Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

The Standard

Members shall conduct themselves honestly, use ministerial and professional authority responsibly, avoid conflicts that compromise judgment, comply with reporting duties, and preserve public trust.

Use of Titles, Credentials and Designations

• Use every GAOCPC designation exactly as awarded.
• Clearly distinguish certification from government licensure.
• Do not use a protected title unless legally authorized.
• Do not present honorary degrees as earned academic qualifications.
• Do not advertise a specialization without relevant education, supervised experience, and competence.
• Do not use an expired, suspended, restricted, or revoked credential.

Conflicts of Interest

• Identify personal, pastoral, financial, organizational, academic, or institutional interests that may affect judgment.
• Disclose material conflicts to the client and seek consultation where needed.
• Document safeguards and refer the client when the conflict cannot be safely managed.
• Do not accept secret commissions, kickbacks, or improper referral payments.

Mandatory Reporting and Protective Disclosure

• Know the reporting obligations in the jurisdictions where the member and client are located.
• These may include child abuse or neglect, abuse of vulnerable adults, serious and imminent risk, trafficking, court orders, and other legally reportable circumstances.
• Base reports on reasonable grounds rather than rumour, bias, retaliation, or speculation.
• Document the concern, consultation, decision, disclosure, and follow-up.
• Disclose only information reasonably necessary for the lawful or protective purpose.

Responsible Spiritual Authority

No pastoral, apostolic, prophetic, episcopal, chaplaincy, academic, organizational, or other ministerial title places a member above accountability.

• Do not demand unquestioning loyalty or compulsory submission.
• Do not present personal opinions as unquestionable divine commands.
• Do not threaten curses, loss of spiritual covering, judgment, or punishment to control a person.
• Do not characterize reasonable questions, second opinions, or requests for accountability as rebellion against God.
• Do not use confidential information in sermons, public prayer, prophecy, discipline, fundraising, or church politics.
• Exercise leadership as a servant, not through fear, dependency, isolation, or control.

The Standard

Members shall provide only services for which they possess appropriate education, supervised experience, training, competence, certification, and legal authority.

Demonstrating the Standard

• Maintain competence through continuing education, professional reading, supervision, consultation, skills development, and ethical training.
• Do not diagnose or treat mental disorders unless independently licensed or legally authorized.
• Clearly identify whether a service is pastoral, spiritual, educational, supportive, clinical, or non-clinical.
• Use only assessments for which the member is trained and authorized.
• Do not base a clinical diagnosis solely on prayer, prophecy, intuition, or informal observation.
• Make timely referrals for medical, psychiatric, psychological, legal, addiction, trauma, domestic-violence, safeguarding, or other specialist services.
• Take reasonable protective action when a person presents an immediate danger to self or others.
• Reduce duties, seek assistance, obtain supervision, or withdraw temporarily when illness, burnout, substance use, grief, fatigue, or another impairment compromises safe practice.

The Standard

Members shall establish relationships based on informed consent, confidentiality, dignity, autonomy, clear boundaries, freedom from abuse, and protection from exploitation.

Informed Consent

• Explain the member’s role, qualifications, certification, and licensure status.
• Explain the nature, purpose, limitations, risks, benefits, fees, recordkeeping, complaint procedures, and referral options.
• Explain confidentiality and its legal or ethical limits.
• Revisit consent when services, technology, fees, risks, participants, or boundaries change.
• Use language and accommodations the client can reasonably understand.

Confidentiality

• Protect verbal, written, electronic, visual, financial, medical, spiritual, family, and counseling information.
• Share the minimum necessary information when disclosure is authorized or legally required.
• Explain special confidentiality rules for couples, families, groups, institutions, and minors.
• Do not reveal client information through sermons, testimonies, prayer requests, teaching illustrations, social media, or fundraising.

Dual and Multiple Relationships

A pastoral counselor may already know a client as a parishioner, colleague, neighbour, volunteer, or member of the same faith community. Such a relationship is not automatically unethical.

• Assess whether the relationship could impair judgment, compromise confidentiality, create favouritism, dependency, exploitation, or harm.
• Discuss the overlapping roles and establish clear boundaries.
• Agree on how chance encounters, greetings, church events, social media, and requests for pastoral services will be handled.
• Seek consultation and document the decision.
• Refer when the risks cannot be safely managed.

