Confidentiality
Confidentiality & limits to confidentiality
Therapy is confidential
It takes a great deal of courage to open up your inner world and share it with a complete stranger. In our sessions, you are safe to do so, that means what you say and even the fact that you see a therapist, will remain confidential. As a member of the BACP, I agree to not disclose content of sessions or talk about who I am seeing, outside the strictly confidential setting of professional supervision. Any notes I take during or after sessions are kept in a secure locked file. Notes are kept for seven years after the last appointment then they are destroyed.
There are two important limits to confidentiality in the UK:
1. Harm to self and others:
If a client discloses that he/she plan to harm him or herself or someone else, or that they are abusing a child, therapists in private practice have a discretionary right to report this or otherwise to get other people involved as appropriate. In such circumstances the right to confidentiality may no longer take priority. The client may or may not be consulted depending on the circumstances.
2. Money laundering, terrorism and other serious crime:
It is compulsory for all therapists including those of us in private practice to report to the authorities if a client discloses any involvement with terrorism and money laundering whether it’s related to drug trafficking or any other serious crime.
When we begin working together, I will ask you to read through and sign a working agreement which covers confidentiality. (Taken from BACP)
Privacy Statement
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), any personal information sent via this website will only be used to contact you with details of services you have requested. Your personal details will not be retained for any other purpose, nor will they be shared with any other organisation. (May 2018)
Facebook, Twitter or Messenger: In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), any personal information sent via Facebook or Messenger will only be used to contact you with details of services you have requested. Your personal details will not be retained for any other purpose, nor will they be shared with any other organisation. (May 2018)
Confidentiality when working with young people and children
There is no such thing as absolute confidentiality when working with young people; at all times child protection concerns will take precedence over normal confidentiality codes. The contract entered into with the young person at the beginning of the counselling relationship will spell out what this means in a way that is relevant to the young person’s maturity and level of understanding.
The young people will not be offered levels of confidentiality that cannot be kept. Absolute confidentiality therefore cannot be guaranteed. The welfare of the young person will, at all times, take precedence over confidentiality.
At the beginning of a counselling relationship, the counsellor will explain confidentiality and its limitations to the young person. Two of these limitations would include:
Therapy is confidential
It takes a great deal of courage to open up your inner world and share it with a complete stranger. In our sessions, you are safe to do so, that means what you say and even the fact that you see a therapist, will remain confidential. As a member of the BACP, I agree to not disclose content of sessions or talk about who I am seeing, outside the strictly confidential setting of professional supervision. Any notes I take during or after sessions are kept in a secure locked file. Notes are kept for seven years after the last appointment then they are destroyed.
There are two important limits to confidentiality in the UK:
1. Harm to self and others:
If a client discloses that he/she plan to harm him or herself or someone else, or that they are abusing a child, therapists in private practice have a discretionary right to report this or otherwise to get other people involved as appropriate. In such circumstances the right to confidentiality may no longer take priority. The client may or may not be consulted depending on the circumstances.
2. Money laundering, terrorism and other serious crime:
It is compulsory for all therapists including those of us in private practice to report to the authorities if a client discloses any involvement with terrorism and money laundering whether it’s related to drug trafficking or any other serious crime.
When we begin working together, I will ask you to read through and sign a working agreement which covers confidentiality. (Taken from BACP)
Privacy Statement
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), any personal information sent via this website will only be used to contact you with details of services you have requested. Your personal details will not be retained for any other purpose, nor will they be shared with any other organisation. (May 2018)
Facebook, Twitter or Messenger: In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), any personal information sent via Facebook or Messenger will only be used to contact you with details of services you have requested. Your personal details will not be retained for any other purpose, nor will they be shared with any other organisation. (May 2018)
Confidentiality when working with young people and children
There is no such thing as absolute confidentiality when working with young people; at all times child protection concerns will take precedence over normal confidentiality codes. The contract entered into with the young person at the beginning of the counselling relationship will spell out what this means in a way that is relevant to the young person’s maturity and level of understanding.
The young people will not be offered levels of confidentiality that cannot be kept. Absolute confidentiality therefore cannot be guaranteed. The welfare of the young person will, at all times, take precedence over confidentiality.
At the beginning of a counselling relationship, the counsellor will explain confidentiality and its limitations to the young person. Two of these limitations would include:
- When a young person is at risk of significant harm to self or others
- When the counsellor presents their cases anonymously in clinical supervision