About Confidentiality
I will treat with great care all the information you share with me. It is your legal right that our sessions and my records about you be kept private. Recent laws were enacted to protect any information about you that is transmitted electronically. (Please read my privacy policy brochure).
If you need records to be released, you will sign a “release-of-record” form before I can talk about you, your child, or send my records about you to anyone else.
When is confidentiality not protected?
In all but a few rare situations, your confidentiality is protected by state law and by the rules of my profession. Here are the most common cases in which confidentiality is not protected:
1. If you were sent to me by a court for evaluation or treatment, the court expects a report from me. I this is your situation, please talk with me before you tell me anything you do not want the court to know. You have a right to tell me only what you are comfortable with telling.
2. Are you suing someone or being sued? Are you being charged with a crime? If so, and you tell the court that you are seeing me, I may then be ordered to show the court my records. Please consult your attorney about these issues.
3. If you make a serious threat to harm yourself or another person, the law requires me to try to protect you or that other person. This usually means telling others about the threat. I cannot promise never to tell others about threats you make.
4. If I have cause to believe a child or an elderly person has been abused or neglected, I am legally required to report this to the authorities without your consent.
There is another situation in which I might talk about part of your case with another psychologist. When I am away from the office for a few days, I have a trusted fellow psychologist be “on call” for me. This psychologist will be available to you in emergencies. Therefore, he or she needs to know about you. Generally, I will tell this person only what he or she would need to know for an emergency. Of course, this psychologist is bound by the same laws and rules as I am to protect your confidentiality.
How long do you keep my records?
It is my office policy to retain clients’ records for 10 years after the end of our therapy. For minor children who are seen, I keep those records until age 28.
What if I want my records from couples or family therapy to be released, or I want my minor child’s records release?
If we do family or couple therapy and you want those records released, I must have the consent of all adult parties to the therapy.
Parents and guardians must consent for their child’s records to be released. Step-parents with no legal relationship to the child cannot consent to such release. Please consult your divorce decree if you are required to get both parent’s consent for any psychological treatment. Under most circumstances, only one legal parent’s signature is required for treatment of minor children.