While it is important that a student’s conversations with a school counselor be kept confidential, confidentiality does have its limitations. According to the American School Counselor Association’s Ethical Standards for School Counselors, counselors must “keep information confidential unless legal requirements demand that confidential information be revealed or a breach is required to prevent serious and foreseeable harm to the student” (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2010).

The most frequent type of breaches include a student verbalizing the following:

1)      Verbal, Physical or Sexual Abuse

2)      Neglect

3)      A desire to harm him/herself

4)      A desire to harm someone else

5)      An unreported sexual assault

Reference: American School Counselor Association. Ethical Standards for School Counselors. American School Counselor Association, n.d. Web. 19 March 2013. <http://www.counselors.k12.sd.us/ethics.html>