A nurse is teaching a group of unit nurses in a mental health facility about maintaining client confidentiality. Which of the following statements should the nurse include in the teaching?

In mental health settings, client confidentiality is protected by law, including HIPAA and the Privacy Rule, as well as by professional ethical standards. However, confidentiality does not prohibit appropriate information sharing among the treatment team when necessary to coordinate care. A nurse may share a client's history with unit staff — such as other nurses, the psychiatrist, or the social worker — for the purpose of determining an appropriate treatment plan because this falls under the concept of treatment-related disclosure within the healthcare team. This is both legally permissible and clinically necessary. Sharing details of a client's individual therapy session with the client's family violates confidentiality; psychotherapy notes are among the most protected health information under HIPAA and require specific written authorization from the client before disclosure. A nurse reviewing a client's outpatient psychotherapy notes is also generally prohibited without the client's explicit authorization; these notes are separately protected and cannot be accessed without consent. The idea that a provider has a legal privilege to waive a client's right to confidentiality is incorrect; the right belongs to the client, not the provider — only the client can waive it. Treatment-team sharing remains the appropriate and permissible standard.