The Kingdom of Hearts

Benefits of Membership in TKOH, Practitioners Association

For those who qualify, here are some of the significant ways in which membership in TKOH can strengthen your work:

Government Relations

• Representing your rights and interests in Washington, DC and as an advocate and lobbying group globally.

• Establishing and maintaining important relationships with elected and appointed officials.

• Providing TKOH member access to those with influence and authority in government

• Providing access to legislative information on issues affecting all Tkoh Practitioners

• Providing a voice globally for Practitioners and the need of the Practice that help care for, feed people and provide shelter

Publications

• TKOH web based Information-Informing Members what is happening, why and where

• Inside TKOH-a members-only e-newsletter with up-to-the-minute news of interest

• Useful tools on How to Start, Fund and Organize Projects and Projects to help those in need

• Useful templates for brochures and client agreements

Training

• Providing boot-camps, studies and workshops, and specific help for Practitioners to help reach others and expand their practice

• Establishing Regional Affiliates with an emphasis on training, networking, professional development and fellowship

Resources

• Resource page (web information, open to all) that Offers Information to help reduce costs

• Services (free to members) offering advice and counseling on specific outreaches or projects that you want to get going

• Exclusive research studies on issues regarding faith, family and the community

Education & Training

• Outreach Training-Training provide to improve relationships with local churches or organizations

• Worldview training-geared toward content, learning how to respond as one group globally

• Standards of Practice

• Code of Ethics for Practitioners

Networking

• Interactions and relationships with other Practitioners

• Providing general information and specific advice on ways to raise funds for your practice

• Forums

• Web Hosting Services

• Referrals .

Standards of Practice

Introduction:

The purpose of the Standards of Practice is to help Tkoh, Practitioners understand the importance working together, promote an agreeable set of standards, protect clients, bring ethics and ethical standards of conduct and legitimacy to the growing field of a Tkoh, Practitioner. All members of the Alliance of Tkoh, Practitioners are required to adhere to the Standards of Practice and the Code of Ethics. The Standards of Practice represent minimal behavioral statements of the Code of Ethics.

Although similarities exist between spiritual Practitioners and standard mental health Practitioners, it is important that members are clear to clients about the differences and make sure we do not in any way misrepresent or infer in any way that we are in the field of mental health. As professional Tkoh, Practitioners we believe that God and learning to walk with God in His path is the solution and part of that solution is to take care of clients if they want, in their body soul and spirit so they each can be a whole person. In short is about helping clients and others in a closer walk with God and it is through having a better relationship with God we all will have better relationships with others. In addition, a Practitioner should be about helping those in need, bringing love, unity, respect of one's self and others, equality and freedom. To help each client find a better path in life so they can have a full and productive life.  

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A.1. Client Welfare

1. Primary Responsibility. The primary responsibility of practitioners is to respect the dignity and to promote the welfare of clients.

2. Positive Growth and Development. Practitioners encourage client growth and development in ways that foster the clients' interest and welfare; practitioners avoid fostering dependent Practitioners relationships.

3. Practitioners Plans. Practitioners and their clients work jointly in devising integrated, individual Practitioners plans that offer reasonable promise of success and are consistent with abilities and circumstances of clients. Practitioners and clients regularly review Practitioners plans to ensure their continued viability and effectiveness, respecting clients' freedom of choice.

4. Family Involvement. Practitioners recognize that families are usually important in clients' lives and strive to enlist family understanding and involvement as a positive resource, when appropriate.

5. Career and Employment Needs. Practitioners work with their clients in considering employment in jobs and circumstances that are consistent with the clients' overall abilities, vocational limitations, physical restrictions, general temperament, interest and aptitude patterns, social skills, education, general qualifications, and other relevant characteristics and needs. Practitioners neither place nor participate in placing clients in positions that will result in damaging the interest and the welfare of clients, employers, or the public.

A.2. Respecting Diversity

1. Nondiscrimination. Practitioners do not condone or engage in discrimination based on age, color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, or socioeconomic status.

2. Respecting Differences. Practitioners will actively attempt to understand the diverse cultural backgrounds of the clients with whom they work. This includes, but is not limited to, learning how the practitioner's own cultural/ethnic/racial identity impacts her or his values and beliefs about the Practitioners process.

A.3. Client Rights

1. Disclosure to Clients. When Practitioners is initiated, and throughout the Practitioners process as necessary, practitioners inform clients of the purposes, goals, techniques, procedures, limitations, potential risks, and benefits of services to be performed, and other pertinent information. Practitioners take steps to ensure that clients understand the implications of diagnosis, the intended use of tests and reports, fees, and billing arrangements. Clients have the right to expect confidentiality and to be provided with an explanation of its limitations, including supervision and/or treatment team professionals; to obtain clear information about their case records; to participate in the ongoing Practitioners plans; and to refuse any recommended services and be advised of the consequences of such refusal.

2. Freedom of Choice. Practitioners offer clients the freedom to choose whether to enter into a Practitioners relationship and to determine which professional(s) will provide Practitioners. Restrictions that limit choices of clients are fully explained.

3. Inability to Give Consent. When Practitioners minors or persons unable to give voluntary informed consent, practitioners act in these clients' best interests.

A.4. Clients Served by Others

If a client is receiving services from another mental health professional, practitioners, with client consent, inform the professional persons already involved and develop clear agreements to avoid confusion and conflict for the client.

A.5. Personal Needs and Values

1. Personal Needs. In the Practitioners relationship, practitioners are aware of the intimacy and responsibilities inherent in the Practitioners relationship, maintain respect for clients, and avoid actions that seek to meet their personal needs at the expense of clients.

2. Personal Values. Practitioners are aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and how these apply in a diverse society, and avoid imposing their values on clients.

