Confidentiality

The Counseling Staff maintains strict rules of confidentiality.

Information shared between client and counselor will not be released to anyone without the consent of the student.

The only exceptions to this code are:

  • when the counselor believes that the student may be in danger of causing harm to her/himself or to another person,
  • when a court of law enacts a court order to have counseling records subpoenaed,
  • when the counselor needs to consult, in a professional manner, with another care provider in order to gain knowledge that will be helpful
    in the client's treatment considerations, and
  • when a student reports potential harmful behavior about another student.

In these cases, the counselor will discuss with the student what she or he must do.

A separate confidential counseling file is established for each client and is maintained for five years from the student's year of graduation. 
At that time all file contents are shredded.

For more information on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),
follow this link:

http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html