Why your teen’s therapist needs to keep what they share in counseling confidential

One of the first questions teenagers will have when they begin teen counseling is, “what will you tell my parents?” “Will you tell them that I went partying till late in Wynwood, or that I was out in South Beach last weekend?” We can understand their concern, and if we were teenagers, we would be asking the same thing. The basis of therapy is trust and connection. For teen therapy to be effective, the teenager needs to establish report with the therapist and trust that they will not judge them and then go tell their parents everything from the therapy session.

So, what rights to parents have to know what happens in therapy and when will the teen therapist share information with the parents? Every teen therapist handles it a little different, but this is how our teen therapist handles confidentiality.

Rights Parents have in their Teen’s Therapy

Parents have the right to see and request a copy of the records and documentation from the teenager’s therapeutic files. This means that any notes that the therapist writes about the sessions, the parents can request to see. The next question is then, what is written in therapeutic notes? A lot of the time therapeutic notes will contain more information about the process and less about specific content. So, our teen therapist will not write the details about what happened at the party they went to in Miami Beach, but they will write how they talked about making logical and thoughtful decisions when they are with friends. Only the essential information related to the process of therapy, a general idea of what was spoken about and what interventions were used will be normally in therapy notes. If there is an emergency or crisis, that will all be documented and parents will be contacted.

When are Parent’s Contacted by their teen’s Therapist?

There are times when the therapist will break confidentiality between the teen and themselves and it is mainly around situations involving safety. If the teen is a potential danger to themselves or to others, the therapist will express their concern with the teenager and share that they need to discuss this with their parents. The teen therapist will encourage them to plan how both of them, the therapist and the teen, will have this conversation with the parents.  A lot of times, teenagers will prefer to have serious conversation with their parents with the therapist as well.

Another time that confidentiality is broken is if there is a suspicion of child abuse. In this case, the teen therapist is a mandated reporter and is required by law to report their suspicion.

The importance of Building Trust Between Teen Therapist and Teenager

It is extremely important that there is trust between the teen therapist and the teen in order for the therapy to be helpful. The reason trust is so important is because therapy requires the teenager being vulnerable and open to discuss things that are uncomfortable and different. If there is no trust, then this will not happen and the therapeutic process will stay at surface level- never really getting to the real issue.

Confidentiality Between Teen Counselor and Teenager helps therapy be effective

In order for a teenager to be willing to change they have to feel safe. In order to feel safe, they have to know that what they say stays between the therapist and the teenager, excluding the exceptions discussed above. It is important to note, that prior to the beginning of teen therapy, the teen therapist will go over all the details around confidentiality, what is written in the notes and when the therapist might feel they need to share something with the parent. Trust and honesty is the basis of safety for teenagers. They are so used to them not feeling heard or not being able to trust people, that it will take a lot of work and time for the teenager to trust the therapist but a huge crucial piece is knowing what they will share with the parents and when they ill share it.

Teen Counseling in Miami, FL and Online in Florida

I hope this has been helpful to better understand teen therapy and why it is so important that the therapist does not share everything with the parents. That being said, we often find that it is helpful for the parents and the teenager to have a session together, or for us to talk to the parents first, just so we can get the parent’s perspective and concerns. We offer teen therapy for teenagers in Miami, Florida. We also offer teen therapy online in Florida- for anyone that lives in the state of Florida. We offer online therapy, which we feel teenagers actually enjoy. Learn about our Teen Counseling here.