Students frequently ask the following questions about confidentiality:
- What if a professor calls to find out if a student has gone to the Counseling Center?
- What if a parent calls wanting to know if their son or daughter is getting help?
- What if a future employer wants to know if a PVAMU graduate has ever received counseling?
The Counseling Center staff takes its policy on confidentiality extremely seriously.
- No matter who calls seeking information about students or alumni, the answer is always something like this: "We are not allowed to disclose any information about students without a written release of information from that student. Therefore, we are not even able to tell you whether a person has ever sought services here."
Exceptions
1. You tell the counselor about someone being abused who is either under 18, over 65, or disabled. In these cases, the counselor is mandated by law to disclose that information to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
2. You discloses to a counselor that you feel like you will harm yourself or another person, the counselor may need to break confidentiality. That doesn't mean that students can't talk about suicidal or rageful feelings. Lots of students go through times when they feel this way.
3. A judge may force a counselor to turn over records to a court of law. This is very rare and only occurs when students are involved in some sort of legal proceedings such as custody cases and law suits.
- Our policy about confidentiality is based on state law, federal law and the ethics of the counseling/mental health profession.
- We believe strongly that students should be aware of how these policies work before they begin counseling. This is known as a client's informed consent.
- Students sometimes want their counselor to contact a professor or physician or other person. This can be done easily by filling out a "release of information form," which gives your written consent to release certain information to a specific individual.
Prairie View A&M University
Owens-Franklin Health Center
936/261-1400
1-800-346/3549
