ACA Ethics Revision Task Force Named

ACA immediate past president, Dr. Marcheta Evans, selected from among 63 extremely well qualified applicants and appointed the task force that will promulgate the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics. Current president Dr. Don W. Locke will see the committee through the phases that occur during his tenure.

Eleven experts in counseling ethics will work together over the next three years to revise the code that provides the basis for ethical behavior for ACA members and serves as an important resource for the counseling profession.

The members of the Ethics Revision Task force are:

• Jeannette Baca, an independent practitioner in New Mexico. Jeannette is a past ethics chair for the New Mexico Counseling Association.
• Janelle Disney, a professor in the counseling department at Argosy University, Atlanta. Janelle has served as ethics chair for the Louisiana Counseling Association.
• Perry Francis (Chair), a professor in the department of leadership and counseling at Eastern Michigan University. Perry has over 24 juried presentations on counseling ethics.
• Gary Goodnough, a professor of counselor education at Plymouth State University. Gary is the immediate past co-chair of the ACA ethics committee.
• Mary Hermann, an associate professor & chair of the department of counselor education at Virginia Commonwealth University. Mary is a co-author of the book Ethical and Legal Issues in School Counseling (3rd ed.).
• Shannon Hodges, an associate professor of clinical mental health counseling & director of clinical training at Antioch University. Shannon has extensive ethics forensic experience.
• Lynn Linde, a clinical assistant professor & director of clinical programs for the School Counseling Program at Loyola University Maryland. Lynn has authored seven book chapters on ethics and has an ethics text under contract.
• Linda Shaw, a professor & department head in the department of disability and psychoeducational studies at the University of Arizona. Linda has served as chair of the ethics committee for the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.
• Shawn Spurgeon, an assistant professor in the mental health counseling program at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Shawn has served as co-chair of the ACA ethics committee.
• Richard Watts, a professor in the department of educational leadership and Counseling and director of the center for research and doctoral studies at Sam Houston State University. Richard served on the committee that promulgated the initial code of ethics for the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors.
• Michelle Wade (student member), a mental health therapist at Lantern Therapeutic Services and doctoral student at Argosy University, DC. Michelle has an article in press on the ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of social media in counseling.

ACA members will have their first opportunity to provide input into the revised code this coming Fall.