Protecting yourself at seminary: 

If you need to seek help for any personal difficulty (addictions, childhood abuse, domestic violence, eating disorders, depression, etc.), and student services at your school offers financial assistance with outside counseling, DO take the counseling.  They are licensed professionals who must observe confidentiality.  DO NOT divulge the nature of your problem to a staff member of the seminary, particularly if it could be seen as having a detrimental effect to your future seminary career.  The staff member may not observe confidentiality. 

You always have the option of seeking outside counseling without arranging through the school.  Sometimes the school offers discounted rates for counseling services.  However, check on your insurance and see what they will cover.  Maybe you will not need the discount offered, or maybe the counseling provider will have a sliding-scale fee structure you could access.   

Familiarize yourself with your rights as a student as well as the seminary’s conduct policies, most likely found in your student handbook/manual.  The seminary should have a student conduct policy, a faculty/staff conduct policy, a harassment policy (covering at least gender/ race/ disability/ creed/ ethnicity/ age/ orientation), a grievance policy for students filing complaints, and a due process outline for discipline of students. 

Know your rights under HIPAA (the health information privacy act) and other governmental regulations that apply to you.  This website will help you get started. 

If you need to have a confidential conversation with an advisor, campus pastor, or administrator, always ask first if the person will observe pastoral confidentiality and make sure you have their agreement before you proceed.  Otherwise, your situation may be broadcast much further than you want. The only reasons for which a pastor is required not to observe confidentiality is if they believe a person, particularly a minor, is being or is in danger of being physically harmed (this is known as ‘mandatory reporting’).   

Always maintain a separate email account apart from the email provided by your school.  Do not use your seminary account to discuss any difficulties you are having at school, any personal health or relationship information, or any concerns you have about discrimination or misconduct you may have faced while a seminary student.  Seminary email accounts are generally not confidential and can be read by administration anytime.   

If you have a troubling experience with another person at the seminary, even if you don’t think the incident will be repeated, do take a few moments as soon as possible afterwards and write down the date, time, and place where the experience occurred, as well as what happened and any quotes you remember.  Store it in a safe place.  If you decide later you need to file a complaint with the school, or with the police, you will not have to begin from scratch.