Confidentiality

All counselors at Counseling Services are under ethical and legal obligations not to release confidential information. Counselors cannot tell anyone (this includes parents, friends, professors, and administrators) that a student is receiving counseling at Counseling Services. Confidentiality can be broken if the student gives direct written permission to the counselor or in certain circumstances, verbal permission (i.e. over the phone in an emergency). The following exceptions allow counselors to break confidentiality:

1. If a counselor believes a client poses a clear and imminent risk to him/herself or others, the counselor is required to notify responsible individuals in order to protect the client or specified others.
2. If a client is under 18 years of age and a victim of child abuse or if information about another child undergoing abuse is revealed, a counselor is required to report relevant information to child protective services..
3. A counselor may be required to release information as a result of a court order in connection with legal proceedings.
4. A counselor may discuss the information obtained in clinical or consulting relationships for professional purposes but only with persons clearly connected to the case. For example, a counselor may discuss confidential information with a supervisor within Counseling Services.

PLEASE NOTE: The exceptions to confidentiality are rare. If circumstances require a breach of confidentiality, whenever appropriate, an effort will be made to discuss such actions with you.