L'Arche: Homes for People Who Are Mentally Retarded

The author describes L'Arche, an international federation of homes for mentally retarded people, and explores the views of Jean Vanier, the organization's founder, on issues of social justice and world peace. The therapeutic relationships formed in L'Arche communities are compared to healing counselor-client relationships, and the role of the counselor as consultant on problems related to mental retardation is discussed.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A BEHAVIORALLY BASED PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM

This paper describes the development of a behaviorally based performance appraisal system. Blanz and Ghiselli's Mixed Standard Scale was used as the basis for developing the performance appraisal system for assessing the performance of highway patrol personnel. However, the particular developmental procedures described here differ in some respects from those reported in the literature. Rather than developing rating items describing general traits such as "diligence,""initiative," or "enthusiasm" in behavioral terms, the items in the present scale were developed to describe proficiency levels of specific job tasks. This characteristic is expected to enhance the objectivity of the evaluation system for both appraisal and job counseling purposes. The appraisal instrument was subjected to a series of reliability and validity tests that demonstrated its high reliability and validity. Although the content of the appraisal sytem desribed here included highway patrol tasks, a similar system could be developed using the procedures described for a wide variety and level of jobs.     

Conflicts Between Ethics and Law in Counseling and Psychotherapy

Codes of ethics are designed to guide and govern the behavior of the professional for whom they are written. In such fields as counseling, psychology, and social work, ethical standards are necessary to protect clients, guide professionals, safeguard the autonomy of professional workers, and enhance the status of the profession. Sometimes, however, the professional worker finds that the ethical standards of the profession seem to be in conflict with the law. These conflicts may arise in such areas as advertising, confidentiality, and clients' rights of access to their own files. The authors discuss the nature, ramifications, and implications of ethical-legal conflicts in the helping professions.