Social Media Policy
Social Media Policy
Why do I have a policy?
I am active on social media and have devised a social media statement to clearly set out to my clients how I operate ethically and professionally on public sites.
I am committed to protecting my clients’ privacy and confidentiality alongside the therapeutic relationships I hold with them, so I wish to be open and honest about the choices I’ve made regarding social media within my professional capacity.
If you have any questions about this statement, feel free to ask in our session together or via email.
Please note that my business operates under the jurisdiction and laws of the United Kingdom.
What is my Social Media Presence
I have professional accounts related to my work as a therapist, coach and consultant in the area of mental health and wellbeing. At times, I may post articles, support, blog posts or news in other related areas. I do not communicate with or contact any clients through these pages.
Please do not use messaging features on these sites to contact me as they are easily compromised. Any requests for direct client work which I receive through social media, will be redirected to contact me via my website or email to maintain privacy and confidentiality as I do not wish for clients to share sensitive information through these channels.
I request clients do not contact me about their appointments or treatment on social media. All contact should be via email, text or WhatsApp as agreed. As well as the risks associated with social media platforms, it is difficult to reply efficiently to multiple electronic means of communication.
I will never share information about a client on social media.
I do not have any social media applications on my business smart phone to reduce the risk of clients being brought up on my pages as ‘people you may know’.
Friend & Follow Requests
For ethical reasons, I do not accept friend requests or contacts from current or former clients on any social networking site. The only exception to this is if people choose to follow my professional pages or my LinkedIn account.
My clients may follow my professional social media page if they wish; I will not follow my clients, past or current, on any social media platform. Shall there be any aspects from your experience you wish to share with me in therapy please bring them into our therapy sessions.
Commenting & Sharing Posts
You’re welcome to comment on any posts or share posts from my public profiles, however you should be aware that any response is public and may enable others to deduce that you are a client.
If you do choose to comment, I may ‘like’ or respond to thank you, however I will never acknowledge any comments or shares as being a client. This mirrors my policies for if I were to run into you in a public place, where I wouldn’t speak with you unless you spoke to me, and I would never publicly acknowledge the context of our knowing each other in order to protect your privacy.
Data
For any information on how I collect, process and store your personal information, please see my Privacy Policy.