Week 3 Discussion: Continue Your Discussion
Confidentiality: When You Need to Share Student or Client Secrets
Professional counselors must follow legal and ethical guidelines to protect their clients’ or students’ privacy and confidentiality. However, they also need to protect their clients or student clients from self-harm and harm by others, and they need to protect other people from potentially dangerous clients or student clients. At times, these duties may limit a client’s or student’s right to confidentiality. State laws contain specific statutes or regulations that mandate when a counselor must break confidentiality to protect clients or students from harm. Schools and agencies also have specific guidelines and policies that must be followed in such cases.
Preparation
To prepare for this activity, review the following list of resources:
Week 3: Confidentiality: When You Need to Share Student or Client Secrets.
Instructions
Respond to one of the prompts below:
What are some common legal/ethical concerns that tend to emerge when working with clients who are a threat to others? How can counselors continue to build empathy and understanding when “duty to warn” and other state laws require the counselor to break student or client confidences?
What are some ways that counselors can identify and respond to instances of abuse or neglect in their clients? How can counselors work with clients to develop safety plans and connect them with appropriate resources?
What is self-harm, and how can counselors intervene with clients who engage in these behaviors? In the event a counselor is charged with malpractice, what evidence do you think should be collected to substantiate that the counselors’ actions were both ethically and legally sound?
What about this week’s content did you find to be of most interest or most applicable to counseling practice, to your personal or professional life, and/or to your academic journey?