Faculty Contact Information:
Thomas Sommerfield, Ph.D.
Assistant Collegiate Professor
Counseling Psychology/Guidance & Counseling
E-mail: tsommerfield@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
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Consultation:
| All class related issues should be addressed using WebTycho whenever possible as other students may have similar questions. Students are encouraged to contact the Instructor via E-mail anytime during the course with questions about individual progress, personal issues, 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. | |
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. | |
Supplementary Readings:
| 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. | |
Recommended Journals:
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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. | |
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. | |
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%
B 80 – 89%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%
GRADES AND GRADING: Students who wish to excel in this course must give evidence of critical thinking, and demonstrate an ability to thoughtfully compose and carry out the written assignments. Students should interact with their fellow students in WebTycho Topic Areas. Diversity of opinion is encouraged; it will serve our learning if we respect each other, and the values and opinions of each of us. If we cultivate an atmosphere in which we can challenge each other and ourselves supportively, we all learn and grow!
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade "F" is used to designate academic failure. "FN" 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.................45%
Graduate level paper.................................25%
Report on film with unethical health professional....15%
Complete written examination.........................15%
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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 be noted and will substantially affect your participation points.
Write graduate level paper:
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 dealing with ethical/legal issues within our profession. (Requested and approved by me via my personal email.) This is a "review of the literature" paper and not a scientific research project. The course paper must be 10 pages in length (not including cover sheet, abstract, or reference page), using the current APA writing style. A minimum of three sources other than the textbook must be properly cited within your paper.
Film with unethical health professional:
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 choose a film (requested and approved through me via email) where there is clearly a mental health professional doing unethical or illegal practices. These cases will be described in detail in an assignment posted later in the conferences section. A good report would acknowledge the potential conflicts within or between the individual, professional, and societal levels of the counseling practices in the film while sharing the possible proper approaches to counseling instead. In other words, you will discuss your case as if you should be supervising the professional in the film who is unethical or unlawful. State clearly what she/he is doing unethically/unlawfully with the historical background to support it. Then give the possible guidance to correct the situation.
Complete one or more written examination(s):
The examination process in this class will be used as an extension of learning. An exam is a learning tool that should assist you in discovering and retaining more information. It is not meant to complicate your life but to add interest to the material. The exam will consist of multiple choice and short-answer.
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Course Schedule:
This course is conducted over two terms.
This schedule presents 15 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.
Course dates: 29 August – 18 December 2005.
(Between terms break: 17 -23 October 2005)
Total weeks: 15
Week one will include:
Introductions
Review of syllabus
Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements
Orientation to subject
Discussion questions
The remaining weeks (2-15) will cover many of the following topics and will be outlined in more detail at the beginning of each week in the conference area:
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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Note: Any written assignment in this course may be submitted to TurnItIn.Com. This statement constitutes prior notice.
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
Dr. Tom Sommerfield earned his A.A. in General Studies, a B.S. in Psychology, and a M.Ed. in Counseling & Personnel Services all through University of Maryland programs. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology with a specialization in Family Psychology with Capella University. His primary interests are with children, parenting styles, divorce issues, and children’s exposure to media and/or domestic violence.
Dr. Sommerfield has lived in the Heidelberg, Germany area for about 17 years since leaving high school and joining the U.S. Army. After four successful years as a soldier working in the Heidelberg military department of psychiatry, he has been working as a "civilian" in the Heidelberg military community since 1990. He is married and has a beautiful little family. His son Jerome Thomas is five and his daughter Sydney Joy is four.
When not working, he has "another side of life" while drumming in a very successful music project in the Heidelberg/Karlsruhe area. If interested in surprising him at a show, please visit their site to check the "termine" or schedule at: www.sammy-goes-nuts.de
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