Disclosure made in therapy is being passed on as a safeguarding risk..

[Idontwantthat]

I'm having counselling and last week I disclosed that there had been S.A when I was young (this was 16 years ago)

During the opening few minutes of my session today my therapist said what we discussed was flagged as a (historical) safeguarding issue and it had to be passed on to social services as he's still out there. She wanted me to give his name and I very reluctantly did as it felt like I didn't have much choice and was under pressure.

I made it clear I don't want to speak to the police and I don't want my name mentioned to anybody and she said she would make a note of that.

I have a bad feeling now. I don't want her to do anything with the information. I know the statistics for prosecuting historical sex crimes and they don't weigh in the victims favour. I don't want to go back there. I mentioned it purely in a therapeutic manner so that I could process it and move on.

I don't think I'm going to feel comfortable disclosing anything else now.

Can somebody tell me if this is procedure or whether it's unacceptable?

Ifonlyoureyessawsouls

It is not 'good safeguarding procedure' to ask adults disclosing historic child sexual abuse the name of their assailants to then report it

It may be part of your work with them to help them do it if they wish to

But your job is the patient in front of you, no one else

(unless there are children directly at risk - for example the patients dad abused them and now they want or have access to the patients children - that is a DIRECT risk)

It is different with children and different in schools - where I have also worked for 15 years

And different in some of the NHS departments I work in (but again, the limitations are explained to the patient)

And different again in CAMHS - where I also work (and again the limitations are explained)

There is some dreadful misinformation on this thread that will only frighten adults who want to talk about their trauma

OP, it's clear your therapist is not qualified to deal with what may be complex trauma so you may need to go elsewhere for much better help

Is the person you dealt with specifically qualified to work with adoption? Adoption is legally a protected area for counselling and no one without specific training and validation by Ofsted is allowed to work in this area if that is the main presenting issue.

Also, I would ask them which membership body the organisation belongs to and which organisation the individual counsellor belongs to, and what are their insurance details. You might put the wind up them a bit!

I would agree with this.
An adult disclosing historical abuse you can certainly ask them if they would like support in disclosing abuse to the police or if they wish to disclose a name.
But the adult needs to be aware of the potential consequences of doing that before they do so.

Not standard procedure at all.

A therapist will usually warn you at the start of the therapy that if there are concerns about your immediate safety or the safety of others they would need to report this.

For example if your partner was abusing your child they would report it.

No therapist should report something that happened to you as a child (historical abuse) to the police without your consent.

If you were seeking support for sexual assault/rape they are also not allowed to pressure you to report it to the police.

This therapist has broken your confidentiality and should be reported as such to their manager.

Thank you for the supportive comments and advice with regards to how to proceed. I'm still waiting for a call back, the website says the office is open until 7.30 but I won't hold my breath. I'm going to do as advised and put it in an email.

What she has done has really shaken me. I spent years and years rebuilding my self from my childhood and that included reaching the decision that I didn't want to do anything with certain information, and sticking to it.

In one fail swoop she has systematically undone everything and I'm right back there again being let down and steam rolled over.

I think I mentioned above but it isn't the police she's reporting it to AFAIK, she said she's calling social services. What the fuck are they going to do about it? The whole thing is so damaging for me yet completely pointless 😔

I've just remembered, she mentioned OFSTED on the phone. Something about her report being necessary and procedural as they have to answer to their superiors bla bla bla and they're waiting on an ofsted inspection - if that means anything to anybody in terms of the type of organisation and what they can and can't do.

It's quite surreal. I only wanted to talk about my child's adoption and got dragged down the road of childhood trauma and now they're running with it.

Not procedure at all I was told aslong as the individual doesn't have close contact with children now that I didn't need to say to disclose their name or details

Op I'm so sorry you've had this experience when you needed support and understanding. I had a similar issue - disclosed a historic incident at couple counselling (1st time ever brought up with anyone) when I was very vulnerable and was v strongly advised to share with my now ex as if it would be the panacea to our problems and bring us closer. He basically used it against me both as a point of blame for our issues (even though it later transpired he was cheating!) and then in our divorce and it petrified me and still does that someone has weaponised such a private painful experience and that at any time it could resurface to hurt me and others. Many years later I am so angry with the counsellor for incredibly poor judgment. I had to re traumatise myself by disclosing again to another counsellor as my vile ex shared the info and I needed to face the potential repercussions of that - what a difference this time though. No pressure for details, safeguarding was covered and I was encouraged to talk about it as if it were something that happened to a friend to side step the whole thing. Focus was on me and how I could reframe what happened, what subsequent action I took to keep myself and others safe (this hugely helped me as it was not something I had previously acknowledged) and how I might deal with my ex using it against me. I hope you can find someone equally sensitive, experienced and capable to support you. Please do make a complaint and if you are having couple issues keep any disclosure to yourself.

