Therapists, including psychologists and psychiatrists as well as social workers and other counselors, often discuss the patients they see with other professionals in the field.  This starts when we are trained in our professions, and continues throughout our careers.  These discussions are known as case consultation or case supervision sessions.  Therapists are expected to discuss their patients in sessions like this during their training and at the beginning of their careers (it's often a requirement for their state licenses) and regularly discuss patients in consultation and supervision sessions even after the license requirements are satisfied.

The best colleagues to discuss our patients with are those who work with the same kind of patients we see.  The members of SMEDA all work regularly with patients with eating disorders, and together we have many years of experience with eating disorders and how they affect our patients and their families.  One of our goals as a coalition is to provide this service to our members and, through them, to our patients.  For this reason, we regularly hold sessions at which members discuss their patients with other members of SMEDA.

Confidentiality is absolutely necessary for any therapist.  When we discuss a patient in case consultation, we do not identify the patient by name.  The only professionals participating in the consultation who know who the patient is are those who are already working with that patient, and we avoid giving any information that might identify the patient to other members.

Your therapist may ask you for a "release of information"  giving her permission to discuss your case in one of our sessions.  We promise that we will keep your case and your story confidential, even if we do not know your name.  We as an association also do not charge you for the discussion in any way.  If we discuss your case at a consultation session, you are the one who benefits the most, since your treatment team will be able to talk about your case with many SMEDA members and gain advice from us all. 

If you have questions about SMEDA case consultations, please feel free to ask your therapist for more information.