A.6. Dual Relationships

1. Avoid When Possible. Practitioners are aware of their influential positions with respect to clients, and they avoid exploiting the trust and dependency of clients. Practitioners make every effort to avoid dual relationships with clients that could impair professional judgment or increase the risk of harm to clients. (Examples of such relationships include, but are not limited to, familial, social, financial, business, or close personal relationships with clients.) When a dual relationship cannot be avoided, practitioners take appropriate professional precautions such as informed consent, consultation, supervision, and documentation to ensure that judgment is not impaired and no exploitation occurs.

2. Superior/Subordinate Relationships. Practitioners do not accept as clients superiors or subordinates with whom they have administrative, supervisory, or evaluative relationships.

A.7. Sexual Intimacies With Clients

1. Current Clients. Practitioners do not have any type of sexual intimacies with clients and do not counsel persons with whom they have had a sexual relationship.

2. Former Clients. Practitioners do not engage in sexual intimacies with former clients within a minimum of 2 years after terminating the Practitioners relationship. Practitioners who engage in such relationship after 2 years following termination have the responsibility to examine and document thoroughly that such relations did not have an exploitative nature, based on factors such as duration of Practitioners, amount of time since Practitioners, termination circumstances, client's personal history and mental status, adverse impact on the client, and actions by the practitioner suggesting a plan to initiate a sexual relationship with the client after termination.

A.8. Multiple Clients

When practitioners agree to provide Practitioners services to two or more persons who have a relationship (such as husband and wife, or parents and children), practitioners clarify at the outset which person or persons are clients and the nature of the relationships they will have with each involved person. If it becomes apparent that practitioners may be called upon to perform potentially conflicting roles, they clarify, adjust, or withdraw from roles appropriately.

A.9. Group Work

1. Screening. Practitioners screen prospective group Practitioners/therapy participants. To the extent possible, practitioners select members whose needs and goals are compatible with goals of the group, who will not impede the group process, and whose well-being will not be jeopardized by the group experience.

2. Protecting Clients. In a group setting, practitioners take reasonable precautions to protect clients from physical or psychological trauma.

A.10. Fees and Bartering

1. Advance Understanding. Practitioners clearly explain to clients, prior to entering the Practitioners relationship, all financial arrangements related to professional services including the use of collection agencies or legal measures for nonpayment.

2. Establishing Fees. In establishing fees for professional Practitioners services, practitioners consider the financial status of clients and locality. In the event that the established fee structure is inappropriate for a client, assistance is provided in attempting to find comparable services of acceptable cost. We would also suggest if at all possible that services offered be on a donation basis versus a fee basis to allow more people to be helped.

3. Bartering Discouraged. Practitioners ordinarily refrain from accepting goods or services from clients in return for Practitioners services because such arrangements create inherent potential for conflicts, exploitation, and distortion of the professional relationship. Practitioners may participate in bartering only if the relationship is not exploitative, if the client requests it, if a clear written contract is established, and if such arrangements are an accepted practice among professionals in the community.

4. Pro Bono Service. Practitioners contribute to society by devoting a portion of their professional activity to services for which there is little or no financial return (pro bono).

A.11. Termination and Referral

1. Abandonment Prohibited. Practitioners do not abandon or neglect clients in Practitioners. Practitioners assist in making appropriate arrangements for the continuation of treatment, when necessary, during interruptions such as vacations, and following termination.

2. Inability to Assist Clients. If practitioners determine an inability to be of professional assistance to clients, they avoid entering or immediately terminate a Practitioners relationship. Practitioners are knowledgeable about referral resources and suggest appropriate alternatives. If clients decline the suggested referral, practitioners should discontinue the relationship.

3. Appropriate Termination. Practitioners terminate a Practitioners relationship, securing client agreement when possible, when it is reasonably clear that the client is no longer benefiting, when services are no longer required, when Practitioners no longer serves the client's needs or interests, when clients do not pay fees charged, or when agency or institution limits do not allow provision of further Practitioners services.

A.12. Computer Technology

1. Use of Computers. When computer applications are used in Practitioners services, practitioners ensure that (1) the client is intellectually, emotionally, and physically capable of using the computer application; (2) the computer application is appropriate for the needs of the client; (3) the client understands the purpose and operation of the computer applications; and (4) a follow-up of client use of a computer application is provided to correct possible misconceptions, discover inappropriate use, and assess subsequent needs.

2. Explanation of Limitations. Practitioners ensure that clients are provided information as a part of the Practitioners relationship that adequately explains the limitations of computer technology.
   c. Access to Computer Applications. Practitioners provide for equal access to computer applications in Practitioners services.

B.1. Right to Privacy

1. Respect for Privacy. Practitioners respect their clients right to privacy and avoid illegal and unwarranted disclosures of confidential information.

2. Client Waiver. The right to privacy may be waived by the client or his or her legally recognized representative.

3. Exceptions. The general requirement that practitioners keep information confidential does not apply when disclosure is required to prevent clear and imminent danger to the client or others or when legal requirements demand that confidential information be revealed. Practitioners consult with other professionals when in doubt as to the validity of an exception.

4. Contagious, Fatal Diseases. A practitioner who receives information confirming that a client has a disease commonly known to be both communicable and fatal is justified in disclosing information to an identifiable third party, who by his or her relationship with the client is at a high risk of contracting the disease. Prior to making a disclosure the practitioner should ascertain that the client has not already informed the third party about his or her disease and that the client is not intending to inform the third party in the immediate future.

5. Court-Ordered Disclosure. When court ordered to release confidential information without a client's permission, practitioners request to the court that the disclosure not be required due to potential harm to the client or Practitioners relationship.

