Confidentiality
One of the cornerstones of any counselling approach is confidentiality.
Whatever you say within your counselling session is completely confidential between you and your counsellor. There are boundaries to that, however, which need to be made explicit:
- As part of continuing professional development I have regular supervision during which I may talk about the work that we do. When I talk about clients in supervision I do so in such a way that they are not identifiable - the purpose of supervision is more about my process than the client's details.
- There is certain legislation which tips the legal balance in favour of disclosure, for example regarding drug trafficking and terrorism. If you were to mention something in counselling about involvement in criminal activity then I would have to consider my position.
- Similarly if you tell me that you might harm yourself, or others, this is something where I would have to broach disclosure with you.
These things aside, I return to the base that whatever you say within your counselling session is completely confidential between us.
Ethical considerations
I work under the guidelines set out by the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) in their Ethical Framework. This covers all aspects of professional conduct, perhaps most relevant here is confidentiality. (see above)
The BACP provides a specific Online Code of Ethics and Practice, to ensure that online therapy is provided only by experienced, qualified therapists and counsellors who are additionally and specifically trained in the field.