One of the most important aspects of therapy – and one of the most fundamental ethical and legal obligations of counsellors and psychotherapists – is that of client confidentiality.
At the Meridian Centre we work to ensure the highest possible standards when it comes to protecting your privacy, and maintaining confidentiality, whilst meeting our professional and legal obligations.
- All Meridian Centre records are maintained in safe, online client record systems which meet the highest legal standards.
- Our therapists are all qualified, or nearing final qualification, understand their own legal and ethical responsibilities and adhere to the codes of practice of their membership body
- Our therapists work to British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists, UK Council for Psychotherapy and National Counselling Society ethical frameworks,
- The Meridian Centre team all commit to continuous professional development.
So, what can you expect from our therapists?
To be offered a clearly explained therapeutic contract by your therapist at your first session. Your therapist will discuss your therapeutic contract with you – sometimes called ‘the shared agreement,’ ensuring you fully understand, accept, and support the terms and agreement made. Here is a copy of a Meridian Counselling Services contract.
To be offered the chance to talk about any limitations to confidentiality at the very start of your relationship. When you begin sessions with a new Meridian therapist, you will be offered the opportunity to discuss any limits to what remains strictly between the two of you. Your therapist will tell you when confidentiality needs to either be ethically or legally breached – e.g., for safeguarding reasons – and how that will be managed.
To be invited to give explicit consent to the keeping of records that contain personally sensitive information about you. As part of the contracting process, therapists will discuss with you how they keep records and how that meets GDPR requirements – they will also be able to explain GDPR to you if you have any questions, or signpost you to where you can find out more information.
To know who will make, keep, and have access to your notes and records. Your therapist will be able to tell you how your records will be kept, for how long, and for what purposes they will be retained, and when and how they will be destroyed. You will also be offered the opportunity to see what is being recorded about you if you wish to do so.
Confidentiality in therapy helps build trust between therapist and client, having confidence in your therapist, knowing that you are working with a professional who can offer you a safe space to explore your most difficult experiences and painful emotions, is crucial to the therapy process.
We work hard at the Meridian Centre to ensure that from the moment you make your first contact with the Centre, until long after your work with us ends, you can feel confident that we are maintaining the highest standards of privacy and confidentiality. And that you can place your trust in us and our therapists.
If you have any questions about confidentiality in therapy, feel free to contact us via Info@meridiancentre.co.uk, or if you are in therapy with us at the moment, then feel free to discuss it with your therapist at any time.
View a copy of a standard Meridian Counselling Services Contract
Read more about the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapist’s [BACP] Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions, the UK Council for Psychotherapy [UKCP] Code of Ethics and Professional Practice or the National Counselling Society’s [NCS] Code of Ethical Practice.