All health records and communications between you and Student Mental Health and Wellbeing are confidential.
Confidentiality is the cornerstone of counseling and psychological services, so we take protecting your privacy very seriously. You have a right to privacy and your written permission (Authorization for Release of Health Information or ROI) must be signed and obtained before we will release information to anyone outside of our clinic, with limited legal and ethical exceptions. At times of urgency, we may accept verbal permission to share information. We want you to be aware that counseling records are maintained separately from any other records of the University – including academic, educational and job placement records.
There are some exceptions to confidentiality that you should be aware of. These exceptions include:
- Where there is reasonable suspicion of abuse of children or elderly persons;
- Where the person presents a serious danger of violence to another;
- Where the person is likely to harm himself or herself unless protective measures are taken; and
- Where release of records is court mandated.
Please review our Notice of Privacy Practices for further explanation. If you have questions or concerns about confidentiality, we encourage you to discuss them with our staff.
Request to release your records
Requests for release, access, inspection, copies, or amendments of records should be directed to Student Mental Health and Wellbeing at 500 Parnassus, P8 level-room 005, San Francisco, CA 94143. For current students and eligible learners, authorization of release of medical records/release of information (ROI) may be accessible via the health record portal. For dependents and/or recent graduates/alumnae, paper copies of ROI can be mailed, emailed, hand delivered, or faxed.