investigation of counselor’ training, experience, and competencies. Journal of Counseling and Development, 90(2), 150-159. Griswold, K.S., Pessar, L.F. (2000). Management of bipolar disorder. American Family Physician, 62(6), 1343-1353. Jameson, P., Poulton, J., Stadter, M. (2007). Sustained and sustaining continuing education for therapists. Psychotherapy, 44(1), 110-114. Rheineck, J.E., Steinkuller, A. (2009). A review of evidence-based therapeutic interventions of bipolar disorder. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 31(4), 338-350.

No Death Penalty For Minors :: No Death Penalty for Juveniles

The Death Penalty is the execution of criminals for committing crimes regarded so bad that this is the only acceptable punishment. It establishes order in society by putting the fear of death in to would be killers. Although this works for the most part, one has to wonder if a child who commits murder thinks about the fact that it can lead to a death sentence. Studies by the Harvard Medical School, the National Institute of Mental Health and the UCLA’s Department of Neuroscience found that the frontal and pre-frontal lobes of the brain, which regulate impulse control and judgment, are not fully developed in adolescents. Development is not completed until somewhere between 18 and 22 years of age. In addition to this information, South Dakota is currently one of 16 states in the country that allows this practice. Based on the previous information, it is very clear that children especially those under 14 years of age, cannot and do not function as an adult. They have a greater tendency to act on impulse, making unsound judgments or reasoning, and are less aware of the consequences of their actions. In America, teenagers under the age of 18 cannot drink, vote, or sit on a jury, yet they can be sentenced to death if convicted of a crime. What these children need is rehabilitation, guidance and most importantly given a second change to mend what they did as impulsive children. On the other hand, family victims often call for the death penalty because their sibling/child had no right to die in the hands of a murderer. Since this person took their life, the family should have the right to lawfully take the murder’s life. Life in prison is not always enough for them because they have an opportunity to leave on parole, and the thought of these murderous monsters being released into society again horrifies these families, thus they call for execution. However, many states recognize that minors, especially children, are at a confusing impressionable, chaotic age of transition. If a teen commits a murder, that youth should be given the opportunity to set his or her life straight. Juveniles still have a lot of growing up to do. It may mean many years in prison and loss of their freedom, but it would also mean that there is at least a chance for a young life to reform.

