Student Life

Confidentiality

Counseling Services maintains records as regulated by the State of Illinois Mental Health Code.  Maintenance of records is in accordance with professional, legal, and ethical guidelines.  Other than authorized Counseling Services staff, no one has access to those records unless students release them in writing.  They do not become part of academic files, and even the fact that students have come to Counseling Services is not divulged to anyone without their permission.  Your conversations with your counselor, your records, and the results of psychological tests are treated strictly confidential within Counseling Services.  If you want any of this information shared with any person outside of Counseling Services, you must sign a release of information allowing us to do so.  Since your Counseling Services records are not part of your academic or administrative records, they are only available to you and the Counseling Services staff.

Email Policy

We welcome your interest and contact.  We also value your privacy.  Please consider the following information prior to sending us e-mail:

Email is not an appropriate medium for individual questions regarding personal counseling.  It is most appropriate for requesting general information regarding services, resources, or other campus information.  Our staff does not respond to inquiries from our clients regarding specific counseling issues.  Confidentiality is essential to the counseing process and cannot be assured with email.  We cannot guarantee that the contents of an email message will remain confidential.  While we will do our best to keep your communication private, email usage can be monitored and others may read the content of your personal messages.

Staff access to email is also limited to Counseling Services work hours.  There is no expectation that Counseling Services staff will check email after hours.  Also, you have no way of knowing if a specific staff member is unavailable due to illness, vacation, or other reasons.  This means that your message may not be read immediately.  Email should never be used for urgent communication of any sort.  If time is of particular concern for you, please always call the Counseling Services office at 847-735-5240