6. Minimal Disclosure. When circumstances require the disclosure of confidential information, only essential information is revealed. To the extent possible, clients are informed before confidential information is disclosed.

7. Explanation of Limitations. When Practitioners is initiated and throughout the Practitioners process as necessary, practitioners inform clients of the limitations of confidentiality and identify foreseeable situations in which confidentiality must be breached.

8. Subordinates. Practitioners make every effort to ensure that privacy and confidentiality of clients are maintained by subordinates including employees, supervisees, clerical assistants, and volunteers.

9. Treatment Teams. If client treatment will involve a continued review by a treatment team, the client will be informed of the team's existence and composition.

B.2. Groups and Families

1. Group Work. In group work, practitioners clearly define confidentiality and the parameters for the specific group being entered, explain its importance, and discuss the difficulties related to confidentiality involved in group work. The fact that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed is clearly communicated to group members.

2. Family Practitioners. In family Practitioners, information about one family member cannot be disclosed to another member without permission. Practitioners protect the privacy rights of each family member.

B.3. Minor or Incompetent Clients

When Practitioners clients who are minors or individuals who are unable to give voluntary, informed consent, parents or guardians may be included in the Practitioners process as appropriate. Practitioners act in the best interests of clients and take measures to safeguard confidentiality.

B.4. Records

1. Requirement of Records. Practitioners maintain records necessary for rendering professional services to their clients and as required by laws, regulations, or agency or institution procedures.

2. Confidentiality of Records. Practitioners are responsible for securing the safety and confidentiality of any Practitioners records they create, maintain, transfer, or destroy whether the records are written, taped, computerized, or stored in any other medium.

3. Permission to Record or Observe. Practitioners obtain permission from clients prior to electronically recording or observing sessions.

4. Client Access. Practitioners recognize that Practitioners records are kept for the benefit of clients, and therefore provide access to records and copies of records when requested by competent clients, unless the records contain information that may be misleading and detrimental to the client. In situations involving multiple clients, access to records is limited to those parts of records that do not include confidential information related to another client.

5. Disclosure or Transfer. Practitioners obtain written permission from clients to disclose or transfer records to legitimate third parties unless exceptions to confidentiality exist. Steps are taken to ensure that receivers of Practitioners records are sensitive to their confidential nature.

B.5. Research and Training

1. Data Disguise Required. Use of data derived from Practitioners relationships for purposes of training, research, or publication is confined to content that is disguised to ensure the anonymity of the individuals involved.

2. Agreement for Identification. Identification of a client in a presentation or publication is permissible only when the client has reviewed the material and has agreed to its presentation or publication.

B.6. Consultation

1. Respect for Privacy. Information obtained in a consulting relationship is discussed for professional purposes only with persons clearly concerned with the case. Written and oral reports present data germane to the purposes of the consultation, and every effort is made to protect client identity and avoid undue invasion of privacy.

2. Cooperating Agencies. Before sharing information, practitioners make efforts to ensure that there are defined policies in other agencies serving the practitioner's clients that effectively protect the confidentiality of information.

C.1. Standards Knowledge

Practitioners have a responsibility to read, understand, and follow the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Practice.

C.2. Professional Competence

1. Boundaries of Competence. Practitioners practice only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, state and national professional credentials, and appropriate professional experience. Practitioners will demonstrate a commitment to gain knowledge, personal awareness, sensitivity, and skills pertinent to working with a diverse client population.

2. New Specialty Areas of Practice. Practitioners practice in specialty areas new to them only after appropriate education, training, and supervised experience. While developing skills in new specialty areas, practitioners take steps to ensure the competence of their work and to protect others from possible harm.

3. Qualified for Employment. Practitioners accept employment only for positions for which they are qualified by education, training, supervised experience, state and national professional credentials, and appropriate professional experience. Practitioners hire for professional Practitioners positions only individuals who are qualified and competent.

4. Monitor Effectiveness. Practitioners continually monitor their effectiveness as professionals and take steps to improve when necessary. Practitioners in private practice take reasonable steps to seek out peer supervision to evaluate their efficacy as practitioners.

5. Ethical Issues Consultation. Practitioners take reasonable steps to consult with other practitioners or related professionals when they have questions regarding their ethical obligations or professional practice.

6. Continuing Education. Practitioners recognize the need for continuing education to maintain a reasonable level of awareness of current scientific and professional information in their fields of activity. They take steps to maintain competence in the skills they use, are open to new procedures, and keep current with the diverse and/or special populations with whom they work.

7. Impairment. Practitioners refrain from offering or accepting professional services when their physical, mental, or emotional problems are likely to harm a client or others. They are alert to the signs of impairment, seek assistance for problems, and, if necessary, limit, suspend, or terminate their professional responsibilities.

C.3. Advertising and Soliciting Clients

1. Accurate Advertising. There are no restrictions on advertising by practitioners except those that can be specifically justified to protect the public from deceptive practices. Practitioners advertise or represent their services to the public by identifying their credentials in an accurate manner that is not false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent. Practitioners may only advertise the highest degree earned which is in Practitioners or a closely related field from a college or university that was accredited when the degree was awarded by one of the regional accrediting bodies recognized by the Council on Post secondary Accreditation.

2. Testimonials. Practitioners who use testimonials do not solicit them from clients or other persons who, because of their particular circumstances, may be vulnerable to undue influence.

3. Statements by Others. Practitioners make reasonable efforts to ensure that statements made by others about them or the profession of Practitioners are accurate.

4. Recruiting Through Employment. Practitioners do not use their places of employment or institutional affiliation to recruit or gain clients, supervisees, or consultees for their private practices.

5. Products and Training Advertisements. Practitioners who develop products related to their profession or conduct workshops or training events ensure that the advertisements concerning these products or events are accurate and disclose adequate information for consumers to make informed choices.

