The Ethical Practice of Counseling in Asia: An Introduction to the Special Issue of Asian Journal of Counselling

Counseling is a professional practice. As such, ethical standards have been delineated to describe the best practices of professionals and to ensure high quality of practice (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2003). In countries where counseling has existed as a formal profession for some time, such as the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom, codes of ethics have been developed and periodically revised to guide ethical decision-making and regulate counselor behaviors. In the U.S., for example, codes of ethics have been established for the respective counseling professions, including counseling/clinical/school psychology (American Psychological Association, 2002), marriage and family therapy (American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy, 2001), school counseling (American School Counselor Association, 1998) and mental health counseling (American Mental Health Counselors Association, 2000), and social work (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). Codes of ethics are often enforced by law. All of the codes of ethics in the U.S., for example, explicitly prohibit sexual intimacy with clients during the course of counseling. Many states in the U.S. (e.g., Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas) consider such conduct a felony and hold therapists legally liable for such a violation. As Herlihy and Corey (1996) noted, codes of ethics serve (1) to educate professionals about sound ethical conduct, (2) to