ok, will try this in here -need some advice about therapy, confidentiality and whether things can be used against you at a later date... please.

[lalalalala]

c&p from a thread i put in chat so it would disappear, but am getting no response for:

am going for the assesment for cbt.
am unsure what i should and shouldnt say... i do not want anything on file anywhere that may ever be used against me in, say, a custody battle or to prevent fostering or something.

things im thinking of are past recreational drug use and a one off episode which lasted for an hour or two where i felt that another 'person' was in charge of my body and i was inside , powerless iyswim. would that count as a psychotic episode? was a good decade ago.

social workers et al, your advice appreciated.

please help me, i dont know what i can feel comfortable saying.

What Scottishmummy said.

For all the horror stories about social services, most of the time they do an impossible job well - with compassion and common sense.

If you're really worried then maybe speak to a family solicitor about your particular circumstances - they would be best able to advise you about what would likely be considered relevant or not.

HTH

right.
ok.

i really dont think theres anything i can say that would make a reasonable person think i was not a good mother. and i guess i should assume that the people i am coming into contact with, if they seem reasonable, they probably are, right?
i will try to relax about this a bit.
thank you for humouring me.

please don't be so harsh on yourself maybe your worst critic is yourself at the moment - this can change.it may not seen like it at the mo

OK, I'm a little new to this (I'm a trainee counsellor) but this is my understanding:

As others have already said:

-Anything you say is confidential in the same way that it would be if you told something to your GP

-Your counsellor/therapist would never be allowed to breach this confidentiality unless they felt there was a strong risk you were a danger to yourself or someone else

-Asking your counsellor not to record any notes is not a silly idea at all, however some will be more able to accommodate you than others. Those working in clinics/NHS settings may have certain requirements for record keeping whereas counsellors working privately are under no obligation to keep detailed notes of clients. For example, I am currently seeing clients referred to my by a GP but am under no obligation to report back to the GP. I do keep some notes but it is totally within my discretion what I write. Under the data protection act you also have a right to see any notes written about you.

-If you ever go to court for a criminal offence the courts could ask to see any such records - I'm not 100% clear if the same is true for things like custody hearings.

-Counselling is still an unregulated profession. There are a number of professional bodies that oversee training, registration, maintenance of good practice etc (the BACP being the main one) but in reality anyone can actually call themselves a counsellor. You should ideally use someone who is registered with a professional body. The advantages of this are that 1)you know they have been properly trained and 2)if you ever do have reason to complain (ie for breach of confidentiality) the professional organisation will have to listen and respond to your complaint.

Hope that's of some help!

Can't help with professional advice, but my partner and I were both accepted as foster parents despite his history of depression/PTSD and mine of depression and anxiety.