Differences in Competency and Qualification Requirements between APA and ACA Code of Ethics: A Reply to Gerson

The present article is a reply to Gerson’s (2019; see this present issue of JISS) commentary regarding our article published in JISS: “Differences in Competency and Qualifications between APA and ACA Code of Ethics” (Firmin, DeWitt, Zurlinden, Smith, & Shell, 2019; see this present issue of JISS). I address six main issues related to Gerson’s commentary: (1) He seemingly interjects—or projects—his own suppositions onto the factually-based study that we conducted. (2) Gerson highlighted the aspirational “guidelines” that the APA promulgates for various specialties but such guidelines are completely and totally unrelated to the study that we conducted. (3) Gerson makes some factual errors of which I make note. (4) Our reasonable recommendation to compare two codes was without cause extended to suggest that undergraduates should compare all codes. (5) Gerson belittles the details between the two codes but I argue that it is the differences—and not the similarities—that are important for the argument we make in the article. (6) For an inexplicable reason, Gerson advocates that professional psychologists and counselors are not expected to obey 100% of their respective ethical codes. I argue that such reasoning is the result of ignoring the thesis of our present article and eventually will lead to ethical charges/allegations.