TPC_Journal Digests_Volume_2_Issue_1

A b s t r a c t This paper explores the aspects of counseling significant to rural and frontier settings. It discusses the traditional attitudes of rural and frontier populations, the counselor’s place in these communities, and ethical concerns that are significant to these areas of counseling. It also offers potential ways to address related ethical issues. T he E thical F rontier : E thical C onsiderations for F rontier C ounselors Working in small, rural and frontier communities can present counselors with challenges and experiences not often encountered in larger population centers. The geographic constraints of the area itself, the culture and behavior of the client population, and the attitudes and skills of the counselor can combine to create significant difficulties in providing ethically competent mental health care. Counselors frequently face serious ethical dilemmas as service delivery in rural and frontier communities presents them with ethical challenges distinctive to those environments. The needs and considerations of rural and frontier communities often place professional codes and guidelines in opposition to prevailing small community standards and expectations. To address these concerns, rural and frontier clinicians may find it necessary to adopt a view of professional boundaries and ethical guidelines that places more importance on community values and professional roles in the community than on rules of behavior as defined by professional organizations. This necessity on the part of counselors is intensified by the fact that mental health training, and much of the ethics literature and professional ethics codes, appear to favor urban-based mental health practices. This could potentially lead to erroneous assumptions when it comes to distinguishing between ethical and unethical practices in small community environments. It is important to understand that while there may be significant differences between the ethical considerations of urban, rural and frontier mental health Keith A. Cates Christopher Gunderson Michael A. Keim TPC Digest TPC Journal Volume 2 Issue 1