Counseling Speaking About Clients Casually

Counseling Speaking about clients casually in public is fundamentally inappropriate, unethical, and against the standards of the counseling profession. Students often reveal intimate secrets of their personal life in counseling sessions and depend on counselors more than their peers to keep their information private. It is hard enough to get young people to open up and express their needs, feelings, fears, and dreams.

The only way students will be able to continue to trust their school counselors is to be as respectful of their privacy as possible, and to not divulge secrets in public, even if first names are not being used. Even without using proper names, a student's well-being could be compromised if her or his secrets were revealed. What students reveal to us should remain behind closed doors under all but the most extreme of circumstances.

Counselors who do violate their client's confidentiality in by say, talking about clients in the school cafeteria should be confronted as soon as possible. Joking about clients to "let off steam" is a deplorable excuse that reeks of selfishness and unprofessional behavior. If speaking about clients inappropriately is the counselor's only way to not take life seriously, I would advise him or her to take up a new hobby or go out with their friends more on the weekends.

I believe that the counselor should be confronted as soon as possible. Letting the problem go too long could cause the habit to become ingrained and more difficult to prevent and stop. Moreover, if left untended, the problem could slowly become a norm. Other counselors might also sneak in little tidbits of their clients' information just to keep the conversation going or to avoid seeming uptight. It would be sad if speaking about clients inappropriately became a norm within our profession.

We as counselors have an obligation to confront our colleagues over matters related to confidentiality in order to protect the needs of our students and to maintain respect for our profession. Therefore, the first time a colleague spoke about a client in an inappropriate way, I would probably remain silent and standoffish as a way of expressing disapproval. I would avoid eye contact during the conversation and change the subject immediately to discourage a continuation of the topic. Hopefully the colleague would get the hint.

If the other counselor did not get the hint and again referred to his students at inappropriate times, then I would say something to him or her directly. In the most respectful way possible, avoiding insults and accusations, I would tell the colleague that I really didn't think it was appropriate for the divulgence of clients' secrets. I would state clearly that the behavior made me uncomfortable, to personalize the issue and to avoid sounding didactic.

I would ask that he or she please refrain from gossiping about clients and remind him or her of the responsibilities of our profession. I might mention how students can't trust us if we violate their privacy, and that his conversation was not just harmless gossip. If possible, I would also talk with a.