Written by Dan L. Mitchell, Clinical Supervisor at Therapy Online

Counsellors have an obligation to follow the ethical guidelines of the professional organization to which they belong. All of Therapy Online's counsellors do that. But we have also worked very hard to make sure that our online counselling services are more than just ethical. Our goal is to be leaders in professionalism, personal human caring, outstanding ethics and integrity in everything we do.

What are ethics?
"Ethics" are the guidelines that professional counsellors must follow in order to protect clients from harm, and to make sure they receive proper care.

Our commitment to ethics was recognized by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) back in 1997. At that time, the NBCC were developing their original code of ethics for WebCounselors, and Therapy Online was honoured to participate in its creation.

Since then, we have also used many other ethical codes to help us improve the development and delivery of our services:

• American Counseling Association Ethical Standards
• American Psychological Association Services by Telephone, Teleconferencing, and Internet
• Association for Counselling and Therapy Online Code of Ethics
• Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association's Ethical Code
• International Society for Mental Health Online Suggested Principles for the Online Provision of Mental Health Services
• National Board of Certified Counselors The Practice of Internet Counseling
• National Career Development Association Guidelines for the Use of the Internet for Provision of Career Information and Planning Services