Counsellor at work betrayed my trust

What you need to know:

There is a counsellor at work. I once went to see him and told him my frustration with my boss. Two weeks later during an argument with my supervisor, she repeated everything I told the counsellor word for word. Now our working relationship is worse. How do I fix this?- Dominic

There is a counsellor at work. I once went to see him and told him my frustration with my boss. Two weeks later during an argument with my supervisor, she repeated everything I told the counsellor word for word. Now our working relationship is worse. How do I fix this?- Dominic

Dear Dominic,
Employee assistance programmes are funded by the employer and designed to improve the wellbeing and productivity of a company’s workforce. Qualified counsellors are part of this programme and provide counselling services to help employees manage a variety of personal and job-related stress. Confidentiality is critical and it stipulates that the counselor will not divulge information of any kind to a third party. The counselor is also bound by a professional oath and personal ethics to uphold confidentiality.
Confidentiality may be breached if there is significant risk on the safety of the employee or other people otherwise the counselor may not release any information, without the signed consent of the employee. At times counseling is mandatory due to disciplinary/performance issues and the counselor may inform the supervisor/HR about the employee’s progress and if they are attending the required sessions, any other personal information is considered confidential.
Since you have already lost trust in the counselor it is prudent to address this issue through the HR team. Counselors are selected based on their credentials and training thus breaking confidentiality could result in a counselor losing his/her license.
Your employer could consider off-site counseling which is highly confidential, employees attend sessions without making it known to others in the workplace. If your organisation has multiple branches/departments, you could request for a transfer to help manage the tainted relationship between you and your supervisor.