An important part of being a successful mental health professional is to not judge, shame, or discriminate against clients based on any aspect of their personal beliefs, culture, religion, or other personal life decisions. Religious views are an important factor that many people utilize to help with life decisions, behaviors, and how they live their lives in general. With that in mind, the ACA Code of Ethics has established a few ethical codes that rule over how mental health professionals, specifically counselors, react when they are in the presence of a client who has differing religious views from their own. An important ethical code related to religious or personal views is "A.4.b. Personal Values", which states that a counselor is aware of their personal beliefs and does not impose these beliefs on their clients while also respecting the beliefs of clients and those that they work with (American Counseling Association, 2014). If I were to strongly disagree with the religious views of a client population, the best way to navigate this situation is to keep an open mind but understand my limitations in my practice and when I need to terminate the relationship. I think that learning about other religious views, even if I do not agree with them, and understanding the backgrounds of clients is important in being a competent counselor or mental health professional, so keeping an open mind is important. However, it is also important to be aware of where my limitations are and if my values and beliefs begin to be questioned then it might be time to terminate the professional relationship and seek help from colleagues for the situation.

What can we conclude from this statement?

American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdress.pdf