Ethics in Professional Mediumship

The Sacred Responsibility of Professional Practice

When you offer mediumship services professionally, you hold immense power and responsibility. Clients come to you vulnerable, grieving, seeking answers, desperate for connection. They trust you with their deepest pain, their most precious hopes, their spiritual wellbeing.

This sacred trust demands the highest ethical standards. Your integrity, honesty, and commitment to client welfare must be absolute—because the potential for harm is real, and the consequences of unethical practice can be devastating.

This guide outlines the ethical principles every professional medium must uphold.

Core Ethical Principles

1. Do No Harm

The foundation of all ethical practice.

This means:

• Never use fear to manipulate clients
• Don't create dependency or control
• Avoid causing unnecessary distress
• Recognize when your services might harm rather than help
• Refer clients to appropriate professionals when needed

Red flags of harmful practice:

• Telling clients they're cursed or hexed
• Claiming only you can help them
• Creating fear to sell more services
• Encouraging dependency on readings
• Interfering in major life decisions

2. Honesty and Integrity

Tell the truth, always.

Be honest about:

• Your abilities and limitations
• What you're receiving (or not receiving)
• Your level of experience and training
• What mediumship can and cannot do
• When you don't know something

Never:

• Make up messages to please clients
• Claim abilities you don't have
• Guarantee specific outcomes
• Exaggerate your accuracy or experience
• Use cold reading tricks to fake ability

3. Client Empowerment

Your role is to empower, not to control.

Empowering practice:

• Clients make their own decisions
• Messages offer guidance, not commands
• You encourage client's own intuition
• Readings support client autonomy
• You teach clients to connect with spirit themselves

Disempowering practice:

• Telling clients what they must do
• Creating dependency on your readings
• Claiming to have all the answers
• Discouraging client's own spiritual development
• Making clients feel they can't function without you

4. Confidentiality

What happens in a reading stays in a reading.

Protect client privacy:

• Never share client information without permission
• Don't use client stories publicly (even anonymously) without consent
• Secure storage of client records
• Professional discretion at all times

Exceptions:

• Imminent danger to self or others (legal duty to report)
• Child abuse or neglect (mandatory reporting)
• Court order (legal requirement)

5. Informed Consent

Clients must understand what they're agreeing to.

Before any reading, explain:

• What mediumship is and how it works
• What to expect (and not expect)
• Your process and methods
• Fees and policies
• Limitations and disclaimers
• Client rights (to stop, ask questions, etc.)

Scope of Practice

What Mediums CAN Do

• Facilitate communication with deceased loved ones
• Provide spiritual guidance and insight
• Offer comfort and closure
• Share messages from spirit guides
• Support spiritual growth and development
• Provide evidential information for validation

What Mediums CANNOT Do

• Medical diagnosis or treatment: Not doctors, can't diagnose or prescribe
• Legal advice: Not lawyers, can't advise on legal matters
• Financial advice: Not financial advisors, can't give investment advice
• Mental health treatment: Not therapists, can't treat mental illness
• Guarantee outcomes: Can't promise specific results
• Make decisions for clients: Can only offer guidance

When to Refer Out

Refer clients to appropriate professionals when they need:

• Medical care (physical symptoms, illness)
• Mental health treatment (depression, anxiety, trauma, suicidal thoughts)
• Legal counsel (legal issues, court matters)
• Financial planning (money management, investments)
• Couples/family therapy (relationship issues)
• Addiction treatment (substance abuse)

You can work alongside these professionals, but never replace them.

Financial Ethics

Fair Pricing

Charge fairly for your time and skill:

• Research market rates in your area
• Price based on experience and demand
• Be transparent about all costs
• No hidden fees or surprise charges

Unethical pricing:

• Exploiting vulnerable clients with excessive fees
• Requiring ongoing expensive services
• Claiming you need payment to "remove curses"
• Pressuring clients to buy more sessions

Money and Spirituality

It's ethical to charge for professional services.

You deserve fair compensation for your:

• Time and energy
• Years of training and development
• Skill and expertise
• Business expenses

Charging money doesn't diminish your gifts—it honors them and makes your work sustainable.

Sliding Scale and Pro Bono

Consider offering:

• Sliding scale for those with financial hardship
• Limited pro bono sessions for those in crisis
• Payment plans for expensive services
• Free community events or demonstrations

Balance generosity with sustainability—you can't serve if you're broke.

Vulnerable Populations

Working with the Grieving

Extra care required:

• Recognize acute grief (first weeks/months after loss)
• Don't promise to connect with specific spirits
• Be gentle with difficult messages
• Encourage grief counseling alongside readings
• Never exploit their desperation

Minors

Special considerations:

• Require parental consent for readings
• Parent should be present during session
• Age-appropriate communication
• Extra sensitivity to impact of messages
• Mandatory reporting of abuse or danger

Mental Health Concerns

Red flags requiring referral:

• Active psychosis or delusions
• Suicidal ideation
• Severe depression or anxiety
• Inability to distinguish reality from spirit contact
• Using readings to avoid mental health treatment

You are not a therapist. Know your limits.

Professional Boundaries

Dual Relationships

Avoid conflicts of interest:

• Don't read for close friends or family (objectivity compromised)
• No romantic/sexual relationships with clients
• No business partnerships with clients
• Maintain professional distance

Session Boundaries

Maintain clear structure:

• Set time limits and stick to them
• Start and end on time
• Stay focused on client's needs, not your ego
• Don't share your personal problems
• Maintain energetic boundaries

After-Session Contact

Guidelines:

• Limited contact between sessions
• Professional communication only
• No late-night calls or texts
• Charge for additional time if appropriate
• Refer to policies established upfront

Accuracy and Accountability

Honest Assessment of Accuracy

No medium is 100% accurate, ever.

Be honest about:

• Your typical accuracy rate
• When you're not getting clear information
• Possibility of misinterpretation
• Difference between evidential and interpretive information

When You're Wrong

If you make a mistake:

• Acknowledge it honestly
• Apologize if appropriate
• Don't make excuses or blame the client
• Learn from the error
• Adjust your practice accordingly

Continuous Improvement

Ethical practitioners:

• Continue training and development
• Seek mentorship and supervision
• Stay current with best practices
• Regularly assess and improve skills
• Remain humble and teachable

Marketing Ethics

Honest Advertising

Do:

• Accurately represent your services
• Share genuine testimonials (with permission)
• Be clear about what clients can expect
• Highlight your training and experience truthfully

Don't:

• Make guarantees or promises you can't keep
• Use fear-based marketing
• Claim to be "the best" or "most accurate"
• Fake testimonials or reviews
• Exaggerate abilities or results

The Ethical Medium's Pledge

I pledge to:

• Practice with integrity, honesty, and compassion
• Put client welfare above personal gain
• Work within my scope of practice
• Maintain confidentiality and professional boundaries
• Charge fairly and transparently
• Continue learning and improving
• Refer clients to appropriate professionals when needed
• Acknowledge my limitations and mistakes
• Empower clients rather than create dependency
• Honor the sacred trust placed in me

Your reputation, your clients' wellbeing, and the integrity of mediumship as a profession depend on your ethics.

Choose integrity. Always.

Build your ethical practice with our Professional Medium collection: client forms, ethics guidelines, professional development resources, boundary-setting tools, and materials to support your commitment to the highest standards of professional mediumship.