4.4.10.5 : Counselors and Counselees

Because of the potential for emotional harm, individuals should not engage in any kind of intimate relationship when in an official counselor/counselee relationship. Romantic intimacy between a licensed counselor or therapist and a client violates professional codes of ethics. If a consensual relationship commences during an official relationship, the official relationship should immediately be terminated and never be started again, and the counselor or therapist must report such a relationship to his or her supervisor. Similarly, individuals in, or who have been in an intimate relationship, should thereafter never again enter a counseling relationship.