Is counseling confidential?
Yes. No information discussed in the counseling sessions is released from the Counseling Center without your written permission. In some cases, if you would pose a clear and immediate danger to yourself or others, information could be released without your permission to ensure your safety and/or the safety of others. Consultation with other Counseling Center professionals occurs when necessary and appropriate. We provide a private setting and a confidential relationship in which students may discuss their concerns. Your counselor will discuss confidentiality and its limits with you in the first session. For any additional questions that you may have regarding confidentiality, please read our on-line Policy Regarding Informed Consent and Confidentiality.
Yes. Confidentiality is very important to us. All client information is kept strictly confidential, however, there are a few exceptions involving legal matters or serious risks to safety. If you would like to learn more about these please download our Informed Consent Form. Keep in mind that we will not release information to parents, professors, or any other outside parties unless the client asks us to communicate that information and provides prior written consent. Neither the fact that a student seeks counseling, nor any information about the sessions will appear on their student academic record.
Confidentiality is strictly respected at the Counseling Center, and all staff members are expected to abide by the American Psychological Association’s standard of ethical principles. Both law and the ethics of professional practice of psychology require that information discussed during counseling sessions must be kept strictly confidential. No information about students seen at the Counseling Center can be shared with anyone outside of Rensselaer Student Health Center without the student’s written consent. Unless it is a matter of a student being at a clear and present danger to themselves or someone else, you specifically give us your permission, we have been served with a court order, or we are required by law (as with child or elder abuse), we promise that whatever you share with us stays with us. Outside of the rare circumstances listed above, we will tell no one that you came to the Counseling Center, why you came, or what you shared. Your parents, friends, resident assistants,
