Is counselling confidential?
Yes, what you discuss with a counsellor is confidential, barring exceptional circumstances. This means that parents, teachers, friends and others cannot be given any information revealed by you without written consent to release information. However, there are situations where this is not the case. The exceptional circumstances where confidentiality may be breached are outlined in our Confidentiality Policy.
Confidentiality means that what you discuss with your counsellor will be kept private. The counsellors work within the Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy and all counsellors have regular external consultative support for their work. The identity of the client is safeguarded. If anyone outside the service enquires about a particular student, we explain to them that it is a confidential service and that we cannot comment on whom we are seeing or not seeing. We do listen to the concerns of the enquirer and try to assist them in making their own choices about how to approach or help someone else. There are exceptional and rare circumstances beyond the boundaries of confidentiality. Where possible the counsellor will seek to discuss these prior to any disclosure or action.
