WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT IS AND ISN'T CONFIDENTIAL

As your counselor will explain to you in your first session, Cornerstone falls under federal law regarding confidentiality. Basically, we cannot tell someone whether you are or are not a client here without your written consent UNLESS (1) we are court ordered (this would have to be a special court order and you would know about it BEFORE information was released), (2) we have to tell medical personnel in a medical emergency, (3) you commit a crime on our property or against a staff member, or (4) in the case of a qualified research, audit or program evaluation. We might also break confidentiality if we had good reason to believe that you were an immediate danger to yourself or someone else. In addition, we are required by law to report any information we have about suspected child or elder abuse or neglect, including women in their third trimester of pregnancy who report current use of illegal drugs.

If you want us to be able to talk to someone about your appointment times, accept payments from someone other than yourself, let your employer know you are attending, etc., you will need to sign a release of information allowing us to do so.