Question

Assume that you intend to practice in a private practice setting in Canada. Please provide a clear and exhaustive list of the limits of confidentiality (in simple language that could easily be understood by a client irrespective of level of education). Please also discuss the ethics and laws related to record keeping. Finally, discuss the extent to which the treatment of children can be kept confidential from their parents and at what age they are deemed capable of consenting to treatment. (See the CCPA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.)

you should be familiar with all relevant ethical codes and standards according to CCPA,2015 . Attached the link Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. (2015). Standards of practice. (5th ed.). Ottawa, ON: Author. Retrieved from http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/StandardsOfPractice_en_June2015.pdf

You are to explain all three elements. How would you explain confidentiality to a client. What is the role of confidentiality? When can it be broken? What do the codes say about confidentiality? Record keeping discuss how do you keep records protected? Discuss the ethics of the protection of records? When discussing children what can be kept confidential or can anything be confidential? Use the codes to support your answer.

Answer 1

Following are the protocols related to confidentiality:

1. Seek and collect only information that is germane to the purpose(s) for which consent has been obtained.  

2. Take care not to infringe, in research, teaching, or service activities, on the personally, developmentally, or culturally defined private space of individuals or groups, unless clear permission is granted to do so.

3.Record only that private information necessary for the provision of continuous, coordinated service, or for the goals of the particular research study being conducted, or that is required or justified by law.

4. Respect the right of research participants, employees, supervisees, students, and trainees to reasonable personal privacy.  

5. Collect, store, handle, and transfer all private information, whether written or unwritten (e.g., communication during service provision, written records, e-mail or fax communication, computer files, video-tapes), in a way that attends to the needs for privacy and security. This would include having adequate plans for records in circumstances of one’s own serious illness, termination of employment, or death.

6. Be careful not to relay information about colleagues, colleagues’ clients, research participants, employees, supervisees, students, trainees, and members of organizations, gained in the process of their activities as psychologists, that the psychologist has reason to believe is considered confidential by those persons, except as required or justified by law

7. Clarify what measures will be taken to protect confidentiality, and what responsibilities family, group, and community members have for the protection of each other’s confidentiality, when engaged in services to or research with individuals, families, groups, or communities.

8. Share confidential information with others only with the informed consent of those involved, or in a manner that the persons involved cannot be identified, except as required or justified by law, or in circumstances of actual or possible serious physical harm or death.

In case of children, the protocols differ in terms of the fact that many may be brought to therapy by the parents. However, confidentiality still remains a protocol that needs to be adhered to therefore te modifications from that of adult ethical principles is as follows: 1. Parents and guardians do not have an absolute right to know all the details of their child’s counselling, but rather, each request should be evaluated on a ‘need to know’ basis.

2. Each school, as well as other work environments, which provides counselling services to children, should establish a protocol that should involve counsellors and other appropriate persons in adjudicating parental or guardian requests for information about their child’s counselling information.

3. As a child grows and matures, the parent’s right to know will diminish and may even terminate when the child achieves the capacity and sufficient understanding to give informed consent.

The role of confidentiality is therefore crucial since it is one of the primary concerns for many clients who may be coming in to confide in a 'free space'. The assurance that the information will be maintained in records with complete secrecy and that it is confidential may be healing in many ways. Catharsis as a process is said to be therapeutic and explaining this factor to clients may prove to be highly beneficial. In case of children who prove to be a potential threat to their own life or that of others, this protocol can be challenged and the information needs to be provided to the parents/guardians. However, in all other cases the information that is crucial to the child as an individual remains between the client (the child) and the therapist & must not be leaked.