diff --git a/components/renku_data_services/notebooks/api/amalthea_patches/init_containers.py b/components/renku_data_services/notebooks/api/amalthea_patches/init_containers.py
index 632a44f30..c61e3491f 100644
--- a/components/renku_data_services/notebooks/api/amalthea_patches/init_containers.py
+++ b/components/renku_data_services/notebooks/api/amalthea_patches/init_containers.py
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ def user_secrets_container(
 
     decrypted_volume_mount = ExtraVolumeMount(
         name="user-secrets-volume",
-        mountPath=secrets_mount_directory or project_constants.DEFAULT_SESSION_MOUNT_DIR.as_posix(),
+        mountPath=secrets_mount_directory or project_constants.DEFAULT_SESSION_SECRETS_MOUNT_DIR.as_posix(),
         readOnly=True,
     )
 
diff --git a/components/renku_data_services/project/api.spec.yaml b/components/renku_data_services/project/api.spec.yaml
index 6cfd02717..d66e39c6c 100644
--- a/components/renku_data_services/project/api.spec.yaml
+++ b/components/renku_data_services/project/api.spec.yaml
@@ -780,7 +780,9 @@ components:
       description: Shows if a project is a template or not
       type: boolean
     SecretsMountDirectory:
-      description: The location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions, if left unset it will default to `/secrets`.
+      description: |
+        The location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions, if left unset it will default to `/secrets`.
+        Relative locations are supported and will be mounted relative to the session environment's mount directory.
       type: string
       minLength: 1
       default: "/secrets"
diff --git a/components/renku_data_services/project/apispec.py b/components/renku_data_services/project/apispec.py
index 2f9c6eeb3..3e7a8abe9 100644
--- a/components/renku_data_services/project/apispec.py
+++ b/components/renku_data_services/project/apispec.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # generated by datamodel-codegen:
 #   filename:  api.spec.yaml
-#   timestamp: 2024-11-27T15:24:03+00:00
+#   timestamp: 2024-12-09T08:12:44+00:00
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ class Project(BaseAPISpec):
     )
     secrets_mount_directory: str = Field(
         ...,
-        description="The location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions, if left unset it will default to `/secrets`.",
+        description="The location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions, if left unset it will default to `/secrets`.\nRelative locations are supported and will be mounted relative to the session environment's mount directory.\n",
         example="/secrets",
         min_length=1,
     )
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@ class ProjectPost(BaseAPISpec):
     )
     secrets_mount_directory: Optional[str] = Field(
         None,
-        description="The location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions, if left unset it will default to `/secrets`.",
+        description="The location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions, if left unset it will default to `/secrets`.\nRelative locations are supported and will be mounted relative to the session environment's mount directory.\n",
         example="/secrets",
         min_length=1,
     )
diff --git a/components/renku_data_services/project/constants.py b/components/renku_data_services/project/constants.py
index e414dde47..b8601d91c 100644
--- a/components/renku_data_services/project/constants.py
+++ b/components/renku_data_services/project/constants.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 """Constant values used for projects."""
 
 from pathlib import PurePosixPath
+from typing import Final
 
-DEFAULT_SESSION_MOUNT_DIR_STR = "/secrets"
+DEFAULT_SESSION_SECRETS_MOUNT_DIR_STR: Final[str] = "/secrets"
 """The default location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions, as a string."""
 
-DEFAULT_SESSION_MOUNT_DIR = PurePosixPath(DEFAULT_SESSION_MOUNT_DIR_STR)
+DEFAULT_SESSION_SECRETS_MOUNT_DIR: Final[PurePosixPath] = PurePosixPath(DEFAULT_SESSION_SECRETS_MOUNT_DIR_STR)
 """The default location where the secrets will be provided inside sessions."""
diff --git a/components/renku_data_services/project/orm.py b/components/renku_data_services/project/orm.py
index 3617c7d61..959cf2fd1 100644
--- a/components/renku_data_services/project/orm.py
+++ b/components/renku_data_services/project/orm.py
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ def dump(self, with_documentation: bool = False) -> models.Project:
             documentation=self.documentation if with_documentation else None,
             template_id=self.template_id,
             is_template=self.is_template,
-            secrets_mount_directory=self.secrets_mount_directory or constants.DEFAULT_SESSION_MOUNT_DIR,
+            secrets_mount_directory=self.secrets_mount_directory or constants.DEFAULT_SESSION_SECRETS_MOUNT_DIR,
         )
 
 
diff --git a/test/components/renku_data_services/authz/test_authorization.py b/test/components/renku_data_services/authz/test_authorization.py
index c52d6bb26..cfcfcede4 100644
--- a/test/components/renku_data_services/authz/test_authorization.py
+++ b/test/components/renku_data_services/authz/test_authorization.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ async def test_adding_deleting_project(app_config_instance: Config, bootstrap_ad
         ),
         visibility=Visibility.PUBLIC if public_project else Visibility.PRIVATE,
         created_by=project_owner.id,
-        secrets_mount_directory=project_constants.DEFAULT_SESSION_MOUNT_DIR,
+        secrets_mount_directory=project_constants.DEFAULT_SESSION_SECRETS_MOUNT_DIR,
     )
     authz_changes = authz._add_project(project)
     await authz.client.WriteRelationships(authz_changes.apply)