Output details

Confidentiality and Record Keeping in Counselling and Psychotherapy

Confidentiality and record-keeping are one of the most rapidly developing areas of law and the most common source of dilemmas for counsellors where privacy competes with other ethical imperatives. This is the first text to take a systematic overview of legal and ethical issues for this profession.

The law is viewed as a form of authoritative public ethical discourse designed to structure and regulate human activity but not necessarily coherently nor free of uncertainty, ambiguity and ethical dilemmas.

Research questions

-What are the current opinions and legal/ethical issues that most concern counsellors about these topics?

- What is the applicable law – where this can be established?

Methodology

1.Quotations from practitioners at the start of chapters have been systematically selected to represent the range of professional views expressed in 2.

2.A series of ten workshops and consultations were held over the preceding three years in the four countries of the UK to capture the current ethical and legal issues facing practitioners. Some issues were followed up by interviews, email exchanges and other communications.

3.A quantitative analysis was undertaken of issues raised with the relevant professional help line.

4.Legal analysis, mainly based on original sources of law, was the main strategy for establishing the applicable law using forensic reasoning and to identify areas of uncertainty or conflicting views.

5.The organisation of the text was based on a thematic analysis of 1-4.

The lead author (Bond) was responsible for about 70% of analysis and writing drawing over 15 years of researching these topics and related professional practice and consultancy.

Dissemination

- On-going consultations at events and workshops to communicate findings but also to gather professional and legal data for a new edition – currently being written

- Over 3,200 copies sold mainly in UK but also Australia, New Zealand and USA