Social Media Policy

My Private Practice Social Media and Communications Policy

This document outlines my office policies related to the use of Social Media and communication with clients. 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. This policy was created to enable us to be clear on the best way for us to communicate with each other, protect the privacy of the treatment, and focus on our work together. 

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.

Basic Principles 

Psychotherapy is one of the most private endeavors in which anyone can engage. We will be exploring your personal thoughts and feelings in a way that is different from social, even intimate, relationships outside of therapy. The success of this work, supported by the Clinical Social Work Association Code of Ethics, depends in part on the privacy of what we discuss and awareness that our relationship is not part of our social lives, or our professional lives outside of our work together. 

To protect the private nature of our work and keep it separate from our lives outside of our work, I encourage patients to not discuss or post any information about our work with anyone else. I will do the same, unless required by law or requested by you, though I do not automatically share information unless we agree that it is necessary. I will discuss any information I share with others about our work with you before doing so, and have you sign a written release of information. 

Communication 

Ideally, any communication between us occurs during our sessions. When it is necessary to communicate between sessions, I ask that you email me, or call me at my landline number above. I will email you, or call you at your landline number or on your cell phone if you do not have a landline telephone. I do not communicate with patients online to protect the privacy of our relationship. I also do not text or communicate on social media sites with patients for the same reason. 

If we should accidentally meet outside of my office, we can acknowledge each other and say hello, unless you prefer not to. Engaging in conversation related to our work together or social conversation outside the office is not helpful to our work. 

Friending/Following

I do have a presence on some social media sites. I use these sites primarily to post educational and inspirational information and not as a means of communicating directly with people.

Please note that I do not accept friend, contact, follow, like, or game requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc). I believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and the privacy of our relationship. 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 together.

My Website 

You may find information about my psychotherapy practice at my website, www.therapysolutionscenter.com. I ask that you and I limit acquiring any other information about each other to what we discuss in my office. 

Other Online Information 

If you do come across personal or professional information about me online or through others, I encourage you to bring it up in our discussions so that we may understand any meaning it has in our work. I will not seek information about you online or through others, and ask that you do the same. 

Communication with Others About Our Work 

If I need to collaborate with other health care professionals as part of my legal responsibilities, or for other reasons, I will discuss what is communicated first, and I encourage you to do the same. While it may feel odd, or even difficult, to keep the discussions that we have private from others, my experience is that it promotes the best results in our work. 

Thank you for respecting these policies. I welcome your thoughts and feelings about them.   Wayne Kessler, MSW, LICSW