Managing the Quagmire of Counseling in a School: Bringing the Parents Onboard

The American School Counselor Association's Ethical Standards for School Counselors respects parents’ rights and responsibilities toward their children and at the same time addresses confidentiality as the professional school counselor's primary responsibility. Educating parents and students about privacy, confidentiality, and privileged communication helps the professional school counselor avoid misunderstandings that impair the student-counselor relationship. By creating management agreements among administration, parents, students, and professional school counselors to clearly define the school counseling program, “agreed-upon conditions” can be determined, and an ethical environment and collaborative relationship are established. Providing information to parents and students about confidentiality through school Web sites, e-mail, public forums, printed media, and personal interactions will help ensure exposure to the concept of confidentiality within the school setting.