Fillable Printable Technology and Social Media Policy

Technology and Social Media Policy

This social media policy was originally developed by Kelly Kolmes, Psy.D with modifications by Nichelle Alderson, MSW, LSWAIC

This document outlines my office policies related to use of Social Media. Please read it to understand how I conduct

myself on the Internet as a mental health professional and how you can expect me to respond to various interactions

that may occur between us on the Internet. If you have any questions about anything within this document, I encourage

you to bring them up when we meet. As new technology develops and the Internet changes, there may be times when I

need to update this policy. If I do so, I will notify you in writing of any policy changes and make sure you have a copy of

the updated policy.

FRIENDING & FOLLOWING

I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook,

LinkedIn, etc.) and I do not follow current or former clients on blogs, Twitter, Instagram. etc. I believe that adding

clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also

blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we

meet and we can talk more about it.

My primary concern is your privacy. In addition, viewing your online activities without your consent and without our

explicit arrangement towards a specific purpose could potentially have a negative influence on our working relationship.

If there are things from your online life that you wish to share with me, please bring them into our sessions where we

can view and explore them together, during the therapy hour.

INTERACTING

Please do not use messaging on any Social Networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to contact me.

These sites are not secure and I may not read these messages in a timely fashion. Do not use Wall postings, @replies, or

other means of engaging with me in public online if we have established a client/therapist relationship. Engaging with

me this way could compromise your confidentiality. It may also create the possibility that these exchanges become a part

of your legal medical record and will need to be documented and archived in your chart.

If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone. Text SMS (mobile phone text

messaging) is second best for quick, administrative issues such as changing appointment times. Do not text confidential

therapy related information. I prefer using text message or email only to arrange or modify appointments. Please do not

email me content related to your therapy sessions, as email is not completely secure or confidential. If you choose to

communicate with me by email, 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 emails I receive from you

and any responses that I send to you become a part of your legal record.

USE OF SEARCH ENGINES

It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google or Facebook or other search engines. Extremely

rare exceptions may be made during times of crisis. If I have a reason to suspect that you are in danger and you have not

been in touch with me via our usual means (coming to appointments, phone, or email) there might be an instance in

which using a search engine (to find you, find someone close to you, or to check on your recent status updates) becomes

necessary as part of ensuring your welfare. These are unusual situations and if I ever resort to such means, I will fully

document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.

GOOGLE READER

I do not follow current or former clients on Google Reader and I do not use Google Reader to share articles. If there are

things you want to share with me that you feel are relevant to your treatment whether they are news items or things you

have created, I encourage you to bring these items of interest into our sessions.

Technology and Social Media Policy

This social media policy was originally developed by Kelly Kolmes, Psy.D with modifications by Nichelle Alderson, MSW, LSWAIC

BUSINESS REVIEW SITES

You may find my practice on sites such as Yelp, Healthgrades, Yahoo Local, Bing, or other places which list businesses.

Some of these sites include forums in which users rate their providers and add reviews. Many of these sites comb search

engines for business listings and automatically add listings regardless of whether the business has added itself to the site.

If you should find my listing on any of these sites, please know that my listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating,

or endorsement from you as my client. Of course, you have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. But due to

confidentiality, I cannot respond to any review on any of these sites whether it is positive or negative. I urge you to take

your own privacy as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. If you do choose to write something

on a business review site, I hope you will keep in mind that you may be sharing personally revealing information in a

public forum. I urge you to create a pseudonym that is not linked to your regular email address or friend networks for

your own privacy and protection.

You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with me about your feelings about

our work, there is a good possibility that I may never see it. If we are working together, I 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. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing 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 and my

Ethics Code prohibits me from requesting testimonials. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone you wish that I’m

your therapist or how you feel about the treatment I provided to you, in any forum of your choosing.

LOCATION-BASED SERVICES

If you used location-based services on your mobile phone, you may wish to be aware of the privacy issues related to

using these services. I do not place my practice as a check-in location on various sites such as Foursquare, Gowalla,

Loopt, etc. However, if you have GPS tracking enabled on your device, it is possible that others may surmise that you

are a therapy client due to regular check-ins at my office on a weekly basis. Please be aware of this risk if you are

intentionally “checking in,” from my office or if you have a passive LBS app enabled on your phone.

CONCLUSION

Thank you for taking the time to review my Social Media Policy. If you have questions or concerns about any of these

policies and procedures or regarding our potential interactions on the Internet, do bring them to my attention so that we

can discuss them.

By my signature, I verify the accuracy of this document and acknowledge my commitment to conform to its

specifications. If the client is a minor, the legal guardian (managing conservator) must sign the statement below:

____________________________________ _________________________________________

Client's Signature Date

____________________________________ ________________________________________

Counselor's Signature Date

With your signature below, you affirm that you are the legal guardian (managing conservator) of

__________________________________ (minor's name). With an understanding of the above requirements, you

grant permission for your child to participate in counseling and release the counselor from liability for the same.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian/Managing Conservator's Signature Date