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Future Students

Statement of Confidentiality

  1. Seneca
  2. Student Services & Support
  3. Support Services
  4. counselling
  5. Privacy
  6. Statement of Confidentiality

We respect the concerns that you may have about the privacy of the material that you share with your counsellor. This information will be held in strictest confidence and no one outside the Counselling and Accessibility Services office will have access to information about you without your signed consent. In some situations, however, we may need to be in contact with your health care providers or, in some cases, with professional staff of the Health Centre in order to establish a Circle of Care and provide you with coordinated services. In these circumstances, and in accordance with Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, we would share with your care giver(s) only such information as is necessary for your assessment or treatment. However, you may, at any time, expressly request that we not share specific information with a particular care giver.

There are six exceptions to this agreement for which we might need to breach confidentiality:

  1. If you intend to harm yourself
  2. If you intend to harm another person
  3. If you or your counsellor has a strong reason to think that a Seneca Community member may be at risk of harm based on information that you provided in your session
  4. If there is a reasonable suspicion that a child (any individual up to their 16th birthday) is at risk of emotional and/or physical neglect or emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse. We are required by law to report this to the Children’s Aid Society immediately.
  5. If you are involved in a court case and the judge thinks that counselling is relevant to the case, your file might be subpoenaed.
  6. If you have a complaint about a regulated health professional (e.g., doctor, nurse, psychologist, chiropractor, or massage therapist, etc.) with respect to their inappropriate sexual behaviour towards you, and you provide us with that individual’s name, we are required to report this complaint to their regulatory body.

In cases requiring crisis intervention, counsellors may adopt a team approach to help ensure the provision of the highest quality care.

I have read this information and understand that I have the opportunity to discuss any concerns I might have about these limits with my counsellor. I agree to work within these limits of confidentiality.