[Daeva]

I see a counselor on the side, and I have her cell # in case I need her. However I wondered when she's out of work do I still have confidentiality with her?

[Daeva]

Anyone????????????

[learning1]

I don't know if I exactly understood your question. Were you asking if your counselor stops working as a counselor whether she still has to maintain confidentiality? I don't know, I always assumed that therapists have to maintain confidentiality indefinitely. I suppose the thing that enforces that is that they could loose their license and their career if they get caught breaking confidentiality. But I can think of two questions-
1. Is your therapist/counselor licensed by some professional organization that guarantees confidentiality? Since you called her a counselor, I guess she's not a regular psychologist or social worker?
2. If any therapist quits their profession, I wonder what is left to enforce confidentiality? Does anyone know? Could they get sued or something if they blatantly broke confidentiality, even after they had stopped being a therapist?

[Hope-Full]

Always. Ts communication with clients should always be confidential (unless, of course, there is a potential harm to the client or to another.) That's why there can't be a dual relationship - T is always T, and will (or should) always keep every conversation in confidence.

[tealBumblebee]

Yes you do. If confidentiality was limited to in the work place - a T could simply wait until 5:01 pm (or whatever time), pull out the parking lot and just start telling it all. The relationship between you two is that of a counselor/client - there would likely be few other reasons that you two would discuss anything not relevant to that - all of which is covered under their confidentiality clause.

[Daeva]

Originally Posted by learning1

I don't know if I exactly understood your question. Were you asking if your counselor stops working as a counselor whether she still has to maintain confidentiality? I don't know, I always assumed that therapists have to maintain confidentiality indefinitely. I suppose the thing that enforces that is that they could loose their license and their career if they get caught breaking confidentiality. But I can think of two questions-
1. Is your therapist/counselor licensed by some professional organization that guarantees confidentiality? Since you called her a counselor, I guess she's not a regular psychologist or social worker?
2. If any therapist quits their profession, I wonder what is left to enforce confidentiality? Does anyone know? Could they get sued or something if they blatantly broke confidentiality, even after they had stopped being a therapist?

I meant at the end of their work day.

[Daeva]

Thanks guys! My counselor is just that a counselor, not a licensed social worker or anything.

However she has a degree for counselling. ANd I know I have confidentiality in office but she gave me her cell # for emergencies when I needed her really bad. And so I just wanted to make sure I still had the confidentiality I would have in office!

[lrt1978]

I would hope so, as I see it if you are ringing her as a client because you need help, then you should expect the same as you get of you are in the therapy room.

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[Littlemeinside]

Yes, theres confidentiality, whether you call her in the middle of the night and after you stop seeing her at some point. It doesn´t stop unless you ask her to give some third part information. Don´t worry. It´s a basic/ safe part of a client/ T relationship - in and outside of session.

[Perna]

I would discuss it with your counselor, your thoughts and worries. There is no hard and fast "law" that you could convict a therapist/counselor on if they told something you thought was private. I would make sure my counselor and I were on the same page as far as what is private and what she might tell another and how/why/in what conditions, etc.

I believe clients can be talked about with others, without identifying details, just as we might discuss people we know at work or socially with others if their thoughts/stories illustrated a point we were making or a difficulty we were having. Ts are going to think, "Oh, that reminds me of Perna" when others say/do something, just as we are, and there is always the, "I know someone who. . .".

Ts are probably less likely to blurt something out than the rest of us but we can never know which is why it is good to really talk with one's therapist and get a good sense of the sort of person they are. If I had a really open therapist who revealed a goodly amount about themselves or other clients to me, and that bothered me (it does not Me), I think I would be a bit more discreet about how/what I told them as they may be equally as likely to share about us in the "I know someone who. . ." conversations of life.

[Daeva]

Thanks guys! I'll discuss this with my counselor more when I see her on wednesday, I realized what I needed for her could wait, I just had to sit with my anxiety for a bit.