BSU Graduate Students Score at American Counseling Association Meeting

Team Places Second Nationally in Ethics Competition

 

MEDIA CONTACT: David Thompson, dlthompson@bowiestate.edu, 301-860-4311

(BOWIE, Md.) – Imagine you’re a professional counselor. A client, Stephen, admits over the several months you’ve been working with him that he’s HIV-positive, has a criminal history and substance use issues. He told you he’s having sex with someone and he hasn’t shared his HIV status with her. He recently admits that before he was sober, he broke into several houses to get money for drugs. An owner unexpectedly walked in on Stephen, who attacked the homeowner, putting him in a coma in the hospital. Stephen escaped. 

Things become difficult from an ethics perspective because as a counselor, you have had alcohol addiction problems in the past.  How can you be sure your issues aren’t entangled with Stephen’s, thereby jeopardizing your ability to make appropriate ethical decisions?

BSU graduate students Carolyn Thorpe, Rachel Wagner and Nala Lovett, under the guidance of Dr. Kimberly Mills, BSU Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and team advisor and cheerleader, used what they have learned at BSU to come to team-based ethical resolutions and won second place in the National 2022 Graduate Student Ethics Awards for Master’s Degree Students.

The aim of the competition is to “recognize exceptional, demonstrable understanding of the ACA Code of Ethics, the foundation of ethical professional counseling practice.” Read more about the ACA competition. Making ethical decisions has an academic foundation. There are several ethical decision-making models, and students used them to guide their work.

The winning submission addressed several issues, including Stephen not revealing his HIV status to his sexual partner and the crime he committed, as well as the counselor’s substance abuse and its impact on the therapeutic relationship.

Dr. Mills says ethics is one of her favorite classes to teach at BSU. This was the first time she and her student team entered the ACA competition. She selected the three students because of their performance and academic ability to resolve ethical cases.

“When we got the congratulation note there was a personal note in there saying they were glad that an HBCU participated this year,” said Dr. Mills. “The significance of the competition is this is what they’ll be doing as professional counselors.  The students will definitely be working with clients who will present ethical issues that they’ll have to be able to resolve.  The case outlined above dealt with issues of confidentiality, privacy, duty to warn, all things students will need to know how to do.”

Rachel Wagner will receive her master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling this May. She has a job lined up with Mettle Works in Upper Marlboro, MD, which provides counseling services to citizens who have been incarcerated and released. She hopes to pursue her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Her career focus is on research, assessment and program development within the incarcerated population, including juveniles, sex offenders and murderers.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with my team,” said Wagner of the ACA competition.

“I got a more in depth look into the laws and ethics of Maryland and in counseling. Overall, this win has been rewarding both professionally and personally.”

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