Confidentiality and record keeping

The default

What you say in a session stays with the practitioner you said it to. Practitioners here do not discuss clients with each other socially, do not confirm to anyone that you attend, and do not greet you first in the street. If we are asked whether you are a client, the answer is that we do not confirm who attends.

When it is broken

There are four situations, and only four.

• A child or an adult at risk is in danger.
• There is a real and immediate risk to your life or to someone else's.
• A court orders disclosure, or the law requires it, including terrorism and proceeds of crime obligations.
• You have asked us in writing to share something, for example with your GP.

How that is handled

Wherever it is safe to do so, you will be told what is being shared, with whom and why, before it happens. Only the minimum necessary is shared. Breaking confidentiality is never used as a threat and never used to manage difficult behaviour.

Notes

Practitioners keep clinical notes for the period their professional body and insurer require. Notes are factual, proportionate and written on the assumption that you may one day read them, because you are entitled to. They are held securely, under password or lock, and never left in a shared room. Independent practitioners are the controllers of their own notes.

Supervision

Therapeutic practitioners are required to take their work to clinical supervision. Cases are discussed there without identifying details, which is a professional safeguard for you rather than a loophole. Supervisors are bound by the same duty of confidence.

Shared spaces

Reception conversations are kept brief and non-clinical, waiting areas are arranged so that nothing needs to be said out loud, and paperwork is never left face up. If you would rather not be seen arriving, ask, and we will find you a quieter time.