The Shelby County Schools Mental Health Center (SCSMHC) will implement a new records retention policy effective August 1, 2016. This policy will extend to all mental health services provided by SCSHMC, but will not cover special education records, which are kept by the Department of Exceptional Children (DEC). 

This policy maintains compliance with the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Ethical Principals of Psychologists and TN Code § 68-11-305 (2015) and is as follows:

Records will be preserved after a client has been discharged from services for a period of ten (10) years or until the age of 21, whichever is longer, except in cases involving litigation, when upon receiving a subpoena or court order the records shall be kept until the litigation is closed and the minimum retention periods have passed.  

All records judged to be obsolete by this retention standard will be destroyed after August 1, 2016. Former clients of SCSMHC born on or before August 1, 1995 (or their legal guardians) have the right to review and/or obtain a copy of their records prior to disposal. Records will be parsed by trained staff and disposed of in a HIPAA-compliant fashion through shredding.

For more information, please contact the interim manager of SCS Mental Health Center, Dr. David Wilkins, 416-7769 or [email protected].