6. Promoting to Those Served. Practitioners do not use Practitioners, teaching, training, or supervisory relationships to promote their products or training events in a manner that is deceptive or would exert undue influence on individuals who may be vulnerable. Practitioners may adopt textbooks they have authored for instruction purposes.

7. Professional Association Involvement. Practitioners actively participate in local, state, and national associations that foster the development and improvement of Practitioners.

C.4. Credentials

1. Credentials Claimed. Practitioners claim or imply only the professional credentials possessed and are responsible for correcting any known misrepresentations of their credentials by others. Professional credentials include graduate degrees in Practitioners or closely related mental health fields, accreditation of graduate programs, national voluntary certifications, government-issued certifications or licenses, ACA professional membership, or any other credential that might indicate to the public specialized knowledge or expertise in standard Practitioners. a Tkoh, Practitioner according to this Code of Ethics and Practice of Standards for Tkoh, Practitioners should be limited to Biblical applications of problems and how to overcome those problems. Members should not state or infer that they are a part of the mental health profession.

2. Professional Membership. Members may announce to the public their membership status. Regular members may not announce their membership in a manner that might imply they are credentialed practitioners.

3. Credential Guidelines. Practitioners follow the guidelines for use of credentials that have been established by the entities that issue the credentials.

4. Misrepresentation of Credentials. Practitioners do not attribute more to their credentials than the credentials represent, and do not imply that other practitioners are not qualified because they do not possess certain credentials.

5. Doctoral Degrees From Other Fields. Practitioners who hold certificate in spiritual Practitioners or a master's degree in Practitioners or a closely related mental health field, but hold a doctoral degree from other than Practitioners or a closely related field, do not use the title "Dr." in their practices and do not announce to the public in relation to their practice or status as a practitioner that they hold a doctorate.

C.5. Public Responsibility

1. Nondiscrimination. Practitioners do not discriminate against clients, students, or supervisees in a manner that has a negative impact based on their age, color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status, or for any other reason.

2. Sexual Harassment. Practitioners do not engage in sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is defined as sexual solicitation, physical advances, or verbal or nonverbal conduct that is sexual in nature, that occurs in connection with professional activities or roles, and that either (1) is unwelcome, is offensive, or creates a hostile workplace environment, and practitioners know or are told this; or (2) is sufficiently severe or intense to be perceived as harassment to a reasonable person in the context. Sexual harassment can consist of a single intense or severe act or multiple persistent or pervasive acts.

3. Reports to Third Parties. Practitioners are accurate, honest, and unbiased in reporting their professional activities and judgments to appropriate third parties including courts, health insurance companies, those who are the recipients of evaluation reports, and others.

4. Media Presentations. When practitioners provide advice or comment by means of public lectures, demonstrations, radio or television programs, prerecorded tapes, printed articles, mailed material, or other media, they take reasonable precautions to ensure that (1) the statements are based on appropriate professional Practitioners literature and practice; (2) the statements are otherwise consistent with the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Practice; and (3) the recipients of the information are not encouraged to infer that a professional Practitioners relationship has been established.

5. Unjustified Gains. Practitioners do not use their professional positions to seek or receive unjustified personal gains, sexual favors, unfair advantage, or unearned goods or services.

C.6. Responsibility to Other Professionals

1. Different Approaches. Practitioners are respectful of approaches to professional Practitioners that differ from their own. Practitioners know and take into account the traditions and practices of other professional groups with which they work.

2. Personal Public Statements. When making personal statements in a public context, practitioners clarify that they are speaking from their personal perspectives and that they are not speaking on behalf of all practitioners or the profession.

3. Clients Served by Others. When practitioners learn that their clients are in a professional relationship with another mental health professional, they request release from clients to inform the other professionals and strive to establish positive and collaborative professional relationships.

D.1. Relationships With Employers and Employees

1. Role Definition. Practitioners define and describe for their employers and employees the parameters and levels of their professional roles.

2. Agreements. Practitioners establish working agreements with supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates regarding Practitioners or clinical relationships, confidentiality, adherence to professional standards, distinction between public and private material, maintenance and dissemination of recorded information, work load, and accountability. Working agreements in each instance are specified and made known to those concerned.

3. Negative Conditions. Practitioners alert their employers to conditions that may be potentially disruptive or damaging to the practitioner's professional responsibilities or that may limit their effectiveness.

4. Evaluation. Practitioners submit regularly to professional review and evaluation by their supervisor or the appropriate representative of the employer.

5. In-Service. Practitioners are responsible for in-service development of self and staff.

6. Goals. Practitioners inform their staff of goals and programs.

7. Practices. Practitioners provide personnel and agency practices that respect and enhance the rights and welfare of each employee and recipient of agency services. Practitioners strive to maintain the highest levels of professional services.

8. Personnel Selection and Assignment. Practitioners select competent staff and assign responsibilities compatible with their skills and experiences.

9. Discrimination. Practitioners, as either employers or employees, do not engage in or condone practices that are inhumane, illegal, or unjustifiable (such as considerations based on age, color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status) in hiring, promotion, or training.

10. Professional Conduct. Practitioners have a responsibility both to clients and to the agency or institution within which services are performed to maintain high standards of professional conduct.

11. Exploitative Relationships. Practitioners do not engage in exploitative relationships with individuals over whom they have supervisory, evaluative, or instructional control or authority. l. Employer Policies. The acceptance of employment in an agency or institution implies that practitioners are in agreement with its general policies and principles. Practitioners strive to reach agreement with employers as to acceptable standards of conduct that allow for changes in institutional policy conducive to the growth and development of clients.

