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Confidentiality
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Our Services are Confidential
Counseling Services adheres to the all applicable legal and professional standards of confidentiality and privacy for counselors and counseling records. Except for legally mandated exceptions to confidentiality (see the next section below), students are assured the information shared with the counselor as well as all their counseling records will remain confidential. No information will be released to others (including parents, administrators, faculty, other students) without the student's permission.
Exceptions to Confidentiality
In the instances listed below, counselors are legally mandated to disclose information from counseling records:
- When someone in the care of the counselor becomes an immanent threat to self or others, the counselor is legally mandated to take the steps necessary to protect those in danger which may include notifying other persons and/or emergency personnel.
- When a counselor learns or suspects a child or a vulnerable adult is being abused or neglected, the counselor is required to notify proper authorities.
- When there is a medical emergency the counselor is required to disclose any information relevant to the person's health or safety.
- When a counselor is served with a legal subpoena or court order to provide copies of counseling records the counselor must comply. This would most likely happen in a case involving child custody (when the mental health records of a parent might be of interest to the court) or in a criminal case (where the mental health records of the accused is of relevance to the case).
In the event the counselor is legally mandated to disclose confidential information from a student's counseling records, Counseling Services will attempt to inform the student, in advance of the intended disclosure, if circumstances allow.
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