Haymarket Riot

As result of the Industrial Revolution, people in America earned more money, most of which they used to open new businesses and factories. There were now many different types of machines to do the work that people had to do themselves in the past. Thus, machines rapidly replaced people. Now with less people working and getting paid, there were people that could afford what these factories were making. Most of the people working in the United States at this time were immigrants, so they were forced to work for very low wages. A working adult would be considered lucky to bring home a daily income of only $2. 00. Kids on the other hand, only made about 70 cents a day for spending their entire childhood sorting through coal or performing other strenuous jobs. Most people worked between ten and fourteen hours each day with peanuts for income. As result, Chicago Illinois, as well as many other cities in the United States, fell into poverty. However, not all employees at this time were cruel and blackhearted. Most at the time though just wanted to get the most out of their employees for the least amount of pay. Soon the Labor Union movement started. People in this union wanted to ban child labor, increase pay, and to create shorter workdays. Conflict after conflict broke out spawning from the Labor Union; many of which the police were brought in to settle. By 1886, the major concern of the Labor Union was to establish an eight-hour workday. By now there were several unions, all of which could not agree with one another on how to fight for this rightfully deserved demand. Finally, the Knights of Labor, who originated in Chicago, organized a nation wide strike. However, the newspapers, business leaders, and politicians didn t agree with these actions. They said, the new eight-hour workday would promote loafing, gambling, rioting, debauchery and drunkenness (Simon). Knowing that they would be fired, workers still stood up for what they believed in and followed through with the strike. On May1, 1886, the strike stared. More than 300,000 workers went on strike in nine different cities across the vast nation. One of these cities was Boston. However, only a few employers nation wide granted their employees the shorter workday. As result, the next two months were filled with the police, the strikers, and the scabs. Scabs were people who refused to go on strike with the rest of their coworkers. They acquired this name from the angry strikers. On May 3, 1886, more than 500 strikers met up with some scabs as they were leaving a plant in Chicago. The agitated mob blasted the scabs with sticks, rocks, and just about anything they could possible get their hands on. This continued until police arrived and eventually broke up the fight. August Spies then proceeded to organize a protest meeting in Haymarket Square. The strikers were told to be armed in case the police resorted to violence on them. The following day when Spies came to the meeting he spoke in front of about 1,200 people. Albert Parsons, along with Spies and other speakers, spoke of the McCormick riot, and the rights and the responsibilities of the American worker. Then as it began to rain, people slowly began to leave and head home. One of the many to leave was the mayor of the city, Charter H. Harrison. On the way home he stopped off at the police station to tell the officers on stand-by that they could go home because the protest was peaceful. About ten minutes later, two undercover agents came to the police station and said that there were some offensive things being said at the protest, and that the officers should go break it up. When the police arrived at Haymarket Square, some words as well as actions were shared between the strikers and the police. Before long, a bomb was anonymously thrown into the crowd of police. This was the first time a bomb like this was used in the United States. Quickly responding to the bomb, the police officers began to fire into the crowd of strikers and all hell broke loose. As result of the bomb, one police officer was killed instantly, and six others died within the next two weeks because of serious wounds. The following day the newspapers were loaded with headlines which accused Spies, Parsons, and Fielden of releasing this deadly bomb into the crowd. Some newspapers even said that the Haymarket riot, anarchists, and socialists were the reason for other disturbances around the country. They said that punishments should be dealt to Spies, Parsons and Fielden, because people of the United States were accusing them of murder. However, one newspaper reported that if the police hadn t raided the protest, there wouldn t have been a bomb thrown, because there wouldn t have been anything to spark the argument. Another newspaper, the Labor Enquirer, wrote in one of it s articles, twice as many honest men were murdered in coal mines as have been killed in Chicago, and there isn t any noise at all about it (americanhistory. com). Still other papers wrote that is working and living conditions were better, then none of this probably would have happened. Captain Michael J. Shaak was so outraged by the Haymarket riot that he arrested hundreds of people who attended the protest that day, or even the people who were suspected of being there. While making all these arrests, the captain discovered secret societies and bombs, on top of many other conspiracies. Without warrants, he continued his investigation by breaking into houses. Then he proceeded to beat and bribe people into saying that they were witnesses to what went on in the Haymarket Square. However, out of all these hundreds of people who were arrested, only eight people were brought to an actual trial. These eight people were August Spies, Albert Parsons, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fisher, Michael Schwabb, Louis Lingg, Oscar Neebee, and George Engel. Horribly enough, only three out of these eight men were actually at Haymarket square when the riot broke out. On June 21, 1886, the trial for these eight men began. The defendants were said to be the underdogs because the jury was hand-picked by Judge Joseph E. Gary, who desperately wanted these men to be convicted of murder. Many people considered the defendants guilty, and these people wanted the men to face the same punishment as the people who lost their lives in the riot. In other words, they were wanted dead. Before the trial started, Judge Joseph E. Gary was quoted saying, those fellows are going to be hanged as certain as death (Encarta 99). The main attack by the defense during the trial was that the jury was prejudice. However, the judge simply overruled all these attempts made by the defense, and the unfair trial proceeded. During the trial, the state s attorney was allowed to ask whatever he wanted to. Also, the defense was not allowed to cross-examine the witnesses, who were mostly police men or false witnesses, in order to convict the men of the crime. As the trial proceeded, the police repedily showed bombs and referred to the men as anarchists. Even though there was no evidence to prove that the defendants knew anything about the bomb or who threw it, they were eventually convicted of murder. On the morning of August 20, the jury entered the courtroom with their verdict. Seven out of the eight men on trial were sentenced to death. Oscar Neebee was the only one who was sentenced to jail time. He received a whopping fifteen years in jail for a crime he did not even commit. However, he was the only one out of the eight men who was allowed to live. Some newspapers reported that these men were on trial only because of their political views. However, most people did not care to agree with these statements and controversy continues to brew. When the verdict was announced that dreadful morning, people outside the courtroom lit up with excitement and joy. Some were so happy that they were willing to award the jury with a cash bonus just for convicting the defendants. The only people that were sad over the verdict were the families of the defense, the lawyers, and of course the defendants themselves. The press then went on to say that the only bad thing about the whole trial was that the defendants were not able to appeal seeing as how they were sentenced to death. Appeal to the verdict was exactly what the defendants lawyers did. On March 13, 1887, six judges from the Illinois Supreme Court met in Ottawa to listen to the appeal. When the judges were done reviewing the case they admitted that it was a very unfair trial. However, they failed to do anything about it. The defense attorney, Mr. Black, then tried for an appeal at U. S. court headquarters, but they refused to even look at the case. Finally the defense went to their last resort, the governor of Illinois, to ask for a pardon. It was great timing by the defense because the public was beginning to feel sorry for the seven doomed men. Some people wrote to the governor stating that the only thing these men were guilty of was their opinion. Finally the governor decided to hold a hearing for these men. That day was filled with a lot of appeals and arguments. On November 11, 1887, the governor announced that there would be no pardon. However, now only four out of the eight men would be executed. It would have been five but Louis Lingg was found earlier that morning with half his head blown off. It was ruled a suicide. Michael Shwab and Samuel Fielden got their death sentences lessened to life in prison. So now Parsons, Spies, Fisher, and Engel would be put to death. Amazingly they accepted this sentence without any outrage or resistance. That same day, the four remaining men walked to their deathsite. As they were being prepared to be hanged, Spies bellowed out his last words which were, There will come a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today! Immediately after Parsons let out his final words, Will I be allowed to speak for men of America? Let the voice of the people be heard! But before they could all finish they were hanged. Their funeral was held at Waldheim Cemetery, and was attended by more than fifteen thousand people. Eventually what these courageous men fought for was granted. The eight men hour workday was established, and these eight men became known as heroes. After these men were killed, the governor of Illinois, John P. Altged, reviewed the case and issued a pardon for all eight men that were tried. He discovered that the jurors were unfair, what the judge did was illegal, and ultimately that all eight men were innocent. As result, the three men in jail, Feilden, Schwab, and Neebee, were all released from jail and acquitted of all charges. Still to this day, it is unknown who threw the bomb in Haymarket Square, and killed the policemen. We will probably never know who the actual bomber really was. However, there is now an international workers holiday on May 1, dedicated to what went down that day in Haymarket Square, which has now became known as the Haymarket Riot.