Sexual and Romantic Misconduct

• Sexual or romantic conduct with a current client is prohibited.
• Client consent does not remove the ethical violation because of the power imbalance.
• Sexual or romantic conduct with a former client is prohibited for at least five years, or longer where required by law.
• The passage of five years does not create automatic permission where pastoral authority, dependency, vulnerability, confidential knowledge, exploitation, or foreseeable harm continues.
• Sexual or romantic relationships with current students, supervisees, interns, candidates, or employees under the member’s authority are prohibited.

Spiritual Practices

• Prayer, Scripture, worship, spiritual disciplines, and pastoral guidance must be appropriate and consistent with informed consent.
• Do not force conversion, public confession, deliverance, financial giving, speaking in tongues, acceptance of prophecy, or submission to a leader.
• Do not direct a person to discontinue lawful medical or mental-health treatment or prescribed medication without appropriate authority.
• Do not use dangerous, degrading, coercive, sexualized, or physically abusive practices in deliverance or exorcism.

The Standard

Supervisors, educators, practicum coordinators, examiners, and mentors shall be competent, impartial, accountable, and protective of clients, students, candidates, and supervisees.

Demonstrating the Standard

• Provide supervision only within the supervisor’s competence.
• Use a written or clearly documented supervision agreement.
• Address responsibilities, frequency, confidentiality, records, emergency consultation, fees, evaluation, remediation, and termination.
• Monitor client safety and supervisee competence.
• Give timely, objective, and documented feedback.
• Avoid personal, financial, pastoral, academic, or organizational conflicts that impair objectivity.
• Do not exploit students or supervisees for personal, domestic, financial, sexual, ministry, or institutional labour unrelated to legitimate training.
• Use fair gatekeeping to prevent unsafe, unethical, impaired, or substantially incompetent candidates from receiving unrestricted endorsement.

The Standard

Members shall create, maintain, secure, provide access to, retain, transfer, correct, and dispose of records in accordance with applicable law, institutional policy, informed consent, and professional standards.

Records Should Include, Where Appropriate

• Dates, duration, and nature of professional contact.
• Informed consent and confidentiality discussions.
• Presenting concerns, relevant observations, interventions, and referrals.
• Risk assessments, consultation, disclosures, and safety actions.
• Fees, payments, termination, transfer, and follow-up.

Security and Retention

• Protect paper and electronic records from unauthorized access, alteration, loss, theft, or destruction.
• Use reasonable safeguards for computers, mobile devices, cloud storage, email, video platforms, and case-management systems.
• Make corrections in a dated and identifiable manner without concealing the original entry.
• Respond to client-access requests according to applicable law and policy.
• Where no binding rule applies, GAOCPC recommends retaining adult records for at least ten years after the last professional contact and minors’ records for at least ten years after the client reaches the age of majority.
• Arrange secure transfer or custody of records when retiring, relocating, closing practice, becoming incapacitated, or dying.

The Standard

Members shall conduct financial, administrative, advertising, electronic, social-media, and technology-related activities honestly, securely, fairly, and without exploitation.

Fees and Financial Practices

• Disclose session fees, cancellation charges, administrative costs, report fees, late-payment policies, refunds, and third-party billing limitations before service begins.
• Use written terms for block fees or prepaid services, including services covered, total cost, payment schedule, and refund procedures.
• Do not exploit distress, faith, dependency, illness, grief, or vulnerability for financial gain.
• Do not use public shame, confidential information, spiritual threats, or church discipline to collect a counseling debt.
• Bartering should ordinarily be avoided and considered only in exceptional, non-exploitative circumstances with documentation and consultation.

Advertising and Public Representation

• Ensure websites, brochures, biographies, business cards, social-media profiles, and public statements are accurate.
• Do not guarantee healing, reconciliation, deliverance, restoration of marriage, freedom from illness, employment, or financial success.
• Do not fabricate or coercively obtain testimonials.
• Use the GAOCPC name, logo, seal, and designation only as authorized.

Electronic Practice

• Obtain informed consent for video, telephone, email, text, WhatsApp, or other electronic services.
• Explain privacy risks, platform limitations, identity verification, recording restrictions, backup communication, and emergency procedures.
• Know the jurisdictions where both the member and client are physically located.
• Verify that liability insurance and legal authority cover electronic or cross-border services.
• Obtain the client’s current location and a local emergency contact or crisis resource when risk is reasonably foreseeable.
• Retain treatment-related written communications in the client record where required.
• Provide electronic services from a private and professional setting using technology appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools

• Do not enter identifiable client information into unauthorized public AI systems.
• Protect confidentiality when using transcription, documentation, assessment, or automated tools.
• Verify material accuracy and apply independent professional judgment.
• Do not allow technology to replace responsible human care, risk assessment, informed consent, or referral.