ACA Code of Ethics Section A: The Counseling
Relationship & Client Welfare|Verified Questions
with A+ Graded Rationales Latest Updated 2026
A.1. a
Primary Responsibility
The primary responsibility of counselors
is to respect the dignity and promote
the welfare of clients.
A.1.b. Records and
Documentation
Counselors create, safeguard, and
maintain documentation necessary
for rendering professional services.
Regardless of the medium, counselors
include sufficient and timely documentation
to facilitate the delivery and
continuity of services. Counselors
take reasonable steps to ensure that
documentation accurately reflects client
progress and services provided.
If amendments are made to records
and documentation, counselors take
steps to properly note the amendments
according to agency or institutional
policies.
A.1.c. Counseling Plans
Counselors and their clients work
jointly in devising counseling plans
that offer reasonable promise of
success and are consistent with the
abilities, temperament, developmental
level, and circumstances of clients.
Counselors and clients regularly review
, and revise counseling plans to
assess their continued viability and
effectiveness, respecting clients' freedom
of choice.
A.1.d. Support Network
Involvement
Counselors recognize that support
networks hold various meanings in
the lives of clients and consider enlisting
the support, understanding,
and involvement of others (e.g., religious/
spiritual/community leaders,
family members, friends) as positive
resources, when
A.2.a. Informed Consent
Clients have the freedom to choose
whether to enter into or remain in
a counseling relationship and need
adequate information about the
counseling process and the counselor.
Counselors have an obligation to review
in writing and verbally with clients
the rights and responsibilities of
both counselors and clients. Informed
consent is an ongoing part of the
counseling process, and counselors
appropriately document discussions
of informed consent throughout the
counseling relationship.
A.2.b. Types of Information
Needed
Counselors explicitly explain to clients
the nature of all services provided.
They inform clients about issues such
as, but not limited to, the following:
Relationship & Client Welfare|Verified Questions
with A+ Graded Rationales Latest Updated 2026
A.1. a
Primary Responsibility
The primary responsibility of counselors
is to respect the dignity and promote
the welfare of clients.
A.1.b. Records and
Documentation
Counselors create, safeguard, and
maintain documentation necessary
for rendering professional services.
Regardless of the medium, counselors
include sufficient and timely documentation
to facilitate the delivery and
continuity of services. Counselors
take reasonable steps to ensure that
documentation accurately reflects client
progress and services provided.
If amendments are made to records
and documentation, counselors take
steps to properly note the amendments
according to agency or institutional
policies.
A.1.c. Counseling Plans
Counselors and their clients work
jointly in devising counseling plans
that offer reasonable promise of
success and are consistent with the
abilities, temperament, developmental
level, and circumstances of clients.
Counselors and clients regularly review
, and revise counseling plans to
assess their continued viability and
effectiveness, respecting clients' freedom
of choice.
A.1.d. Support Network
Involvement
Counselors recognize that support
networks hold various meanings in
the lives of clients and consider enlisting
the support, understanding,
and involvement of others (e.g., religious/
spiritual/community leaders,
family members, friends) as positive
resources, when
A.2.a. Informed Consent
Clients have the freedom to choose
whether to enter into or remain in
a counseling relationship and need
adequate information about the
counseling process and the counselor.
Counselors have an obligation to review
in writing and verbally with clients
the rights and responsibilities of
both counselors and clients. Informed
consent is an ongoing part of the
counseling process, and counselors
appropriately document discussions
of informed consent throughout the
counseling relationship.
A.2.b. Types of Information
Needed
Counselors explicitly explain to clients
the nature of all services provided.
They inform clients about issues such
as, but not limited to, the following:
