During the first counselling appointment, you will be given information about confidentiality and your counsellor will review this with you. Confidentiality is a legal obligation and priority of Student Health and Wellness. Information is not released outside the Student Wellness team without permission from you. See the policy information. There are however specific circumstances, as identified by law, where a health professional is required to disclose certain information. 

A counsellor will break confidentiality: ​

• If you are at immediate risk to harm yourself
• If you intend to harm another person
• If you or your counsellor has a strong reason to think that another individual may be at risk of harm based on information that you provided in your session
• If you have a complaint about a regulated health professional (e.g., doctor, nurse, psychologist, chiropractor, massage therapist...) with respect to their inappropriate sexual behaviour towards you, and you provide us with that individual’s name, we are required to report this complaint to their regulatory body
• If you are involved in a court case and the judge thinks that counselling is relevant to the case, your file might be subpoenaed.
• If there is a reasonable suspicion that a child (under 16 years of age) is at risk of emotional and/or physical neglect or emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse. We are required by law to report this to the Children’s Aid Society immediately

Let your counsellor know if you require more clarification regarding the confidentiality or privacy of your information.

You can learn more about the variety of campus and community resources and services available to you by meeting with one of our counsellors; they may be able to assist you with the referral process if required. A list of resources is also available on our Resources page.