Privacy and Confidentiality Measures in Outdoor Settings

The entrance to the hoophouse from inside

Privacy and Confidentiality help maintain trust and Safety

As mentioned in the Outdoor Session Informed Consent and Liability Waiver, outdoor settings can contain different and potentially more numerous challenges to privacy and confidentiality. The purpose of this page is to present some of the ways I prepare and that we can work together so that your privacy and confidentiality is protected and that you fully understand when choosing an option that might hold more risk to maintaining privacy and confidentiality.

Maintaining privacy involves creating an environment where you, the client(s), feel safe expressing emotions or information that you would consider sensitive or secret. Maintaining confidentiality means that I do everything I can to protect information about your identity and anything you share with me, barring the legal and ethical requirements that require otherwise. (For example, I am legally required to report suspected child abuse, and I am ethically required to consult my supervisor about any issues in which I need more support, consultation, or expertise.) If I must breach confidentiality, I will always disclose the minimum necessary information for the situation (for example, if I need to obtain supervision about your case and my ability to help, I might describe the situation without using any names or personally identifying information).

Steps to Maintain Privacy and Confidentiality in Outdoor Settings

Unlike indoor settings, the outdoors primarily carry the risk of being seen (and potentially heard) during a counseling session. Steps I have taken to help manage the space are:

Building the hoophouse “office” outside the garden proper
Creating several different spaces with visual and sound buffers in and around the hoophouse
Asking the landowner for permission to go walk in the fields and woods behind the garden for additional space and privacy
Creating a do-not-disturb sign so that other garden members know not to approach if the sign is up
Talking with you about how we check in with your level of comfort if someone else shows up at the garden and how we respond together. Different responses could include making up codewords to signal a topic change or moving to one of the different spaces mentioned.