By Dheja Lewis, Practicum Student
Confidentiality is a necessary part of therapy and its process. Confidentiality means restricting access and disclosure of a client’s personal information to others who are not approved to access this information. It gives clients the ability to be comfortable in the things they want to disclose or seek help with the therapist without worrying that what they have disclosed will be a topic of conversation amongst other people. Confidentiality is an ethical standard the counselor must uphold.
With this being said, confidentiality does have some limitations that must be followed and will disclose client information if required. If a client is in danger of harming themselves or others, the therapist is legally required to break confidentiality and report the information which is called mandated reporting. Also, if the therapist is subpoenaed to release the client’s information then the therapist is legally required to release that information to the court. The therapist can inform the client that their information will have to be disclosed.
Confidentiality is important because it protects the client’s privacy of information that they have told the therapist. It also helps the therapist and client’s therapeutic relationship due to the nature of being trustworthy and essentially holding the client’s “secret”. Again, the therapist will only have to disclose information about the client when it is court ordered or the client is in danger of harming others or themselves.