I'm really sorry this has happened to you. It's incidents like this that make me wary of accessing therapy for similar reasons. It's fucking awful. I know nothing of counselling practice but if they are regulated by OFSTED, perhaps you can complain to them about their handling of your treatment.

www.pac-uk.org/about/privacy-statement/

you could speak to the information commissioner about the use of your data?

OFSTED also inspect various social care and adoption agencies, so perhaps their organisation comes under that? As others have said, it should have been made clear to you under what circumstances she’d have to break confidentiality. I have sometimes been asked to further explore historical abuse and ask patients if they know whether the abuser has any contact with children etc, but if she asked you repeatedly for a name she was really overstepping. I’m sorry this has happened OP.

When you speak again and if you feel you can, ask about the qualifications of their counsellors. The word counsellor is not a protected title which means they can have had any training or none and can operate under any rules or policies they fancy...Sorry OP but I'd pull out now and insist on your confidentiality being upheld.

OP... @Idontwantthat is it these people? www.family-action.org.uk

@Idontwantthat - ask your therapist to take the time for you to explore your feelings around this. You could reflect on your continuing fears around this man.

Therapy isn't always about specifically addressing one topic. The past can rear its ugly head in many ways.

This whole set up sounds bat shit to me. I am sorry you've been dragged down this particular road. I thought therapy respected boundaries

Having seen her reaction to you when you told her of your fears, I would say 'Drop this therapist and find one who is properly qualified'.

Not finding her name on either register suggests a strong possibility she isn't licensed or qualified to practice.

@Festoonlights YYY to everything you said.

100% agree.

what your therapist did is exactly what we are told we have to do re disclosures of historical child abuse
we are told we have to ask for the perpetrators details and pass it all on
even if our patient does not wish to engage or if it is detrimental to the therapy process or their mental health
safeguarding says it is all about safeguarding children and that trumps everything

therapists are unhappy about this,
we hate putting our patients through this,
but if we didn’t we would be disciplined and sacked
and then we couldn’t do all the effective work we do as therapists
Im sorry you are going through this

If Ofsted are involved than there’s a belief that he still works with children which increases the safeguarding risk…

OP I am so sorry about your awful experiences and now your counsellor adding more stress to you. I was SA abused 40 odd years ago and once I braved to join a SA survivors group but had to leave after someone became very verbally aggressive with me that my abuse was never reported and as an adult I didn't make an historical abuse claim. I tried to explain the absolute terror I would feel doing that and how it would be seriously damaging to my life and relationships now. My mother knew it happened and eventually left my step father but had a child with him, my brother (sadly passed away now) so i had adults in my life that could have reported it. I was made to feel do guilty for not reporting it that I have never received counselling myself. I really hope your counsellor was misunderstood about this and will be told not to pursue it. Anyhow I thought that a person couldn't be forced to press charges on historical cases?? I just wanted to share with you my thoughts and feelings in that I really do understand your worries and I'm hoping from the posters that have responded the counsellor won't be able to go any further xxxx

@calmlakes @Ravenpuff93 I did say in that post that counsellors working for an organisation or a company may have a line manager.

I did say that most therapists working on their own also have to have supervision, as part of their registration by the BACP, so supervision is a 2nd opinion.

So I think we all agree!

It's not my trade, but surely a counsellor or therapist has a duty of care to their client. I understand the need for safeguarding when there is clear, current risk, but this seems much more like a fishing expedition.
Nobody is against bringing historic abusers to justice, but distressing a client today and raking up painful memories of a perpetrator who may be beyond the reach of the law (dead or dementia-ridden) seems to contradict any intention to help or support the OP.

is this explained properly though? Is it on any paperwork that has to be signed?

It is where I’m based
and said upfront
and person reminded again -
if you get a sense they are going to disclose so they can make an informed choice -

Regarding OFSTED, the perpetrator has nothing to do with OFSTED. The counsellor said they have to answer to OFSTED, as in their organisation.

I've just had a call from her manager and it changed nothing despite my best attempts. She said they have to report it and have no choice because of people like Jimmy Saville and how paedophiles are usually prolific and usually always have multiple victims and my information could be the missing piece of the puzzle etc.

She then tried to frame it in a different way and said I deserve justice and social services cannot get away with letting it happen under their nose and that I could be entitled to compensation.

I don't want compensation. I just wanted a safe space to talk about my feelings surrounding the adoption and that's it. I only mentioned this in the first place as the questions lead me down that path and I wanted to be transparent about my history and why I felt the way I do about social services.

Gutted.

@WingingItSince1973 I'm so sorry, that is absolutely heartbreaking. You had no responsibility to do anything you weren't comfortable with and fuck anybody who thought otherwise! ❤