8 – Confidentiality of the counselling service at KWC

Although the counselling service at KWC is confidential there are limitations to that confidentiality. You will be asked to sign a document which says that you agree with these limitations.

• On registering for the KWC counselling service, you will be allocated a code number. A register of your name and number will be kept in a locked cabinet by the Coordinator of KWC.
• Counsellors are required to keep brief handwritten notes of sessions. These notes will be identified by your allocated code number. Client files are kept in a locked filing cabinet at the Centre. You have the right and are welcome to read these notes at any time.
• Client files will be kept for 10 years as required under the Health and Disability Act. They will then be destroyed by shredding.
• Under KWC policy and the Code of Ethics of NZAC, counsellors are bound to be alert for any circumstances where they believe that you or somebody else is in danger of harm. They will let you know if they are concerned about this and will talk with you about your willingness to protect yourself and others. Only if they continue to be concerned would they inform anybody else.
• As part of maintaining professional standards and ensuring that counsellors provide the best possible service, they undertake clinical supervision with an independent supervisor who is also bound by confidentiality. At these sessions counsellors will discuss their work with clients.
• This free counselling service is made possible by the generous support and financial contribution of various funders. KWC has agreed to show funders that we are meeting the guidelines and criteria as agreed in our contracts. One of the ways Funders may measure our compliance, is to assess the work of the counsellors. This may mean that the file about your sessions with your counsellor may be viewed by an assessor from the funder. The assessor is only interested in the work of the counsellor and seeing that they are working with you in an appropriate manner. All identifying information about you will be removed from your file before being seen. The assessor is also bound by confidentiality and has no authority to act on any information in these files.