Your privacy is of utmost importantance to me. Respecting confidentiality is part of my professional code of ethics. More importantly, it is a condition of my professional license. Psychologists who violate patient confidentiality risk losing their right to practice psychology in the future.

To make your psychotherapy as effective as possible, you need to feel secure and safe enough to be completely open and honest about your innermost thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It can be overwhelming, but you don't have to worry about your psychologist sharing your secrets with anyone except in the most extreme situations.  More precisely, if you reveal that you intend to harm yourself or someone else, I have a legal duty to report this to authorities for your own protection and that of others. Psychologists must also report abuse, exploitation or neglect of children, the elderly or people with disabilities.  In rare cases, we are required to provide certain information in court cases.

Of course, you can always give me written permission to share all or part of our discussions with your doctor, or anyone else if you wish.  Except in the case of the above-mentioned situations, this is your choice and nobody else's.

Psychologists take confidentiality so seriously that they may even pretend not to know you if you ever meet in public. Of course this goes both ways - in no way should you feel pressure to acknowledge knowing me if we cross paths in a public place.  If this happens between us, don't worry and don't feel bad; I will understand that you are simply protecting your privacy.