As a “family member,” you have the right:

To be treated with dignity and respect. To give information about your family member to the treating professional. The information given may be entered into the customer’s file. The customer may read your information if he/she asks to see his/her file. To ask for and receive information about:
	A specific mental illness Risks and benefits of medications Any resources that provide support services, advocacy, support groups, or financial aid.
To ask for help to cope with your “family member’s” illness.

As a family member, your opinions and ideas are important to us. It is important to know that your family member also has rights that have been explained to him/her. Your “family member” has been given a copy of these rights.

• A signed consent form by the customer is needed to release any information about a person or indicate services are being received.
• We can receive information from a “family member” but cannot talk about services taking place without the signed release form.
• We can give educational information about a diagnosis or treatment. We cannot break confidentiality.
• We cannot answer a question like; “Can I get information about my family member’s illness?”
• We can answer a question like, “Can I get information on depression?”

Parents should know that to share information with an extended “family member,” a signed release of information would be needed.