Case Study Carolyn is a student pursuing her doctoral degree in professional counseling. She is 35 years old and her best option for pursuing her education was through a distance-based program. Accordingly, though she lives in a rural community outside Nashville, Tennessee, she is enrolled in a graduate program at Towaco University based in Chula Vista, California. Throughout her enrollment, she has attended three residencies in California, and she is presently in the field experience segment of her education. Carolyn is employed full-time as a counselor at a Christian counseling center. She has her master's degree and she is licensed. She arranges her practicum hours at a local inpatient addictions recovery center around the requirements of her full-time job so that she is usually working at her practicum site on nights and weekends. As a student at Towaco, she was asked to sign a statement as a condition of enrollment committing to follow the ACA Code of Ethics. She has always abided by the provisions of the code in the context of her role as a student. However, at her primary place of employment, Carolyn and her coworkers do not treat individuals who are part of the LGBT community. This week, Carolyn has been assigned a new client at the addictions center. Dominic is a 28-year- old gay male who has been married to James for 8 years. They have a 4-year-old son. The relationship is solid. Dominic was admitted to treatment because he became addicted to pain medication following a serious car accident. James is very supportive, visits Dominic as frequently as is allowed, and attends family therapy sessions. Carolyn is assigned to work with Dominic both individually and as a facilitator of the family group. As a conservative Christian, Carolyn is uncomfortable working The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 1115 with a gay couple. She has never had to do so at her full-time job. In Tennessee, there is a law that allows a licensed professional counselor to refuse to provide services to anyone based upon "strongly held personal beliefs." Carolyn tells her supervisor that she declines to work with Dominic and his husband and requests that the client be reassigned. The site supervisor suspends Carolyn and contacts her university supervisor in California. Given Carolyn's enrollment in an online counselor education program located in another state, this raises a number of questions when considering next steps. For example: 1. Which law or guideline is the primary guide for Carolyn's conduct as a practicum student at the addictions center? 2. What relevance is there to the fact that Carolyn is already a licensed professional counselor in Tennessee but only a student at the university in California? 3. What if any implications will there be if Carolyn similarly refuses to see a client who is gay at her full-time job? 4. Is Carolyn bound by the ACA Code of Ethics if she is not a member of the American Counseling Association?