Faculty Contact Information:
Dr. Scott E. Borrelli, EdD, ABPP
Collegiate Professor of Counseling Psychology
London, England
E-mail: sborrell@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
Tel: 00 [44] 7802 290 247
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Consultation:
Students are encouraged to contact the Instructor via E-mail anytime during the term with questions about the course, about individual progress, and about any special circumstances which might make it difficult to complete assignments in a timely manner. The Instructor will respond within 24-48 hours.
This course is conducted over two terms.
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Required Texts and Readings:
Corey, G. Corey, M.S. and Callanan, P. (2003). Issues & Ethics in the Helping Professions. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Swenson, L.C. (1997) Psychology & Law for the Helping Professions. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
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Supplementary Readings:
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All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students’ research and writing skills.
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Recommended Journals:
A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the Counseling Webboard at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/graduate/webboards/
Journals relevant to this course include:
• Journal of Counseling and Development
• Journal of Counseling Psychology
• Law and Contemporary Problems
• Law and Human Behavior
• Law and Psychology Review
• Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law
• Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
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Course Description:
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This course is designed to provide the helping professional with the knowledge of the major ethical and legal issues in counseling and psychotherapy today. Students will be exposed to such topics as ethical theory, laws and court decisions, incompetence, malpractice, licensure and certification, privileged communications, DSM IV and Family Therapy, legal liabilities affecting psychologists, and legal obligations of psychotherapists. Ethical standards for individual practitioners will be examined in detail. Participants will be involved in case research, group discussions, group reports, and individual presentations of ethical and legal issues in the field of counseling and psychotherapy.
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Course Goals:
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The profession of counseling is both sanctioned and censured by aspects of the individual practitioner, the professional community, and the broader American society. The overall goal of this course is to acquaint students with moral, ethical, and legal issues that affect the practice of counseling. Such issues include individual moral development, ethical decision-making models, the ethical guidelines for professional practice of counseling described by the American Counseling Association and the American Psychological Association, the roles played by counseling experts within the American legal system, family protection laws, legal issues pertaining to regulating mental health treatment, professional licensure, and practice issues.
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Course Objectives:
To become familiar with the distinctions between moral, ethical, and legal behavior, as applied to the practice of counseling.
To acquire experience using ethical reasoning skills to apply professional ethics within case scenarios to resolve potential counseling problems.
To discuss some of the major professional activities faced by mental health professionals working within the legal system, including their potential ethical conflicts.
To become familiar with statutory and case law as it impacts the mental health practitioner.
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Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 90 - 100%
B 80 – 89%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center or online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs.
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Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
The Instructor reserves the right to make slight modifications in the syllabus to enhance the learning experience.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
Participate in classroom discussions 25%
Write graduate level papers and case studies 25%
Present prepared/researched material 25%
Complete one or more written examination(s) 25%
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Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions:
You are expected to be well prepared when engaging in all weekly class discussions, and in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class. Participation is essential for benefiting from an online class, and will be recorded according to your input into the weekly assignments within the Conference areas. The grade for participation will be determined by the quality and quantity/regularity of your participation each week, with an emphasis on the degree to which your contributions are substantive, thoughtful, and responsive to others. Late assignments will not be accepted without a legitimate excuse, as noted in the class policy section.
Write graduate level papers or case studies:
You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Students will explore a particular topic of personal and professional interest. This is a "review of the literature" paper and not a scientific research project. The course paper must be 10 pages in length, presented
in a double-spaced, typed manuscript with one-inch margins. A minimum of five sources other than the textbook must be properly cited within your paper, and at the end of the paper in a reference list, using
the current APA writing style.
Visually present prepared & researched material:
You are required to present your research in a professional manner. In a DE class, this means creating a visual/textual presentation for your Instructor and classmates. For this, students will be placed into small working teams and provided information about a case or
topic that raises issues for counseling ethics or legal issues. These cases will be described in detail in the Study Group section. Students will prepare a collaborative document that will require a review of class readings to identify the relevant issues for counselors and law as they pertain specifically to the case at hand. A good response would acknowledge the potential conflicts within or between the individual, professional, and societal levels of regulating counseling while acknowledging the historical realities that they share. The group will also provide an opinion of how the issues raised by the case or topic could be reconciled.
Complete one or more written examination(s):
The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam. Specifically, this course exam will explore each student’s ability to apply professional ethics to specific case scenarios illustrating potential ethical and/or legal problems.
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Course Schedule:
This course is conducted over two terms.
This schedule presents 16 units or modules, with each unit corresponding to a regular three-hour weekday meeting, a half-day on weekends, or a full week of DE. Each week begins on a Monday and ends on Sunday evening, and all responses must be posted as early in the week as possible to allow for greater exchange between students.
Initial meeting:
Introductions
Review of syllabus
Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements
Orientation to subject
Weeks 2-16 will cover many of the following topics,a nd will be outlined in more detail at the beginning of the course in WebTycho:
1. Introduction to regulating the profession of counseling:
Differences between moral, ethical, and legal action.
2. Moral development theory.
3. Professional codes of ethics for counselors, including a review of the
ethical guidelines of the American Counseling Association and the
American Psychological Association.
4. Ethical Decision-Making Models.
5. Applied Ethical Decision-Making I.
6. Applied Ethical Decision-Making II.
7. Overview of the American legal process, including roles played by social
scientists and mental health practitioners within the American legal
system. Paradigm differences between the legal system and the
helping professions.
8. Expert testimony and assessment issues: Risk assessment,
malingering, and competency.
9. Family protection services, child custody, and guardianship.
10. Right to refuse treatment, civil commitment and involuntary
treatment.
11. Duty to warn.
12. Professional licensure.
13. Malpractice issues.
14. Values clarification.
15. Multicultural perspectives and diversity issues.
16. Client Rights and Counselor responsibilities.
17. Client-counselor relationship: confidentiality, boundaries, and multiple relationships.
18. Professional competence, training, supervision and consultation.
19. Ethical considerations in couples and family therapy, group counseling, and community work.
20. Future directions in psychology, counseling and the law.
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Academic Policies:
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Please refer to the UMUC – Europe Graduate Catalog, available online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs/ or from your local Education Center, for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
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Faculty Bio:
Dr. Borrelli is a Collegiate Professor in Counseling Psychology with the University of Maryland. As a licensed counseling & clinical psychologist and National Certified Counselor and School Counselor (NBCC), he has worked in a variety of professional roles and with many different populations: hospitals, clinics, schools, businesses. He has additional qualifications including Board Certification in clinical and in counseling psychology (ABPP), in clinical hypnotherapy, and in psychopharmacology.
Dr. Borrelli has been a counselor educator for the past 15 years, first with Boston University, and now with the University of Maryland. His preference for an integrative and eclectic model of counselling coincides with his special interests in diversity and multi-culturalism. He lives in London, England.
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