Because a family member is in counseling, It was also necessary for me to have a session with the counselor and I paid the fee. Recently, I contacted the counselor by e-mail and asked if he would be willing to meet again with a young family member who needed serious help with this ongoing family situation. Because the counselor had met with this child before, he was aware of the serious situation this person was in. Instead of just notifying me that it would or would not be a good idea, the counselor went to the other older family member and revealed the content of the e-mails. Needless to say, this caused much undo hardship on the young person who was already dealing with a trying situation. What amount of privacy should we have been able to expect? If this was a privacy breech, can we sue the counselor?

J_9

It really all depends on the dynamics of the particular counseling and the reasons for the counseling in general, along with the relationship of the family member, the child, etc as well as if any release forms have been signed.

Fr_Chuck

And it depends on the relationship of the "older familiy member"
If this is a younger chlds parents, then yes he can discuss this with them.
* or thier guardian.

J_9

There are way too many "what if's" here to give you an accurate answer.

Wondergirl

I'm saying the following based on the information you posted:

I have been a marital and family counselor and will take a stab at this. In this case, the counselor's client is the family member ("X"). A counselor has a therapeutic relationship and written or verbal confidentiality agreement only with the client, in this case X. The counselor has no relationship with or obligation to you or the child ("Z")

The counselor has brought in various other members of the family to help in unraveling X's concerns. You were one of those family members. The child ("Z") had also been included in at least one session.

Your email and the information you provided was unsolicited by the counselor. You didn't mention in your question if you had asked the counselor to keep your email confidential. Even so, the counselor is not obliged to do so. I'm guessing the counselor weighed the therapeutic pros and cons of revealing the information and decided to share it with the client.

It sounds like Z has his own issues to deal with, so I suggest Z find his own counselor, and especially talk through what happened in X's counseling situation.

The only privacy the counselor owes is to his client. He does not owe anything to anyone else, no matter what their revelations are. This should be stated at the beginning of each session that includes someone besides the client.

From what you have written, I do not see the possibility for a lawsuit. The counselor had every right to reveal the contents of your email to his client, even if you paid the fee for a session. The counselor has no obligation to you.

VJK9

The couselor knows that the child is dealing with a parent with an anger problem. Shouldn't the counselor expect to speak to the child at some point to be able to see how the child is dealing with this issue. This is a teenager who thought the counselor could be counted on to keep her concerns private, since the counselor knew the parent could and would react angrily. Also, the counselor HAD assured the child that whatever she said to him would remain confidential. The counselor was just asked if he would talk to the child again. The thought was that he might discreetly ask the parent if he might speak to the child again without revealing that the child wanted to meet with him. If this is not a breech of confidentiality, isn't it at least poor judgement on the counselors behalf.

Wondergirl

Again, the child is not this counselor's client, so why should the counselor worry about how the child is dealing with "this issue" (the parent's anger problem?). If I were this counselor, I would give the child the names of three counselor possibilities or at least suggest that he find a counselor, so that the child could get some counseling too.

This therapist should not be mixing apples and oranges by trying to counsel both parent and child. Only one should be this counselor's client, unless both came in together as co-clients at the beginning of counseling.

How do you know the counselor truly assured the child of confidentiality--from the counselor himself, from the child, or from your best guess? I find it difficult to believe the counselor would have promised such a thing if the child is not the client.

What are the counselor's credentials?

This is beginning to sound like a game of secrets and "he said-she said" with the counselor sitting in the middle.

Before filing suit or getting further upset, calmly and nicely find out why the counselor had a "breech of confidentiality" (if that's what it was)--in person, or at least by phone (not email). Maybe the counselor actually has a therapeutic plan in place.

froggy7

Furthermore, if the teenager is the child of the "angry parent" in counseling, then the counselor has to figure out who is going to be paying for the counseling. Which would normally be the parent. Further, as the child's legal guardian, I believe that the parent might have to consent to the child having the counseling. Although that might be waived in some situations.

J_9

Froggy I didn't want to give you a reddie, although that post surely deserved one. Did you read the whole post?

froggy7

I did read the whole post. We have a family situation, with one, unspecified, family member who goes to the session to provide background. This family member then called the counselor and asked if he would see another, younger family member who is having to deal with the situation, and that the counselor revealed the "content of the e-mails". The OP later said that the child is dealing with a parent with an anger problem.

Since this is not exactly a clearly-laid out story, I made the following assumptions: The "younger family member" is an offspring of the "parent with an anger problem", and not of the "unspecified family member" (or else they would have referred to the kid as "my child"). I also made the assumption that the e-mails referred to the unspecified family member's request that the counselor see the child.

Ergo, it sounds to me like we have an adult asking a counselor to establish a professional relationship with child that is not under that adult's legal guardianship. Which raises a whole host of other potential issues, outside the anger management problem. One of which is, the counselor may have a positive duty to inform the child's legal guardian before entering into any kind of arrangement.

Now, if that's not what the original poster meant, perhaps it will serve as an illustration of why it is important to write clearly when asking questions.