Confidentiality

Counsellors shall treat all communication between counsellor and client as confidential and privileged information, unless the client gives consent to particular information being disclosed.

 

Counsellors should take all reasonable steps to communicate clearly the extent and limits of the confidentiality they offer clients. Any agreement between the counsellor and client about confidentiality may be reviewed and changed by joint negotiation.

 

Exceptions to confidentiality occur when:

• there is serious danger in the immediate or foreseeable future to the client or others,

• the client’s competence to make a decision is impaired,

• legal requirements demand that confidential material be revealed,

• responding to a complaint about counselling practice.

 

When counsellors need to pass on confidential information, they should provide only the minimum of information necessary and only then to those people to whom it is absolutely necessary.

 

New Zealand Association of Counsellors. (2020). NZAC code of ethics.