Social Media Policy

This document outlines The Loss Therapist, aka Christine Gregory’s social media policy. It aims to provide clients with transparency about how, as a counsellor, I conduct myself and how I might respond to any interactions between myself and my clients online. 

Many therapists and clients use the Internet, social networking sites and blogs to communicate personally and professionally. Any uploads or posts can still be traceable even after deletion. While you can post what you wish online, my commitment and ethical responsibility to protect client confidentiality mean that I will not reveal my connection to a client. Therefore, this policy is designed to protect the therapist/client relationship and my client’s privacy.

Social networking: personal accounts

Unfortunately, I cannot accept friend or contact requests from existing or past clients on any social networking site, including but not limited to Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn relating to a personal account. Similarly, I will not invite clients to join my personal social accounts or interact with clients on these sites. If I become aware that we have accidentally established a relationship online, I will cancel this relationship to ensure our respective privacy.

The reason for this approach is to protect our respective confidentiality and privacy and to ensure we maintain our professional relationship. Viewing clients’ online content outside of a therapeutic relationship can blur the therapeutic boundaries within sessions and invite content that a client may wish to keep private. However, where there are elements of a client’s online life that they wish to discuss, they are welcome to bring these into the sessions to explore these together within the safety of the therapeutic relationship.

If you need to contact me between sessions, please do so by phone, WhatsApp or email. 

Social networking: business accounts

I will occasionally post articles and blog posts relevant to my practice on social media and via my website. Though there is no expectation for my clients to follow these social channels, clients are welcome to like and follow my business accounts on Instagram or LinkedIn. However, please be aware clients are revealing their connection with me in some way by engaging with my business content. Therefore, I encourage clients to think carefully about whether they wish for this information to be revealed publicly. If a client does choose to do so, I will maintain confidentiality and any therapist/client boundaries by disabling comments on my posts and refraining from engaging in online conversations with clients on these pages.

Interactions on social media

The best way to reach me is via email, WhatsApp or phone. I would ask that clients please refrain from contacting me via social media channels since any interactions online on social media posts (for instance, wall postings or @ replies) are not secure and are public-facing. Where you have engaged in a therapeutic relationship with me, any online exchanges may compromise your confidentiality. Similarly, such exchanges form part of your legal, medical record and will need to be documented and archived. Finally, where contact is made through social media, I may not be able to respond in a timely fashion.

Email communications

Please be aware that no email service is completely secure or confidential, and system administrator(s) from our respective Internet service providers can, in theory, have access to email logs. As such, I ask that clients please refrain from emailing content related to their therapy between sessions. All communications regarding appointments can be submitted directly through the secure client portal (Power Diary). You should also be aware that any emails received from clients and any responses sent become part of your legal record. 

Use of search engines

As previously stated in this policy, it is important that boundaries are in place to maintain client privacy and an effective client/therapist relationship.  Therefore, I will not conduct online searches of my clients through social networks or search engines unless I believe there is a genuine emergency, such as if I have not heard from a client in some time and believe they are at risk of harm. In this instance, obtaining such information electronically may be necessary to ensure my client’s welfare. In the unlikely event that this was the case, I would document this process and discuss this with the client in our subsequent session.

However, I understand that clients may wish to gather information about me in this way. If a client conducts searches and encounters information that they want to discuss, I would encourage them to bring this up openly with me in their sessions and explore any potential impact on client treatment.

Business review sites

The Loss Therapist may be searchable on certain business review sites such as Google or Yelp, among others, which often include a feature through which users can rate and review their provider. Please be aware that I do not solicit such reviews. Instead, many such sites scrape business listings onto their sites through automated searches. 

Though clients are, of course, welcome to express themselves on any site they wish, it is important to remember that counselling and therapy are primarily about the client/therapist relationship and the client’s ability to locate the potential for change within themselves. While the counsellor, of course, plays their part, the success of therapy is not solely dependent on this.

If a client does choose to write something on a business review site, it is important to keep in mind that they may be sharing personally revealing information in a public forum. Please note that due to confidentiality, I cannot respond to any review, whether positive or negative. However, clients are more than welcome to tell anyone they wish, in any forum of their choice, that they are in therapy with me and how they feel about the treatment they are receiving.

If a client is concerned about the therapeutic process and my work within our sessions, I encourage them to communicate these feelings with me in our sessions. It may be that we are not a good fit, which is understandable, and this can be an important part of the counselling process. However, if a client believes I have, in some way, conducted myself unethically and they are unable to discuss this with me directly, I would encourage them to contact the NCS.  I am a registered, accredited member of NCS and adhere to their ethical guidelines, a copy of which is available here. 

Questions & concerns

Please discuss any questions or concerns that you might have regarding this document and any policies contained herein directly with me. 

Policy updates

From time to time, and as technology and our use of the Internet change, there may be a need to update this policy. If this is required, I will notify my clients in writing of any changes, ensuring you have access to a copy of the updated policy. All information will also be changed on the website.

Thank you for taking the time to review my Social Media Policy. I appreciate the content can sometimes feel overwhelming and/or challenging. If you wish to discuss these policies and procedures further, please don’t hesitate to reach out or raise them in our sessions.