Privacy is important and it is vital to the work we do. There are some limits to confidentiality. Everything said in counselling is confidential. This means that unless we have verbal or written permission from the client, we won’t discuss their information with others, including family members, except in special circumstances, as listed below.
If clients have a doctor’s referral, we are obliged to provide a brief report to that doctor after 6 and 12 sessions, or earlier, if appropriate.
There may be times when information is provided to other professionals in order to protect the client or others from harm. We are bound by law to do this. The specific types of situations are a) if a client is likely to harm themselves or others and b) if there is a child at risk of harm and c) if the courts compel us to disclose information.
To provide a quality service, we seek peer supervision with other Psychologists. During supervision, we discuss cases in a confidential situation when appropriate. These discussions are respectful, identifying information is not used and the focus is solely on how best to provide services to the client. All psychologists are bound by the same rules of confidentiality and code of conduct.
We hope this is helpful in understanding confidentiality and its limits, however, please feel free to email us with any questions on info@clearwatercentre.com.au.
