ACA Ethical Codes: Principles and Section-by-Section Practice Guide

The six ACA principles in practice

Use the ACA ethical codes with the ACA Code of Ethics beside these principles, then open the standard that matches the decision in front of you.

Principle	What it means in session	Practice decision
Autonomy	Respect the client’s capacity to make informed choices about goals, participation, disclosure, and services.	Identify the choice, the information or alternative the client needs, and any limit grounded in the actual situation.
Nonmaleficence	Avoid foreseeable harm, including preventable privacy exposure, incompetent care, confusing role changes, or work outside your training.	Identify the possible harm and the safeguard, consultation, pause, or referral that could reduce it.
Beneficence	Choose actions intended to support client welfare and meaningful counseling goals while staying honest about limits.	Identify the action most likely to support the client’s goals and the evidence, limitation, or alternative to explain.
Justice	Attend to fair access, nondiscrimination, power, and effects on people who may be disadvantaged by the setting or process.	Identify who could be excluded or burdened and what change within your role would make the decision more fair.
Fidelity	Keep professional commitments, maintain trust, and make limits of confidentiality, availability, roles, and services clear.	Identify what you promised or implied, what changed, and what you need to communicate or correct.
Veracity	Tell the truth and represent qualifications, services, records, fees, risks, and conclusions accurately.	Identify what the record supports, what limit you must name, and what correction is needed.

Educational guidance for US mental-health clinicians. Open the current ACA Code of Ethics and applicable law, and seek supervision or qualified consultation when the question is unresolved; this guidance is not legal advice or a licensing-board ruling.

At 6:12 p.m., a client asks for a letter by morning saying they attended every weekly session this quarter. The record shows four missed sessions. The counselor’s first move is not to search for a reassuring phrase. It is to open the current code, name the truthfulness and trust questions, and write what the record can support.

Open the ACA Code of Ethics before you make a professional ethics decision. ACA’s current ethics page says the 2014 code remains the current version while a revision is in progress. Read the complete official text, including its introductions, standards, and notes.

When you apply ACA ethical codes in practice, open the current ACA Code of Ethics, which has nine main sections, and use the section that fits the decision in front of you. Open the applicable standard before choosing an action. Your state law, licensing-board rules, court orders, employer policies, payer requirements, and informed-consent agreement may add obligations. Separate a professional ethics question from a legal question before you choose an action. An LPC whose licensing board adopts the ACA Code of Ethics still opens the current official text and the board rule rather than relying on a summary.

Start with the decision in front of you

Write the decision in one sentence before searching for a section number. Separate facts from assumptions. Then ask whether the question is ethical, legal, clinical, organizational, or more than one of these. A code can guide professional judgment without answering every operational or legal question.

A short practice record

If the decision involves immediate safety risk, a mandated report, a court order, or a question of law, use the relevant emergency, reporting, board, or legal pathway. Do not use this page as that pathway.

ACA ethical codes: six ethical principles to name the tension

Use ACA ethical codes to name the value pulling on the decision. The six principles below help you frame the tension; open the ACA standard that governs your conduct. When principles conflict, state which one leads and why, then consult the code and document the path.

Autonomy

What it means in session: Respect the client’s capacity to make informed choices about goals, participation, disclosure, and services. Explain material information in language the client can use rather than treating a signature as the whole conversation.

Practice decision: What choice is the client making, what information or alternative does the client need, and is any limit on choice grounded in the actual situation rather than your preference?

Link to the official text: Open ACA Code of Ethics section A and the current ACA ethics page before deciding.

Nonmaleficence

What it means in session: Avoid actions that create foreseeable harm, including preventable privacy exposure, incompetent care, confusing role changes, or an intervention outside your training.

Practice decision: What harm could this action create, what safeguard or consultation could reduce it, and should you pause, narrow, or refer the service?

Link to the official text: Start with A.4.a, Avoiding Harm, and C.2.a, Boundaries of Competence, when the risk comes from an intervention or service you may not be prepared to provide. Then open the full ACA Code of Ethics.

Beneficence

What it means in session: Choose actions intended to support client welfare and meaningful counseling goals, while staying honest about what you know and what the service can do.

Practice decision: What action is most likely to support this client’s stated goals, and what evidence, limitation, or alternative should you explain before proceeding?

Link to the official text: Open A.2.a, Informed Consent, alongside the client-welfare standards in section A and the complete official code.

Justice

What it means in session: Attend to fair access, non-discrimination, power, and the effects of a decision on people who may be disadvantaged by the setting or process.

Practice decision: Who could be excluded or burdened, what barrier is within your role to address, and what change would make the service or decision more fair?

Link to the official text: Open the standards on diversity, discrimination, advocacy, and professional responsibility in sections A and C of the ACA Code of Ethics.

Fidelity

What it means in session: Keep professional commitments, maintain trust, and make the limits of confidentiality, availability, roles, and services clear.

Practice decision: What did you promise or imply, what has changed, and what do you need to communicate or correct so the client can rely on an accurate professional relationship?

Link to the official text: Open the relationship and confidentiality standards that match the promise you made, including A.5, Prohibited Noncounseling Roles and Relationships, when a second role is part of the question. Use the official code, not a summary.

Veracity

What it means in session: Tell the truth and represent your qualifications, services, records, fees, risks, and conclusions accurately. Do not fill an information gap with a confident statement.

Practice decision: What can you support from the record or assessment, what limit must you name, and what correction is needed before someone relies on the statement?

Link to the official text: Open C.2.a, Boundaries of Competence, and the relevant assessment or communication standard in section E of the ACA Code of Ethics.

A filled principles example

The example shows the shape of a record, not a universal letter policy. Match the decision to the current code, the actual record, the setting, and applicable law.

