Confidentiality is the foundation for ethical and compassionate mental health treatment. However, for mental health professionals working in a higher education setting, information sharing can be more complex than “I can’t confirm or deny.” Clinicians on college and university campuses must navigate information sharing with various stakeholders and help them understand its limitations.
In addition, campus mental health clinicians may struggle with how to balance the sometimes-divided loyalties between their employment obligations and their professional
ethics. Clinicians must consider a variety of ethical and legal concerns as they work to offer the best possible treatment to the students they serve while also balancing the safety of the broader community. This workshop provides a legal update on pressing issues for campus counseling center directors and clinicians related to confidentiality and information sharing with various campus and community partners, working with the Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT)/CARE team, recordkeeping, campus risk management, and safety concerns.
After completing this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Explain how privacy, confidentiality, and privilege operate to protect clients’ needs.
- Discuss how college counselors serving on BITs can effectively fulfill their ethical and professional responsibilities to clients while meeting institutional needs to protect students and the college/university community.
- Apply the “duty to warn” standard to decisions about sharing privileged information.
- Demonstrate the role of college and university counselors in responding to various campus crises.
- Explain the role of the counselor in mitigating risk related to harm to self and others.