Client Confidentiality
All counselling is confidential subject to the restricitions of English law, regulation and ethical practice. Counsellors' have a legal duty to report anything to do with terrorism or acts of terror.
If you were to divulge problems involving significant or life-threatening risk of harm to self or others, then your counsellor may have to act on the information provided. Naturally, your counsellor would talk to you about anything your brought to the counselling room and where possible, they would not break confidence without your prior knowledge and, ideally, consent.
Medical records
We do not advise your GP or anyone else that you are coming to counselling unless you ask us to. Meanting that your counselling session with us would not go on your medical records.
Should you require us to make a GP referral or write a letter to your GP, then we would discuss and agree on the contents of the referral letter with you before sending it.
Couples and family groups
If you are coming as a couple or family group, there may be occasions where we require to see you as individuals i.e. as part of the assessment process.
The one-to-one session are confidential between us, however should you share something that other family member do not know and could be damaging to the therapy process we will ask you to bring the issue up in therapy in order for the therapy sessions to develop. If you are unable to do this it could result in termination of therapy.
Children and Young Adults
We can work with children and young adults with parental or guaridan consent. As with adults the counselling sessions are private and we do not disucss the session with the parents or guaridans (unless the child was at risk).
Older children who self-refer will be accepted depending on age and understanding and you would be given the same level of confidentiality afforded to an adult client.
Third-party paying
Counselling is confidential, so if a third-party (i.e. employer or family member) is paying for you. which means they are not entitled to know the content of the counselling sessions unless you choose to let them know.
There only information we would share is your attendance and participation in order for us be paid for our service.
If we are required to complete a discharge summary then we would advise you accordingly at the beginning of therapy and we would discuss the report with you and agree on the content.
Clinical supervision
All professional bodies in the UK require counsellors to have regular clinical supervision. Therefore your counsellor will discuss their work with you in supervision, without breaking confidentiality in terms of of any recognisable data about yourself specifically.
Abuse and risk of harm
At present, there is no legal duty on counsellors in independent practice to disclose any form of abuse, even child abuse. However, we do have an ethical and moral responsibility for your wellbeing and the wellbeing of others.
If we felt that you or someone you told us about was at imminent risk of serious harm, we might have to act on that. Should something like this come about, your counsellor would discuss it with you so you could agree on a way forwards. Only in the most exceptional circumstances would we make a report without your prior knowledge and consent. We would much prefer to empower you to make the report yourself, even if that takes a little longer.
Self-harm and suicidal ideation
We do not report self-harm (including drug use and eating disorders) or suicidal ideation, except in the most extreme situations. For example, if you said you would leave and jump under a train. We would much prefer to work with you, helping you to find more helpful coping strategies.
Legal obligations
If you were to disclose anything to do with acts of terror or the funding of terror activities we have a legal duty to report this. If we receive a court order or coroner’s request, we have to comply. We would not release your notes without such order, or your written consent.
Any questions?
The rules and guidance around client confidentiality are complex and developing. If you have questions regarding client confidentiality, please complete the contact form, call us on 01708 607 412.