D.2. Consultation

1. Consultation as an Option. Practitioners may choose to consult with any other professionally competent persons about their clients. In choosing consultants, practitioners avoid placing the consultant in a conflict of interest situation that would preclude the consultant being a proper party to the practitioner's efforts to help the client. Should practitioners be engaged in a work setting that compromises this consultation standard, they consult with other professionals whenever possible to consider justifiable alternatives.

2. Consultant Competency. Practitioners are reasonably certain that they have or the organization represented has the necessary competencies and resources for giving the kind of consulting services needed and that appropriate referral resources are available.

3. Understanding With Clients. When providing consultation, practitioners attempt to develop with their clients a clear understanding of problem definition, goals for change, and predicted consequences of interventions selected. d. Consultant Goals. The consulting relationship is one in which client adaptability and growth toward self-direction are consistently encouraged and cultivated.

D.3. Fees for Referral

1. Accepting Fees From Agency Clients. Practitioners refuse a private fee or other remuneration for rendering services to persons who are entitled to such services through the practitioner's employing agency or institution. The policies of a particular agency may make explicit provisions for agency clients to receive Practitioners services from members of its staff in private practice. In such instances, the clients must be informed of other options open to them should they seek private Practitioners services.

2. Referral Fees. Practitioners do not accept a referral fee from other professionals.

D.4. Subcontractor Arrangements

When practitioners work as subcontractors for Practitioners services for a third party, they have a duty to inform clients of the limitations of confidentiality that the organization may place on practitioners in providing Practitioners services to clients. The limits of such confidentiality ordinarily are discussed as part of the intake session.

E.1. General

1. Appraisal Techniques. The primary purpose of educational and spiritual assessment is to provide measures that are objective and interpretable in either comparative or absolute terms. Practitioners recognize the need to interpret the statements in this section as applying to the whole range of appraisal techniques, including test and non-test data. Testing should be limited to a spiritual nature.

2. Client Welfare. Practitioners promote the welfare and best interests of the client in the development, publication, and utilization of educational and psychological assessment techniques. They do not misuse assessment results and interpretations and take reasonable steps to prevent others from misusing the information these techniques provide. They respect the client's right to know the results, the interpretations made, and the bases for their conclusions and recommendations.

E.2. Competence to Use and Interpret Tests

1. Limits of Competence. Practitioners recognize the limits of their competence and perform only those testing and assessment services for which they have been trained. They are familiar with reliability, validity, related standardization, error of measurement, and proper application of any technique utilized. Practitioners using computer-based test interpretations are trained in the construct being measured and the specific instrument being used prior to using this type of computer application. Practitioners take reasonable measures to ensure the proper use of psychological assessment techniques by persons under their supervision.

2. Appropriate Use. Practitioners are responsible for the appropriate application, scoring, interpretation, and use of assessment instruments, whether they score and interpret such tests themselves or use computerized or other services.

3. Decisions Based on Results. Practitioners responsible for decisions involving individuals or policies that are based on assessment results have a thorough understanding of educational and psychological measurement, including validation criteria, test research, and guidelines for test development and use.

4. Accurate Information. Practitioners provide accurate information and avoid false claims or misconceptions when making statements about assessment instruments or techniques. Special efforts are made to avoid unwarranted connotations of such terms as IQ and grade equivalent scores.

E.3. Informed Consent

1. Explanation to Clients. Prior to assessment, practitioners explain the nature and purposes of assessment and the specific use of results in language the client (or other legally authorized person on behalf of the client) can understand, unless an explicit exception to this right has been agreed upon in advance. Regardless of whether scoring and interpretation are completed by practitioners, by assistants, or by computer or other outside services, practitioners take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate explanations are given to the client.

2. Recipients of Results. The examinee's welfare, explicit understanding, and prior agreement determine the recipients of test results. Practitioners include accurate and appropriate interpretations with any release of individual or group test results.

E.4. Release of Information to Competent Professionals

1. Misuse of Results. Practitioners do not misuse assessment results, including test results, and interpretations, and take reasonable steps to prevent the misuse of such by others.

2. Release of Raw Data. Practitioners ordinarily release data (e.g., protocols, Practitioners or interview notes, or questionnaires) in which the client is identified only with the consent of the client or the client's legal representative. Such data are usually released only to persons recognized by practitioners as competent to interpret the data.

E.5. Proper Diagnosis of Disorders

1. Proper Diagnosis. Practitioners take special care to provide proper diagnosis of mental disorders. Assessment techniques (including personal interview) used to determine client care (e.g., locus of treatment, type of treatment, or recommended follow-up) are carefully selected and appropriately used. Members should not take clients that they are not qualified to deal with.

2. Cultural Sensitivity. Practitioners recognize that culture affects the manner in which clients' problems are defined. Clients' socioeconomic and cultural experience is considered when diagnosing mental disorders.

E.6. Test Selection

1. Appropriateness of Instruments. Practitioners carefully consider the validity, reliability, limitations, and appropriateness of instruments when selecting tests for use in a given situation or with a particular client.

2. Culturally Diverse Populations. Practitioners are cautious when selecting tests for culturally diverse populations to avoid inappropriateness of testing that may be outside of socialized behavioral or cognitive patterns.

E.7. Conditions of Test Administration

1. Administration Conditions. Practitioners administer tests under the same conditions that were established in their standardization. When tests are not administered under standard conditions or when unusual behavior or irregularities occur during the testing session, those conditions are noted in interpretation, and the results may be designated as invalid or of questionable validity.

2. Computer Administration. Practitioners are responsible for ensuring that administration programs function properly to provide clients with accurate results when a computer or other electronic methods are used for test administration.

3. Unsupervised Test Taking. Practitioners do not permit unsupervised or inadequately supervised use of tests or assessments unless the tests or assessments are designed, intended, and validated for self-administration and/or scoring.

