Confidentiality  

As a licensed clinical social worker my services are completely confidential by law.  There are two or three exceptions to the principle of confidentiality depending on the client’s age.  If you are an adult (18 and over), by law I have to inform whomever I think is appropriate in cases where, in my professional opinion, someone is going to do harm to themselves or someone else.  I have to break confidentiality with children younger than eighteen for the same reasons but also when I suspect they have been abused in any way or severely neglected.