Confidentiality

To the outsider, Music Therapy might look like just a fun jam session; two or more people just playing music. In truth, it is much more than that. As we've discussed previously, a music therapy treatment plan is carefully crafted after a comprehensive assessment, which includes a client history as well as a functional assessment. It is exactly what the name entails, music THERAPY. The clinician and the client are working on some sort of problem or deficit, and anything of that nature is SENSITIVE and PRIVATE! Then, too, anything that happens in a therapy session, music therapy or otherwise, is private between the client(s) and the therapist. CONFIDENTIAL. A sacred trust between two (or more) people. You know...what happens in therapy STAYS in therapy.

Recently I had two brain scans ...and SOMEHOW, SOMEWHERE, my medical information was compromised. How did 3 people in my former workplace learn of my issues? I didn't tell anyone, and I hardly ever worked side by side with these people. It was unnerving to me to think that people I barely knew in this very small and narrow town somehow knew that I was having medical issues. AND--you know how rumors spread, and how inaccurate they can be! Needless to say, it will probably be an icy day in --well, you know where...before I'll use the local hospital or the doctor here again. I should probably put in a complaint somewhere, because HIPPA violations are serious business. So you can understand why confidentiality is such a hot spot with me. I know what it's like to have it violated--and it isn't pretty. It would kill me to think of putting someone through what I went through. AND--there is the matter of it being a criminal matter to breach confidentiality. I don't know of anyone who's been prosecuted, but the penalties are stiff--tens of thousands of dollars in fines, and yes, even prison time, should the misdeed be large enough.

There are children with whom I work whose parents all know each other, and they all know that each others' children receive music therapy services. Some of these people have even met my husband, and have been forthright with telling him about the childrens' therapy. That is their choice...but as a clinician, if someone asks me about another child, all I can do is say, "I really have no information on that child," or something equally vague and generic. Nothing more. I cannot divulge progress, any identifying information about the child, and I can't discuss things at home.

Again, confidentiality is a sacred trust between clinician and client. In my humble opinion, it even transcends the legal; it is a matter of the heart and soul. When someone entrusts you with the heart and soul of their child, or of their own, it is the very least you can give them. Take it seriously.

Stay tuned...