4. Disclosure of Favorable Conditions. Prior to test administration, conditions that produce most favorable test results are made known to the examinee.

E.8. Diversity in Testing

Practitioners are cautious in using assessment techniques, making evaluations, and interpreting the performance of populations not represented in the norm group on which an instrument was standardized. They recognize the effects of age, color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status on test administration and interpretation and place test results in proper perspective with other relevant factors.

E.9. Test Scoring and Interpretation

1. Reporting Reservations. In reporting assessment results, practitioners indicate any reservations that exist regarding validity or reliability because of the circumstances of the assessment or the inappropriateness of the norms for the person tested.

2. Research Instruments. Practitioners exercise caution when interpreting the results of research instruments possessing insufficient technical data to support respondent results. The specific purposes for the use of such instruments are stated explicitly to the examinee.

3. Testing Services. Practitioners who provide test scoring and test interpretation services to support the assessment process confirm the validity of such interpretations. They accurately describe the purpose, norms, validity, reliability, and applications of the procedures and any special qualifications applicable to their use. The public offering of an automated test interpretations service is considered a professional-to-professional consultation. The formal responsibility of the consultant is to the consultee, but the ultimate and overriding responsibility is to the client.

E.10. Test Security

Practitioners maintain the integrity and security of tests and other assessment techniques consistent with legal and contractual obligations. Practitioners do not appropriate, reproduce, or modify published tests or parts thereof without acknowledgment and permission from the publisher.

E.11. Obsolete Tests and Outdated Test Results

Practitioners do not use data or test results that are obsolete or outdated for the current purpose. Practitioners make every effort to prevent the misuse of obsolete measures and test data by others.

E.12. Test Construction

Practitioners use established scientific procedures, relevant standards, and current professional knowledge for test design in the development, publication, and utilization of educational and psychological assessment techniques.

F.1. Practitioner Educators and Trainers

1. Educators as Teachers and Practitioners. Practitioners who are responsible for developing, implementing, and supervising educational programs are skilled as teachers and practitioners. They are knowledgeable regarding the ethical, legal, and regulatory aspects of the profession, are skilled in applying that knowledge, and make students and supervisees aware of their responsibilities. Practitioners conduct practitioner education and training programs in an ethical manner and serve as role models for professional behavior. Practitioner educators should make an effort to infuse material related to human diversity into all courses and/or workshops that are designed to promote the development of professional practitioners.

2. Relationship Boundaries With Students and Supervisees. Practitioners clearly define and maintain ethical, professional, and social relationship boundaries with their students and supervisees. They are aware of the differential in power that exists and the student's or supervisee's possible incomprehension of that power differential. Practitioners explain to students and supervisees the potential for the relationship to become exploitive.

3. Sexual Relationships. Practitioners do not engage in sexual relationships with students or supervisees and do not subject them to sexual harassment. (See A.6. and C.5.b)

4. Contributions to Research. Practitioners give credit to students or supervisees for their contributions to research and scholarly projects. Credit is given through coauthorship, acknowledgment, footnote statement, or other appropriate means, in accordance with such contributions. (See G.4.b. and G.4.c.)

5. Close Relatives. Practitioners do not accept close relatives as students or supervisees.

6. Supervision Preparation. Practitioners who offer clinical supervision services are adequately prepared in supervision methods and techniques. Practitioners who are doctoral students serving as practicum or internship supervisors to master's level students are adequately prepared and supervised by the training program.

7. Responsibility for Services to Clients. Practitioners who supervise the Practitioners services of others take reasonable measures to ensure that Practitioners services provided to clients are professional.

8. Endorsement. Practitioners do not endorse students or supervisees for certification, licensure, employment, or completion of an academic or training program if they believe students or supervisees are not qualified for the endorsement. Practitioners take reasonable steps to assist students or supervisees who are not qualified for endorsement to become qualified.

F.2. Practitioner Education and Training Programs

1. Orientation. Prior to admission, practitioners orient prospective students to the practitioner education or training program's expectations, including but not limited to the following: (1) the type and level of skill acquisition required for successful completion of the training, (2) subject matter to be covered, (3) basis for evaluation, (4) training components that encourage self-growth or self-disclosure as part of the training process, (5) the type of supervision settings and requirements of the sites for required clinical field experiences, (6) student and supervisee evaluation and dismissal policies and procedures, and (7) up-to-date employment prospects for graduates.

2. Integration of Study and Practice. Practitioners establish practitioner education and training programs that integrate academic study and supervised practice.

3. Evaluation. Practitioners clearly state to students and supervisees, in advance of training, the levels of competency expected, appraisal methods, and timing of evaluations for both didactic and experiential components. Practitioners provide students and supervisees with periodic performance appraisal and evaluation feedback throughout the training program.

4. Teaching Ethics. Practitioners make students and supervisees aware of the ethical responsibilities and standards of the profession and the students' and supervisees' ethical responsibilities to the profession.

5. Peer Relationships. When students or supervisees are assigned to lead Practitioners groups or provide clinical supervision for their peers, practitioners take steps to ensure that students and supervisees placed in these roles do not have personal or adverse relationships with peers and that they understand they have the same ethical obligations as practitioner educators, trainers, and supervisors. Practitioners make every effort to ensure that the rights of peers are not compromised when students or supervisees are assigned to lead Practitioners groups or provide clinical supervision.

6. Varied Theoretical Positions. Practitioners present varied theoretical positions so that students and supervisees may make comparisons and have opportunities to develop their own positions. Practitioners provide information concerning the scientific bases of professional practice.

