Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Seguin, Angela DiNunzio" <>]

Colleagues,

My office, Student Wellness & Health Promotion, offers a variety of services. 
 Two of my colleagues are Substance Abuse Counselors whose work is regulated 
by federal law 42CFR on confidentiality in drug & alcohol counseling.  42CFR 
Part 2 specifies that drug & alcohol counselors may not break a client's 
confidentiality to share disclosures (of any kind - including sexual assault, 
sexual harassment, IPV & stalking) that are given in the context of 
counseling.  

One of the Substance Abuse Counselors is a licensed counselor and the other 
two are certified Substance Abuse Counselors, but not licensed.  So we had a 
lively discussion today about whether or not they are required to disclose 
reports of sexual violence for Title IX and Clery.  Both Title IX and Clery 
indicate that licensed & pastoral counselors are exempt from reporting, but 
because the two certified Substance Abuse Counselors don't exactly fit that 
description, our Director would like them to put in the "good faith effort" 
to report disclosures without victims' names or identifying information to 
our Title IX Coordinator and Clery Compliance Officer.

My licensed colleague called the American Counseling Association's Risk 
Management staff for guidance about which expectation trumps, and she was 
told that 42CFR trumps and if a counselor breaks a client's confidentiality 
by sharing such a disclosure, that counselor could lose their counseling 
license.  So the staff is very concerned about this catch 22 situation.  We 
are also consulting with our institution's Legal Counsel but I'm guessing 
that some of you may have also had to grapple with this situation.

Have any of your offices faced this dilemma and what decisions have you come 
to on the issue?  Thanks for any assistance you can provide!!!

Angela Seguin
University of Delaware

Sent from my iPad