No information about counseling is released outside of the Student Counseling Service (SCS) to anyone without a student's written authorization. The SCS makes no record of visits on academic transcripts or placement files. However, there are limits to confidentiality and they include the following:

• When there is the risk of imminent harm to themselves or another person, therapists have a legal and ethical duty to do whatever is necessary to protect life.

• When any individual has reason to believe that a child or mentally disabled person or an elderly person is in danger of or is being physically, emotionally, or sexually abused, that individual is obligated by law to report such abuse to the proper authorities.

• Therapists are required by law to report incidences of sexual misconduct on the part of other therapists.

Additionally, a student's counselor/therapist may consult with a supervisor and/or with other professional staff members of the SCS for the purpose of providing the best possible service.

The SCS uses an electronic record keeping system and stores its records using state-of-the art security.

The Student Counseling Service (SCS) is committed to protecting your privacy. None of your information will be distributed to anybody outside of the SCS, with the exception of circumstances listed in the client confidentiality section above.

Communicating over the Internet

Important! Please do not use the Internet (email or the Web) to send confidential information or to contact us regarding an emergency requiring immediate action. We cannot ensure that email will be read or answered as quickly as a phone call. In case of an emergency, use the telephone and call either 979-845-4427 or 979-845-2700 (V/TTY).

We strongly discourage using email to send messages of a personal or confidential nature. Email is not secure, and can be read in transit by people other than the recipient. Sending email is like sending a letter in an unsealed envelope; most information you send is probably safe, but an unscrupulous person could read your message, change it, or even impersonate you. Email is copied, archived, and retransmitted continuously as part of normal processing. Because of this, please use email only to request information about our services, or other non-confidential matters.

There are several ways you can communicate with us without having to send information over the Internet:

• in person
• by phone
• by fax
• by mail

See contact information for the Student Counseling Service for details.

• This site generally stores no information about its visitors, with the exceptions of basic logging for site statistics (and then only machine addresses, not personal email addresses), and information provided by visitors who fill out on-line applications, surveys, or requests.

• On certain pages, such as the HelpLine Volunteer application, we give visitors the option of providing us with names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, personal information, and various other kinds of details. This more personal information is not gathered without visitors knowing and providing active permission and participation.

• This site does not monitor private communications or make any use of such communications.

• This site does not display or make available visitors' personal information, such as contact information, even if it is already publicly available, to any person except the user himself or herself, except at the request of the user.

• This site does not retrieve personal information from the visitor's computer that was not originally sent to us or by us.

• This site does not use "cookies" (although we don't see anything wrong with them).

The Student Counseling Service (SCS) does not collect any personal information from a visitor to its site without explicitly requesting that the visitor provide it. If a visitor is just browsing, we do not gather any personal information about the visitor whatsoever. There are two ways in which a visitor may explicitly provide and consent to SCS's collection of personal information.

Email

The SCS uses links throughout its site to provide a visitor with the opportunity to contact us via email to ask questions or provide comments and suggestions. Email is not secure (see the section above regarding communicating over the Internet).

Web Forms

Some places on this site allow a visitor to submit an application or other information through the use of web-based forms. As far as possible, these forms are secure (see the section below regarding secure communications). Different forms may request different personal information. For certain applications, we may require name, address, telephone number, email address, and student ID number. Other applications may require different or supplemental information from the applicant.

In the future, the SCS may maintain email discussion groups or mailing lists, or notify people who have voluntarily supplied their email addresses of new services, upcoming events, or other updates. If you receive such a message, and you would like to opt out of being notified in this way by the Student Counseling Service, please email scs@tamu.edu or contact the Student Counseling Service, and let us know.

When is it safe to send information over the Internet?

The Student Counseling Service (SCS) has made every effort to ensure that personal information entered in a web form on this site is secure.

When you use most web forms on this site, our secure server software encrypts all of your personal information, including student ID number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read by others as the information travels over the Internet. Using encryption means that your web browser program translates everything you send into a code that can only be deciphered by our computer on the other end. If sending email is like sending a letter in an unsealed envelope, then using the secure server software is like sealing the envelope with Superglue. And then delivering it in an armored car.

Of course, the information you share with any web site is only as safe as your web browser. To help us keep your information secure, make sure you've got the latest, most secure Web browser. Use the Browser Check site to check your browser now.

The primary security feature of the SCS site is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This encryption technique ensures that your information will be as secure and private as possible.

Recent versions of both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer support SSL. You can tell if you are using SSL:

	In Netscape Navigator by looking at the bottom left corner of your browser window for an unbroken key or a closed padlock
	In Microsoft Internet Explorer by looking at the bottom right corner of your browser window for a padlock.

When you see these icons, you will know that all information you exchange with SCS is encrypted for privacy while in transit.

Information passing between our secure server and your web browser uses SSL, ensuring that no person can intercept or eavesdrop on your private information. Our site is capable of using the highest quality 128-bit encryption, if your browser supports it. Otherwise, the server will encrypt your data using a 40-bit encryption cipher.

To eavesdrop on your session, an attacker would have to randomly guess your encryption key. The odds of success for this type of attack are, at worst, one in 1,099,511,627,800.

Browser Check

The information you share with web sites is only as safe as your web browser. Use the Browser Check, courtesy of VeriSign, to ensure you've got the latest, most secure Web browser.