7. Field Placements. Practitioners develop clear policies within their training program regarding field placement and other clinical experiences. Practitioners provide clearly stated roles and responsibilities for the student or supervisee, the site supervisor, and the program supervisor. They confirm that site supervisors are qualified to provide supervision and are informed of their professional and ethical responsibilities in this role.

8. Dual Relationships as Supervisors. Practitioners avoid dual relationships such as performing the role of site supervisor and training program supervisor in the student's or supervisee's training program. Practitioners do not accept any form of professional services, fees, commissions, reimbursement, or remuneration from a site for student or supervisee placement.

9. Diversity in Programs. Practitioners are responsive to their institution's and program's recruitment and retention needs for training program administrators, faculty, and students with diverse backgrounds and special needs.

F.3. Students and Supervisees

1. Limitations. Practitioners, through ongoing evaluation and appraisal, are aware of the academic and personal limitations of students and supervisees that might impede performance. Practitioners assist students and supervisees in securing remedial assistance when needed, and dismiss from the training program supervisees who are unable to provide competent service due to academic or personal limitations. Practitioners seek professional consultation and document their decision to dismiss or refer students or supervisees for assistance. Practitioners ensure that students and supervisees have recourse to address decisions made to require them to seek assistance or to dismiss them.

2. Self-Growth Experiences. Practitioners use professional judgment when designing training experiences conducted by the practitioners themselves that require student and supervisee self-growth or self-disclosure. Safeguards are provided so that students and supervisees are aware of the ramifications their self-disclosure may have on practitioners whose primary role as teacher, trainer, or supervisor requires acting on ethical obligations to the profession. Evaluative components of experiential training experiences explicitly delineate predetermined academic standards that are separate and do not depend on the student's level of self-disclosure.

3. Practitioners for Students and Supervisees. If students or supervisees request Practitioners, supervisors or practitioner educators provide them with acceptable referrals. Supervisors or practitioner educators do not serve as practitioner to students or supervisees over whom they hold administrative, teaching, or evaluative roles unless this is a brief role associated with a training experience.

4. Clients of Students and Supervisees. Practitioners make every effort to ensure that the clients at field placements are aware of the services rendered and the qualifications of the students and supervisees rendering those services. Clients receive professional disclosure information and are informed of the limits of confidentiality. Client permission is obtained in order for the students and supervisees to use any information concerning the Practitioners relationship in the training process.

5. Standards for Students and Supervisees. Students and supervisees preparing to become practitioners adhere to the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Practice. Students and supervisees have the same obligations to clients as those required of practitioners.

G.1. Research Responsibilities

1. Use of Human Subjects. Practitioners plan, design, conduct, and report research in a manner consistent with pertinent ethical principles, federal and state laws, host institutional regulations, and scientific standards governing research with human subjects. Practitioners design and conduct research that reflects cultural sensitivity appropriateness.

2. Deviation From Standard Practices. Practitioners seek consultation and observe stringent safeguards to protect the rights of research participants when a research problem suggests a deviation from standard acceptable practices.

3. Precautions to Avoid Injury. Practitioners who conduct research with human subjects are responsible for the subjects' welfare throughout the experiment and take reasonable precautions to avoid causing injurious psychological, physical, or social effects to their subjects.

4. Principal Researcher Responsibility. The ultimate responsibility for ethical research practice lies with the principal researcher. All others involved in the research activities share ethical obligations and full responsibility for their own actions.

5. Minimal Interference. Practitioners take reasonable precautions to avoid causing disruptions in subjects' lives due to participation in research. f. Diversity. Practitioners are sensitive to diversity and research issues with special populations. They seek consultation when appropriate.

G.2. Informed Consent

1. Topics Disclosed. In obtaining informed consent for research, practitioners use language that is understandable to research participants and that (1) accurately explains the purpose and procedures to be followed; (2) identifies any procedures that are experimental or relatively untried; (3) describes the attendant discomforts and risks; (4) describes the benefits or changes in individuals or organizations that might be reasonably expected; (5) discloses appropriate alternative procedures that would be advantageous for subjects; (6) offers to answer any inquiries concerning the procedures; (7) describes any limitations on confidentiality; and (8) instructs that subjects are free to withdraw their consent and to discontinue participation in the project at any time.

2. Deception. Practitioners do not conduct research involving deception unless alternative procedures are not feasible and the prospective value of the research justifies the deception. When the methodological requirements of a study necessitate concealment or deception, the investigator is required to explain clearly the reasons for this action as soon as possible.

3. Voluntary Participation. Participation in research is typically voluntary and without any penalty for refusal to participate. Involuntary participation is appropriate only when it can be demonstrated that participation will have no harmful effects on subjects and is essential to the investigation.

4. Confidentiality of Information. Information obtained about research participants during the course of an investigation is confidential. When the possibility exists that others may obtain access to such information, ethical research practice requires that the possibility, together with the plans for protecting confidentiality, be explained to participants as a part of the procedure for obtaining informed consent. (See B.1.e.)

5. Persons Incapable of Giving Informed Consent. When a person is incapable of giving informed consent, practitioners provide an appropriate explanation, obtain agreement for participation, and obtain appropriate consent from a legally authorized person.

6. Commitments to Participants. Practitioners take reasonable measures to honor all commitments to research participants.

7. Explanations After Data Collection. After data are collected, practitioners provide participants with full clarification of the nature of the study to remove any misconceptions. Where scientific or human values justify delaying or withholding information, practitioners take reasonable measures to avoid causing harm.

8. Agreements to Cooperate. Practitioners who agree to cooperate with another individual in research or publication incur an obligation to cooperate as promised in terms of punctuality of performance and with regard to the completeness and accuracy of the information required.

