Therapy sessions conducted by social workers in an agency are frequently audiotaped for review by their supervisors. These tapes are destroyed upon client terminations and are used only for supervisory purposes, not shared with others outside the agency. The standard consent form used by the agency states that social workers will receive supervision and client information may be disclosed with supervisors to ensure service quality. In order to avoid making clients feel uncomfortable, taping is not discussed with them, but consent forms are read by the social worker to clients who sign them. The audiotaping of these sessions is:

Social workers should obtain clients’ informed consent before audio or video recording clients or permitting observation of services to clients by a third party. The consent forms should explicitly state that the sessions will be audiotaped and have information about who will listen to the recordings, how they will be stored, what will happen to the tapes after treatment has ended, and so forth. The risks and benefits associated with audio or video recording should also be reviewed with clients in order to get their informed consent. The permission of the client to make these recordings cannot be assumed or taken for granted as part of standard language about supervision on a consent form.