CADC Professional & Ethical Responsibilities 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client discloses that they are actively planning to harm a specific person. What is the counselor's primary obligation?
- Maintain confidentiality and document the threat
- Warn the intended victim and notify appropriate authorities (Correct answer)
- Refer the client to a psychiatrist only
- Terminate services immediately without further action
Correct answer: Warn the intended victim and notify appropriate authorities
The duty to warn (Tarasoff principle) requires counselors to protect identifiable third parties from credible threats of serious harm.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes the concept of 'scope of practice' for a CADC counselor?
- The geographic area in which a counselor may legally work
- The specific competencies and services a counselor is credentialed and trained to provide (Correct answer)
- The number of clients a counselor may serve simultaneously
- The types of substances a counselor is trained to address
Correct answer: The specific competencies and services a counselor is credentialed and trained to provide
Scope of practice defines the boundaries of professional competence based on education, training, and credentialing.
Question 3: A CADC counselor is approached by a former client who wants to become a personal friend six months after treatment ended. What is the most ethical response?
- Accept the friendship immediately since treatment has ended
- Evaluate carefully, as post-termination relationships carry ongoing ethical risks (Correct answer)
- Report the former client to the licensing board
- Refer the former client back to treatment before any contact
Correct answer: Evaluate carefully, as post-termination relationships carry ongoing ethical risks
Post-termination relationships require careful ethical scrutiny because the power differential and potential for harm may persist beyond formal treatment.
Question 4: Which action demonstrates appropriate professional self-care for a substance use counselor experiencing vicarious trauma?
- Working extra hours to keep busy and distracted
- Seeking personal supervision, consultation, or therapy (Correct answer)
- Avoiding discussion of difficult cases entirely
- Transferring all high-acuity clients to colleagues
Correct answer: Seeking personal supervision, consultation, or therapy
Supervision, peer consultation, and personal therapy are recognized strategies for managing vicarious trauma and maintaining counselor wellness.
Question 5: When a counselor suspects a colleague is practicing while impaired by alcohol, the most appropriate initial step is to:
- Confront the client about the issue on the colleague's behalf
- Report directly to the media to protect public safety
- Address the concern through appropriate internal or professional channels (Correct answer)
- Ignore the situation unless a client formally complains
Correct answer: Address the concern through appropriate internal or professional channels
Ethical codes require counselors to take action when colleagues are impaired, typically starting with supervisory or peer assistance channels.
Question 6: Cultural competence in substance use counseling primarily requires the counselor to:
- Treat all clients identically regardless of background
- Adapt approaches to respect and incorporate each client's cultural context (Correct answer)
- Only serve clients from the counselor's own cultural background
- Refer all culturally diverse clients to specialized agencies
Correct answer: Adapt approaches to respect and incorporate each client's cultural context
Cultural competence means recognizing, respecting, and integrating cultural factors into assessment and treatment planning.
Question 7: A client requests copies of their own treatment records. Under HIPAA, the counselor should:
- Deny the request to protect the client from potentially harmful information
- Provide access to the records as required, within allowable timeframes (Correct answer)
- Only release records to family members, not the client
- Destroy the records before they can be accessed
Correct answer: Provide access to the records as required, within allowable timeframes
HIPAA grants clients the right to access their own health records, and providers must respond within specified timeframes.
CADC Professional & Ethical Responsibilities 2
A client discloses that they are actively planning to harm a specific person.
What is the counselor's primary obligation?