Tend My Flock. Kate Litchfield
a parishioner or colleague tells you that they have abused, or are currently abusing, a child or young person
1.17. Pastoral records
When paper or electronic records are kept the obvious danger is of someone inappropriate gaining access to information, or of its being used in some other context. Clergy should be aware of how the Data Protection Act 1998 applies to pastoral and parish records. Among other things the Act requires that records should not include information about individuals without their consent. Information should be accurate and relevant to its purpose, kept up to date, stored securely and not held longer than necessary. ‘Information about an individual’s sexual life or the commission or alleged commission of an offence’ should not be disclosed to a third party, without the person’s explicit consent, except ‘in the interests of detecting or preventing crime or when seeking legal advice’. Information identifying a third party (e.g. a victim or informant) should not be disclosed without consent, ‘unless disclosure is reasonable in all the circumstances’ (House of Bishops 2004).
If ministers keep notes of pastoral encounters as a reminder to themselves, these should not be identifiable by another person, should be kept securely and destroyed at the earliest opportunity.
In some circumstances, where there are allegations of abuse, conflict of interest or disciplinary matters, it will be necessary to keep a signed and dated record of events. (For example, a person who is being bullied or abused may need to keep a record of what has been said, in order to seek protection or redress; a minister who has received a disclosure of abuse should keep an accurate written record.) Such records should be made as soon as possible after the event, kept securely and in a way that protects confidentiality.
Written references should be stored securely.
Particular care should be taken to safeguard confidentiality when transmitting information electronically.
Only in exceptional circumstances should personal information be passed on to a colleague or successor and again, only in exceptional circumstances should this be without the consent of the person concerned. Appropriate advice should be sought, for example from the diocesan adviser for child protection and/or from the diocesan registrar before doing so.
Provision should be made for the appropriate safeguarding or destruction of confidential material in the event of the minsiter’s sudden incapacitating illness, accident or death.
1.18. Telephone answering machines and services
It is important to be clear about who has access to answering machines and who may be present in the room when messages are being recorded or played back. The outgoing message should indicate whether the phone is only for church business or whether it is also for family messages. Answering services which do not identify the recipient’s name or number can discourage someone from leaving a message. A message recorded by the minister will always be more welcoming for those who are anxious or in distress than an impersonal recorded voice. A personally recorded message is also a safeguard against someone misdialling and leaving a message on the wrong machine or answering service. Similar safeguards are necessary regarding access to mobile phone, computer and e-mail.
1.19. Preaching, prayer and confidentiality
Ministers also need to be aware that, even when a story is disguised to make it anonymous, for example in preaching, there may still be a real risk of recognition and identification (or misidentification, which can be as damaging), leading to the undermining of trust. Particular care should be taken to seek permission before telling someone else’s story, even in disguised form. People’s names should not be included in public intercessions or parish publications unless they have given explicit permission.
Professional Counselling
As a specific professional activity, developed in the late twentieth century, counselling is defined as taking place when the counsellor (whether working in a voluntary or paid capacity) reaches an explicit agreement with the person in the role of client, to provide a confidential setting within which he or she can feel safe enough to share difficulties, pain, confusion or despair, in a way which may not be possible with friends or family. Counselling sessions take place away from the client’s home, at intervals and for a length of time agreed between counsellor and client. Maintaining and safeguarding the boundaries of time and place are the counsellor’s responsibility, and are important in creating a safe and peaceful environment in which the client can explore his or her difficulties. Counselling may involve only two or three sessions or continue over a period of months or years.
In this country there is, at present, no clear distinction between counselling and psychotherapy. Differences relate more to how far the individual psychotherapist or counsellor’s training, supervision, skill, self-awareness and experience enable them to work at the emotional and psychological depth appropriate to each individual client.
Relationship
The relationship between the client and the counsellor is an essential part of the process and the complex feelings evoked within this relationship may require sensitive exploration. As trust is built up, the counsellor will encourage the client to look at aspects of his or her life, relationships and self, which he or she may not have considered or felt able to face before. There may be exploration of early relationships, to discover how the client came to react to certain people or situations in ways that contribute to his or her difficulties. Whatever theoretical approaches the counsellor uses, the ultimate aim is the autonomy of the client: for the client to make his or her own choices and decisions and to put them into effect.
Supervision
Exploration of difficult feelings and relationships makes heavy demands on both client and counsellor, and an essential part of any counsellor’s training is the development of their self-understanding and self-awareness. In order to be empathic, without becoming over-involved, the counsellor needs to be able to recognize when the client’s experience is touching difficulties in their own experience, past or present. They need to develop a heightened capacity to monitor their own inner process, and to be able to recognize and work with the complexity of interpersonal issues which can arise in an ‘in-depth’ helping relationship, particularly one which continues over an extended period. Regular supervision, in which the counsellor discusses their work and their own feelings and responses in relation to their client, in a confidential setting, is a professional requirement.
Training
A counsellor is someone whose basic skills and attitudes have been specially developed through training, personal therapy and ongoing supervision. It is crucial for clergy to be clear that, if they feel called to engage in ongoing counselling relationships in which deep and intense feelings may arise, then they too require the training in self-awareness and the levels of support which the counselling profession has come to recognize as essential.
Payment
Originally counselling in this country was offered as a service by trained volunteers operating within voluntary agencies which did not charge. Although a limited amount of counselling and psychotherapy is still provided free of charge through the National Health Service and through employee-assistance programmes, voluntary agencies usually invite a donation according to ability to pay and most counselling is now provided by counsellors and therapists in private practice. Payment clearly makes a difference to the relationship between counsellor and the person receiving counselling and would be inappropriate in a relationship of pastoral care.
Government guidance on conFIdentiality in child protection:
The law recognizes that disclosure of confidential information without consent or a court order may be justified in the public interest to prevent harm to others. The key factor in deciding whether to disclose confidential information is proportionality: is the proposed disclosure a proportionate response to the need to protect the welfare of the child? The amount of confidential information disclosed, and the number of people to whom it is disclosed, should be no more than is strictly necessary to meet the public interest in protecting the health and well being of a child. The more sensitive the information is, the greater the child-focused need must be to justify disclosure and the greater the