Confidentiality and Privacy Policy

Confidentiality

In general, the information that you share with me will remain confidential. This means that I must protect your privacy and not share information about you with others. This applies whether the information is given to me verbally or in written form and extends to the fact that you have attended or are going to attend counselling with me.

Record Keeping

Keeping records of our work together is critical to helping me keep track of our progress together and for the purposes of accountability. You have the right to view the records I keep about you upon request.

I will keep all records relating to our work together for a period of at least seven (7) years from the date of your last contact with the service. Under some circumstances I may be required to keep records for a longer period.

I have a legal obligation to protect this information, and I do so by ensuring:

All paper records are kept in a secure filing cabinet to which nobody else has access.
All electronic records are kept in a secure folder to which nobody else has access.
I keep information relating to your identity (such as your intake form) securely separate from your session notes.

Limits of Confidentiality

It is important that you understand, however, that there are certain circumstances under which I will share information about you or about what you have told me.

These situations are:

Where you have explicitly given me permission to share information, such as informing your emergency contact of an emergency situation or when you have signed your permission for a referral.
Where I consider you to be at risk of harming yourself or someone else.
Where I consider a child to be at risk.
In cases where a significant crime may be or has been committed.
Where your counselling records, or part thereof, have been requested by a court of law.

At times, I may also discuss aspects of our work together with my professional supervisor. This is an important part of meeting my professional responsibilities.

I will not provide information that could identify you in the course of these discussions.