Confidentiality is the foundation of counselling. If people couldn’t trust that what they shared in therapy stayed between them and their counsellor, there would be no point in going. At Transformation Counselling, confidentiality means that:
what you share in counselling remains between you and your therapist
even the very fact that you are attending counselling is confidential
if you see your therapist in public, he or she will not greet you unless you greet him or her first
The only thing that takes precedence over confidentiality is safety. That is why there are four limits to confidentiality where your counsellor must report to the appropriate authorities:
if you say you are going to kill yourself
if you say you are going to hurt someone else
if you say that a child is being abused
if you say that you have been abused by a licensed professional, such as a physician or another counsellor
It is also possible that if you are involved in a court case, your therapist's notes could be subpoenaed.