When you’re dealing with a lot of stress, having a therapist on hand can be a valuable tool. Mental health practitioners are invested in privacy, however, clients are often unclear how our ethics codes work. Here are a few tips so you can make informed decisions.
Active Danger Negates Privacy
A vague, “sometimes I feel I want to vanish” is fine. Being very depressed is also fine. But if you share that you’re planning suicide, your therapist has a duty to save you. Similarly, if you share you plan to hurt someone else, your therapist will sound the alert.
To figure out where the boundaries are, read the agreement. It should state the exceptions clearly and state what action will be taken.
Organisations Will Share Your Information
Therapists working in a hospital, medical practice or NGO will store client notes in a place where others can access them. This can be useful if you see different people, but you won’t know for sure who gets your information or what they do with it.
In a small organisation, your therapist can tell you who sees what. They typically won’t know in a large organisation because they don’t make those decisions.
The giant online platform BetterHelp was fined $7.8 million recently for selling private client information with major advertising platforms, including Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo, and Pinterest.
Know the difference between Registered and Accredited
A registered therapist belongs to an organisation. An accredited therapist shares your information with colleagues. They then talk about your sessions.
In theory, your therapist should anonymize your information. In practice this can be difficult, especially in smaller communities. Also, they may hand over their notes physically or send them via email.
Note: if your sole therapist is accredited, she may send your notes to a colleague at a hospital or university, and then nobody knows where those notes may end up.
Why does this happen? Mental health business practice has a lot of pyramid scheme or MLM mentality to it. (I know, I’m a cynic. But hang in there and you’ll see why.)
Someone figured out years ago that if you add in a fancy sounding title, unknowing customers will think you’re extra special.
With ‘accreditation’ therapists pay each other to look over each other’s notes and sessions. The theory is that it promotes extra high standards. It may do, but it also means privacy risk for clients.
The UK’s biggest provider of workplace mental health services, Health Assured, is now being investigated for allowing strangers to "eavesdrop" on confidential calls by listening in to the helpline without the knowledge or permission of callers, in the service of ‘accreditation.’
Also, the cost of chatting about sessions is passed down to the client. A double whammy that really makes me see red, because I believe services should be affordable.
How To Keep Safe
Ask questions. Ask, “Who sees my notes?” and “Where do you store your notes?” and “How often in the last year have you discussed a client session with a third party?”
A quality therapist will tell you all this up front, before you start sessions and share private information. She will also detail exceptions. And finally, it will all be in the agreement–in simple language, not legalese.
So, when you want mental health support, I hope this helps you feel confident and empowered when you reach out.
Note: with thanks to Chris Sansbury from Pixabay for the image.