She has a patient who disclosed that at the age of 17 she was sexually assaulted by a physician. She filed a police report at the time and stated it was consensual (she was 17, he was 30) she was the babysitter at the time. She now says it was assault.

the question is that she knows that in ON, there is a limited requirement for confidentiality and she would have to report this. She is wondering what the Board’s stand on this is.

Ethically, we would generally refer the registrant to II.42. II.43, II.44 in the Code of Ethics for Psychologists (Fourth Edition).

Legally my understanding is that there is no legislation specific for professions compelling a psychologist to report another treating professional, as there is in Ontario. The Regulated Health Professions Act and the Psychology Regulations does not have such a clause and we do not have umbrella legislation for health professionals in NS so each regulatory body has its own statute meant to govern its own members, not those in other professions. The exceptions would be if the concerns somehow fell under the purview of legislation such as Adult Protection, Children and Family Services Act, etc. She may wish to contact Child Welfare as a general enquiry and complete a general consultation without providing the client’s name. Since this person is now an adult they may be able to quickly answer but it still could not hurt to check with Child Welfare.

She might also consider working with the adult client and encouraging them to contact authorities again, though I’m not sure how this would work with police if this was already reported. However this could still be a step the psychologist might encourage the client could be encouraged to take.