Is the service confidential?
Our counselling service is completely confidential. We will not give your name or any information about you to anyone outside Bright Light, unless someone's personal safety is at risk. Everyone who works at Bright Light is bound by a code of confidentiality and will not normally give your name or any information about you to anyone outside Bright Light without your permission.
However, it must be said that confidentiality has clearly defined limits. No counsellor will break the law to maintain client confidentiality. The law insists that where a serious crime has taken place, a counsellor, once informed of the fact, is obliged to disclose that fact to the authorities. At the same time Bright Light is obliged to follow child protection procedures and will involve statutory services where a child is deemed to be at risk. When domestic abuse occurs where a family has young children, Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) procedures are followed.
We follow the guidance provided by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BCAP) for storage of records. Our records are kept for one year before being destroyed. Where a client has chosen to disclose incidents of domestic abuse, self-harm or reference to vulnerable child protection we keep records for 6 years.