What Is the Romanesque Revival House Style

During the 1870s, Louisiana-born Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) captured the American imagination with rugged, forceful buildings. After studying at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Richardson took on the American northeast, influencing the architectural styles in major cities, like in Pittsburgh with the Allegheny County Courthouse and in Boston with the iconic Trinity Church. These buildings were called Romanesque because they had wide, rounded arches like buildings in ancient Rome. H. H. Richardson became so famous for his Romanesque designs that the style is often called Richardsonian Romanesque instead of Romanesque Revival, an architecture that flourished in America from 1880 until 1900. Why Romanesque Revival? Buildings of the 19th century are often mistakenly called simply Romanesque. This is inaccurate. Romanesque architecture describes a type of building from the early Medieval period, the era from about 800 to 1200 AD. The rounded arches and the massive walls—influences from the Roman Empire—are characteristic of the Romanesque architecture of that period. They are also characteristic of architecture built in the late 1800s. When architectural details of the past are used by a future generation, its said that the style has become revived. In the late 1800s, the Romanesque style of architecture was being imitated or revived, which is why its called Romanesque Revival.  Architect H.H. Richardson led the way, and his style ideas were often imitated. Romanesque Revival Features: Constructed of rough-faced (rusticated), square stonesRound towers with cone-shaped roofsColumns and pilasters with spirals and leaf designsLow, broad Roman arches over arcades and doorwaysPatterned masonry arches over windowsMultiple stories and complicated roofing systemsMedieval details such as stained glass, characteristic of Gothic architecture Why in Post-Civil War America? After the 1857 Depression and after the 1865 surrender at Appomattox Court House,  the United States entered a period of great economic growth and industrial invention. Architectural historian Leland M. Roth calls this era the Age of Enterprise. What distinguishes the period from 1865 to 1885, in particular, is the boundless energy that pervaded all aspects of American culture, writes Roth. The general enthusiasm and the attitude that change was possible, desirable, and imminent were genuinely invigorating. The heavy Romanesque Revival style was especially suited for grand public buildings. Most people could not afford to build private houses with Roman arches and massive stone walls. However, during the 1880s, a few wealthy industrialists embraced the Romanesque Revival to build elaborate and often fanciful Gilded Age mansions. During this time, elaborate Queen Anne architecture was at the height of fashion. Also, the rambling Shingle Style became a popular choice for vacation homes, especially along the northeast coast of the USA. Not surprisingly, Romanesque Revival homes often have Queen Anne and Shingle Style details. About the Cupples House, 1890: Pennsylvania-born Samuel Cupples (1831-1921) started out selling wooden utensils, but he made his fortune in warehousing. Settling in St. Louis, Missouri, Cupples expanded his own woodenware business and then formed a partnership to build distribution centers near the Mississippi River and the railroad crossroads. By the time his own home was finished in 1890, Cupples had amassed millions of dollars.   St. Louis architect Thomas B. Annan (1839-1904) designed the three-story home with 42 rooms and 22 fireplaces. Cupples sent Annan to England to get a firsthand look at the Arts and Crafts movement, especially the detailing of William Morris, which are incorporated throughout the mansion. Cupples himself is said to have chosen the Romanesque Revival architectural style, the eras popular expression of a mans wealth and stature in an increasingly capitalistic United States—and before the codification of the federal income tax laws. Source: A Concise History of American Architecture by Leland M. Roth, 1979, p. 126 A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester, 1984 American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home by Lester Walker, 1998 American House Styles: A Concise Guide by John Milnes Baker, AIA, Norton, 1994 Urban castles for Gilded-Age Barons, Old-House Journal at www.oldhousejournal.com/magazine/2002/november/roman_revival.shtml