Adolescent Champion - Staff Spark 2: Confidentiality and Minor Consent – Laws
 = Change slide
Time
1-5 min.
4 min.
Supplies: Projector, laptop, flash drive with PowerPoint presentation on it, confidentiality handouts
Content
Optional Discussion on last month’s Spark 1: Adolescent Friendly Environments & Focus Areas
(Reference poster with Focus Areas for discussion.)
Processing questions:
 How did thinking about a focus area help you make positive changes?
 What focus areas stood out to you the most when you worked with teens this past month or two?
Intro/Hook
First slide: title slide 
For the next two Staff Sparks, we’ll be focusing on confidentiality and minor consent. For this Spark, we’ll
cover the laws that apply specifically to teens, and next Spark, we’ll build upon that and discuss how to talk
to teens and parents about confidentiality policies and laws. Each person here will have times where we
need to know and comply with confidentiality laws, though it’s different for the various roles. For each law
and scenario we discuss, please think about how it applies to your role. To get us started, let’s review a case
scenario.
Slide change: Case scenario - Shay
Read slide info aloud (or ask staff member to read scenario). Give participants a moment to respond to the
question: How does the right to confidentiality help or hurt Shay? [You may choose to have discussion here,
but keep it brief.]
Usually, not all of this patient information is available to everyone who comes into contact with her. When
we know more details about a patient, does it affect how we feel about the patient’s right to confidentiality?
The reality is that while we know we need to respect teens’ confidentiality, it can be challenging when we
think parents should be involved. What can go wrong if we accidentally break confidentiality? [Have a
couple of people respond briefly. Main point: If we don’t follow the laws, it can have a negative impact on
teens.]
8 min.
Many teens choose to include their parent or guardian in decisions about their health. For some teens,
however, having the option of certain confidential services makes it more likely that they will seek care when
they need it. For instance, a sexually active teen may be more likely to use contraception if someone tells the
teen that they can get birth control without a parent or guardian’s consent.
Key Concepts
Slide change: The Law: Parent/Guardian Consent Exceptions
Let’s review the laws and consider how we implement them here. This slide reminds us that parent consent
is needed for most health care services, except a few key ones.
Hand out confidentiality fact sheet. People will read this slide on their own – no need to read aloud.
Here’s a handout that has the information as well. The side titled “Michigan Laws” outlines the laws and
can be a cheat sheet if you want to keep it handy. The other side is about best practices for how to talk
about the laws, which we’re looking at in the next Spark. Today, we’ll focus on the first side.
Adolescent Champion - Staff Spark 2: Confidentiality and Minor Consent – Laws
 = Change slide
Supplies: Projector, laptop, flash drive with PowerPoint presentation on it, confidentiality handouts
Slide change: Michigan Law
[Read slide]
Are there any questions?
Slide change: Case Scenario: Shay
Let’s go back to our 15 year-old patient scenario, Shay.
Ask questions in gray box:
Can Shay receive STI testing without a parent’s permission? [Yes]
Can she receive STI treatment? [Yes]
What if Shay was 13 years old? [Yes, she still could, since the law says “ages 12 and up”, though it’s best to
encourage the patient to tell her parent, and probe for signs of abuse.]
Slide change: Michigan Law
[Read slide]
Any questions?
3 min.
Application
Slide change: Case Scenario: Giovanni
Let’s take a look at one last scenario. Giovanni is a 17 year-old boy who is struggling with depression, but
doesn’t want to tell his parents.
[Note: This slide has both the questions and the answers on it. After you ask the first question, allow a
pause for people to think or discuss, then click to advance the slide one time, and the answer will appear.
Do this for each of the three questions.]
Questions:
1. Is Giovanni allowed to get outpatient counseling for depression without a parent’s consent?
 [Yes, though the provider may encourage Giovanni to tell his parents.]
2. If he said he thinks about suicide, does a parent need to be involved?
 [Yes, because he’s a risk to himself or others.]
3. If Giovanni is not suicidal, still doesn’t want to tell his parents, and wants to take an antidepressant
medication, can he take the medicine without his parent’s consent?
 [No, he’d need a parent’s consent to take mental health medications.]
[Recap here if you have time.]
In the next Spark, we’ll talk more about how to encourage teens to talk to their parents, how to ask parents
to leave the room, and other challenges implementing the laws.
Questions?
Theme/Sparkler
To keep our theme of confidentiality on our minds this month, we’ll post new case scenarios with quiz
questions like Giovanni’s each week.
Sparkler for the Month
Case scenarios – new one posted each week