OVERVIEW
The Standard A.4.b. of the American Counseling Associations (ACA) 2014 Code of Ethics
mandates the following regarding personal values:
Counselors are aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and avoid imposing
values that are inconsistent with counseling goals. Counselors respect the diversity of clients,
trainees, and research participants (ACA, 2014, p. 5).
Therefore, it is important that counselors and counselor trainees spend time identifying their own
values, understanding the origin of these values, and honestly owning how personal values may
adversely affect the counselors ability to work with certain populations or mental illnesses.
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Read and complete the Attitudes & Beliefs Inventory below (see p. 2). When you are
finished, go back over the inventory and select three questions you had the strongest
reactions to and/or you had the most difficult time answering.
Your paper should be 5-7 pages, (excluding title page, abstract, reference page), written
in APA format, including a title page, abstract, introduction, body, conclusion, and
references. Your paper should be well thought out and demonstrate critical thinking,
self-evaluation, and practical application. Your paper must include at least 5 scholarly
references published within the last 5 years. All sources must be scholarly journal
articles outside of course materials, materials from other classes, and applicable to the
counseling profession. No websites or direct quotes. This assignment should be written
in 1st person.
Step 2: Divide your paper into the three required headings below and address the following
questions within each section:
Reaction
State the 3 questions that evoked the strongest reaction in you, and/or, you found most
difficult to answer. Why? What personal value(s) and/or belief(s) did each question
seem to contradict or seemed to cause some personal incongruence within you?
Response
When, from whom, and how, did you learn this (these) value(s)/belief(s)?
Action
What personal or professional work do you still need to do around this issue?
Step 3: When you have completed your paper, save it as a Microsoft Word document under your
name and assignment title (Example: Doe_J_Attitudes and Beliefs_Paper). Submit your
paper via the assignment submission link in Canvas. If the final paper you submit contains
entire sentences or paragraphs that have a high similarity index to other sources, it may
indicate either unintentional or intentional plagiarism. You may be contacted by your
instructor.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
