Safeguarding Disclosure: Fill & Download for Free

Safeguarding is one of the most important advances in child care and support in the UK, and should ensure that a child is not sexually assaulted while at a children’s or other event. Should anything happen, then the matter should be reported by the leaders to the authorities - the police or Social Workers in the UK.Anyone who works with, or is likely to have regular contact with children in the UK, must be certified as being suitable (this effectively means that there have been no suggestions of sexual impropriety in the past) and to do that, the person themselves makes the disclosure and includes suitable people as references, together with details of where they have worked with the age group(s) concerned. There is no problem in the disclosure and it is not made public, but is part of the safety net for children, vulnerable adults and the elderly, and the whole process should be welcomed.

Clients need to know what sort of support or help they can expect from a mental health support workerLimits to confidentiality - clients need to know ahead of time what information you might disclose and to whom (e.g. safeguarding disclosures, record keeping, supervision)Managing self-disclosures by the mental health support worker. Before you share things about yourself: is this for your benefit or for the client? Being authentic is important but the way you treat a client is a way bigger influence in that respect than what you share about yourself and your life. Though you might share some things if the content seems appropriate. And you have to be even more careful if they have attachment issues (which many people, including those not labelled as mentally ill, do) which may mean that they try to get too close to you, manipulate you or be abusive towards youBe consistent in reinforcing boundaries for appropriate behaviour with clients (especially if they are pushing boundaries, but it's always good for clients to know what to expect from you)Acknowledge where you make mistakes respectfully and aim to work by exampleBe on time where you can. This also means leaving on time as well.Be clear where a particular responsibility is NOT yours and signpost appropriately. Not there for 24/7 care and they have an emergency? Signpost to emergency services. Having a mental health crisis and you're off duty? (Assuming you are lone working and they don't have staff there all the time) Urgent crisis line. Trying to rush in in situations which you can't is worse than useless as it stops them from getting the help they actually need in time

When I lecture on ethics and technology, which I do quite frequently, I specifically tell lawyers that they should not use Google’s free email service due to the scanning and the fact that Google has specifically stated that people using it cannot expect confidentiality.I also tell lawyers that for anything that is especially confidential and likely to be of interest to others, I question whether any email is appropriate without substantial additional protection. I said this once in a lecture with other technology lawyers and they literally laughed at me. But I stick to my guns on this.The more confidential something is, the more likely that a third party will be interested in obtaining it, the higher must be the level of protection you apply. There are numerous ethics opinions which state this and even the ethical rules themselves use related factors in their analysis of what level of protection may be required. In support of this I point you to Pennsylvania’s version of Rule 1.6 on confidentiality. 204 Pa. Code Rule 1.6. Confidentiality of Information. Specifically, comment 25, a portion of which I will quote. (Emphasis mine).Factors to be considered in determining the reasonableness of the lawyer’s efforts include, but are not limited to, the sensitivity of the information, the likelihood of disclosure if additional safeguards are not employed, the cost of employing additional safeguards, the difficulty of implementing the safeguards, and the extent to which the safeguards adversely affect the lawyer’s ability to represent clients (e.g., by making a device or important piece of software excessively difficult to use).Is it an outright ethical violation at this point in time to use free Gmail? That I cannot say, because I have not seen any opinion a court or disciplinary board which states so. Nor have I even seen an advisory opinion which specifically states Gmail is unacceptable. However, under the right circumstances, based on the factors above, I believe it can be. I will add that many states for Rule 1.1, competence, require that lawyers be aware of the benefits and risks of technology and take appropriate steps to mitigate those risks. This includes responsible use of email.Personally, I would not want to do business with a lawyer who insists on using free Gmail. Further, if I have a client who is using it, I will recommend that they either obtain a different email account or, at a minimum, we use passworded attachments for anything about which we have concern. For many of my clients, I make it a practice to at least obtain a password to use at the start of the case so that I may put important discussions and information in PDF format and password the document. This minimum level of protection at least provides a modicum of safety. Of course, I get the password in person or over the phone and not through email.An excellent question. Thank you for allowing me to step on my soap box on this issue. One about which I feel quite strongly. Not just for Gmail, but many email services as well as email in general.