9. Informed Consent for Sponsors. In the pursuit of research, practitioners give sponsors, institutions, and publication channels the same respect and opportunity for giving informed consent that they accord to individual research participants. Practitioners are aware of their obligation to future research workers and ensure that host institutions are given feedback information and proper acknowledgment.

G.3. Reporting Results

1. Information Affecting Outcome. When reporting research results, practitioners explicitly mention all variables and conditions known to the investigator that may have affected the outcome of a study or the interpretation of data.

2. Accurate Results. Practitioners plan, conduct, and report research accurately and in a manner that minimizes the possibility that results will be misleading. They provide thorough discussions of the limitations of their data and alternative hypotheses. Practitioners do not engage in fraudulent research, distort data, misrepresent data, or deliberately bias their results.

3. Obligation to Report Unfavorable Results. Practitioners communicate to other practitioners the results of any research judged to be of professional value. Results that reflect unfavorably on institutions, programs, services, prevailing opinions, or vested interests are not withheld.

4. Identity of Subjects. Practitioners who supply data, aid in the research of another person, report research results, or make original data available take due care to disguise the identity of respective subjects in the absence of specific authorization from the subjects to do otherwise.

5. Replication Studies. Practitioners are obligated to make available sufficient original research data to qualified professionals who may wish to replicate the study.

G.4. Publication

1. Recognition of Others. When conducting and reporting research, practitioners are familiar with and give recognition to previous work on the topic, observe copyright laws, and give full credit to those to whom credit is due.

2. Contributors. Practitioners give credit through joint authorship, acknowledgment, footnote statements, or other appropriate means to those who have contributed significantly to research or concept development in accordance with such contributions. The principal contributor is listed first and minor technical or professional contributions are acknowledged in notes or introductory statements.

3. Student Research. For an article that is substantially based on a student's dissertation or thesis, the student is listed as the principal author.

4. Duplicate Submission. Practitioners submit manuscripts for consideration to only one journal at a time. Manuscripts that are published in whole or in substantial part in another journal or published work are not submitted for publication without acknowledgment and permission from the previous publication.

5. Professional Review. Practitioners who review material submitted for publication, research, or other scholarly purposes respect the confidentiality and proprietary rights of those who submitted it.

H.1. Knowledge of Standards

Practitioners are familiar with the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Practice and other applicable ethics codes from other professional organizations of which they are member, or from certification and licensure bodies. Lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of an ethical responsibility is not a defense against a charge of unethical conduct.

H.2. Suspected Violations

1. Ethical Behavior Expected. Practitioners expect professional associates to adhere to the Code of Ethics. When practitioners possess reasonable cause that raises doubts as to whether a practitioner is acting in an ethical manner, they take appropriate action.

2. Consultation. When uncertain as to whether a particular situation or course of action may be in violation of the Code of Ethics, practitioners consult with other practitioners who are knowledgeable about ethics, with colleagues, or with appropriate authorities.

3. Organization Conflicts. If the demands of an organization with which practitioners are affiliated pose a conflict with the Code of Ethics, practitioners specify the nature of such conflicts and express to their supervisors or other responsible officials their commitment to the Code of Ethics. When possible, practitioners work toward change within the organization to allow full adherence to the Code of Ethics.

4. Informal Resolution. When practitioners have reasonable cause to believe that another practitioner is violating an ethical standard, they attempt to first resolve the issue informally with the other practitioner if feasible, providing that such action does not violate confidentiality rights that may be involved.

5. Reporting Suspected Violations. When an informal resolution is not appropriate or feasible, practitioners, upon reasonable cause, take action such as reporting the suspected ethical violation to state or national ethics committees, unless this action conflicts with confidentiality rights that cannot be resolved.

6. Unwarranted Complaints. Practitioners do not initiate, participate in, or encourage the filing of ethics complaints that are unwarranted or intend to harm a practitioner rather than to protect clients or the public.

H.3. Cooperation With Ethics Committees

Practitioners assist in the process of enforcing the Code of Ethics. Practitioners cooperate with investigations, proceedings, and requirements of the Ethics Committee or ethics committees of other duly constituted associations or boards having jurisdiction over those charged with a violation. Practitioners are familiar with the Policies and Procedures and use it as a reference in assisting the enforcement of the Code of Ethics.

It should be understood that a Tkoh, Practitioner is in a different category than standard psychological Practitioners and it is important that the client you are dealing with understands this as well as it helps eliminate or reduce confusion on the public’s behalf. The practice is about spiritual health and not mental health and should remain limited to spiritual health. Therefore the practice is about relationships with God and others and helping clients to understand that God is the only solution in life for all things. As members of The Kingdom of Hearts Organization, Association of Tkoh, Practitioners it is important that we are clear in all of our dealings. As members we are held to a higher standard in all things and we should all conduct ourselves in that manner.

Membership fees for the 2003-04 years are $48 annually. Membership fees cover a one-year period and should be renewed at least one month prior to expiration. These fees help to provide funding for the promotion of ethical standards and educational programs for the practice of standards for Tkoh, Practitioners. In addition, membership includes licensing for use of The Kingdom of Hearts Cognitive Restructuring Program for use by your clients. The program is free to members however there is a one-time charge of $7.95 for S&H in addition for the first years membership. The license for the Cognitive Restructuring Program may be used by all of your staff and is not limited to the original purchaser of the license. Each member will receive a Certificate of Membership in the association. Members will be updated by e-mail to the changes in the law and the possible effects or possible implications. Members will also receive by email, updates and changes of the Cognitive Restructuring Program.

Each member in good standing will retain their voting rights on issues that affect the association. Members will be notified by email as to matters that need to be voted on. Members may be asked to serve on one of the regional ethics committees. Each member shall serve on the committee for a period of not less than five years unless otherwise agreed. Ethics committees will govern all aspects of conduct, membership and future practices of the association.