Social Media Policy
This document outlines my office policies related to use of social media. Please read to understand how I conduct myself on the Internet and how you can expect me to respond to various requests and interactions between us.
If you have any questions about anything within this document, I encourage you to bring them up when we meet.
Friending
I do not accept friend requests from current or former clients. This holds true on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and all other social networking sites. My reasons for this are that I believe that adding clients as friends on these websites can compromise confidentiality and blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please feel free to bring them up when we meet and I’m happy to talk more about it.
Interacting
Please do not use messaging on websites such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn to contact me. These sites are not secure and I may not read these messages in a timely fashion. If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by email. Please see the email section below for more information regarding email interactions.
Business Review Sites
There are a number of different websites on which you may find my practice information. Many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings. If you should find my listing on these sites, please know that my listing on any of these sites is NOT a request for a testimonial or endorsement from you as my client.
If we are working together, it is my hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide we are not a good fit. If you still choose to write something on a business review site, then please remember this is a public forum on which you could be sharing personally revealing information.
Lastly, none of this means that you cannot share that you are in therapy with me wherever and with whomever you like. Confidentiality means that I cannot tell people that you are my client. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone you wish that I’m your therapist in any forum of your choosing.
I prefer to use email only to arrange or modify appointments. Please do not use email to send content related to your therapy sessions, as email is not completely secure or confidential. If you choose to communicate with me by email, please be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are, in theory, available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the Internet service provider. You should also know that any email I receive from you and any responses that I send to you will be kept in your treatment record.
Adapted from Dr. Keely Kolmes Social Media Policy with permission