ACA Code of Ethics sections and practice decisions

The ACA Code of Ethics has nine main sections. Use the section heading to find the neighborhood of the decision, then open the numbered standard rather than relying on a broad label.

Section A: The Counseling Relationship

What it means in session: Client welfare, informed consent, client records, boundaries, values, assessment and treatment relationships, and termination or referral.

Practice decision: What does this client need to understand, choose, or receive before you begin, change, continue, or end the service? Which boundary, consent, or welfare standard matches the facts?

Link to the official text: Section A in the ACA Code of Ethics.

Section B: Confidentiality and Privacy

What it means in session: Privacy, confidentiality, limits of confidentiality, records, disclosures, and the handling of information shared in counseling.

Practice decision: What information may be shared, with whom, for what purpose, and under what authority or consent? What will you explain before disclosure, and what is the minimum information needed for the purpose?

Link to the official text: Open B.2.a, Serious and Foreseeable Harm and Legal Requirements, and the other B standards that fit the facts. When HIPAA applies to the disclosure, open the relevant 45 CFR 164.508 text as a separate authority; do not assume the ethics code answers the regulation question.

A case to sort: A subpoena requests a couples-therapy record, but only one partner has consented to release. Pause the release, identify whose information is in the record, open the current B standards and applicable authority, and obtain qualified consultation before deciding what can be disclosed.

Section C: Professional Responsibility

What it means in session: Knowledge of the code, competence, professional identity, nondiscrimination, advocacy, records, technology, and accurate public or professional statements.

Practice decision: Is this action within your competence and role, accurately represented, and consistent with the client’s welfare and applicable professional responsibilities? What training, correction, consultation, or referral is needed?

Link to the official text: Section C in the ACA Code of Ethics.

Section D: Relationships With Other Professionals

What it means in session: Collaboration, consultation, referrals, and professional relationships that support client welfare.

Practice decision: Who needs to know what for the client’s care, what role does each professional hold, and how will you share information and resolve disagreement without confusing responsibility?

Link to the official text: Section D in the ACA Code of Ethics.

Section E: Evaluation, Assessment, and Interpretation

What it means in session: Assessment competence, informed consent, appropriate tools, interpretation, diagnosis, cultural considerations, and communication of results.

Practice decision: What question is the assessment meant to answer, what information supports the interpretation, and what limits or cultural and contextual factors must you state?

Link to the official text: Section E in the ACA Code of Ethics.

Section F: Supervision, Training, and Teaching

What it means in session: Supervision, counselor education, informed consent in training, evaluation, gatekeeping, and responsibilities created by the power difference.

Practice decision: What does the supervisee or student need to know about the role, feedback, evaluation, confidentiality, and escalation path before the work proceeds?

Link to the official text: Open F.1.a, Client Welfare, and the supervision and evaluation standards that match the role in the ACA Code of Ethics.

A case to sort: A supervisee discloses a boundary crossing during the semester. Protect the client first, name the supervisee’s role and evaluation implications, document the supervision response, and consult the standards before choosing a reporting or remediation path.

Section G: Research and Publication

What it means in session: Research responsibilities, informed consent, participant welfare, privacy, data, reporting, and publication credit.

Practice decision: What review, consent, privacy, authorship, and data-handling steps apply before you collect, use, analyze, present, or publish information?

Link to the official text: Section G in the ACA Code of Ethics.

Section H: Distance Counseling, Technology, and Social Media

What it means in session: Technology-assisted counseling, competence, informed consent, privacy, security, social media boundaries, and contingency planning.

Practice decision: Is the technology appropriate for this service and client, and have you explained location, privacy risks, connection failure, emergency planning, records, and alternatives?

Link to the official text: Open H.1.a, Knowledge and Competency, and H.2.a, Informed Consent and Disclosure, in the ACA Code of Ethics. The parent heading H.1 is Knowledge and Legal Considerations.

A case to sort: A client says they will travel out of state during a telehealth course of care. Pause the next session until you verify the location, explain the technology and emergency plan, and check the applicable professional and legal authorities. Do not infer that a familiar platform makes the arrangement permissible.

Section I: Resolving Ethical Issues

What it means in session: Ethical decision making, consultation, informal resolution, reporting, cooperation, and the steps for responding to possible violations.

Practice decision: What standard did you open, what remains unclear, who can provide appropriate consultation, and what responsible step protects clients while you resolve the question?

Link to the official text: Section I in the ACA Code of Ethics. For a separate seven-step worksheet, use the ACA ethical decision-making model.

Put the code beside your next decision

Use the code as a prompt for action, not as a label that ends the decision. A useful note has four parts:

1. Facts. What happened, who is affected, and what do you know rather than assume?
2. Authority. Which ACA standard, law, regulation, agreement, or policy did you open?
3. Action. What will you do, what will you communicate, and what will you document?
4. Review. What could change, who will you consult, and when will you revisit the decision?

If the code and a law, court order, or organizational mandate appear to conflict, open each source and seek qualified consultation. Do not infer a state-law conclusion from this page. The therapy practice compliance guides are the wider map. Use the MFT code of ethics checklist or NASW code of ethics checklist when a different professional code governs the role.

Download the consent and ethics decision pack

The consent and ethics decision pack gives you printable decision cards for consent, boundaries, and ethical questions. Use it beside the current ACA Code of Ethics, not instead of the code.

If you want the action and review date beside the next-session brief, keep the note in Emosapien. The tool can hold the record; your ethical and legal judgment remains yours.

References

• American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA code of ethics.
• American Counseling Association. (n.d.). Counseling ethics and ACA Code of Ethics resources.
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. (n.d.). 45 C.F.R. § 164.508: Uses and disclosures for which an authorization is required.