Social Media Policy

PURPOSE

The following is the Social Media Policy for FreeBird Counselling which outlines the office policies related to use of the internet and social media within the practice. The OCSWSSW’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice requires Registered Social Workers to establish and maintain clear and appropriate boundaries in professional relationships for the protection of clients including transparency about the purposes for which we will communicate using communication technology.

This policy exists to ensure College compliance, protect the therapeutic relationship, and to ensure your privacy. Please read it to understand how I, Samantha Davidson, sole proprietor of FreeBird Counselling, and any BSW/MSW students completing their field practicum within my private practice, conduct ourselves on the internet as mental health professionals and how you can expect your psychotherapist to respond to various interactions that may occur between you on the internet. If you have any questions about anything within this document, you are encouraged you to bring them up with your psychotherapist. 

As new technology develops and the internet changes, there may be times when FreeBird Counselling needs to update this policy. FreeBird Counselling will notify you in writing of any policy changes, inform you of any changes within your psychotherapy session, and update this policy on the FreeBird Counselling website accordingly.

Social media is a fantastic tool for helping people get informed and engaged. FreeBird Counselling, and its psychotherapists, use social media for this purpose. It is important to note that your personal use of social media may compromise your privacy depending on how you engage with FreeBird Counselling social media pages.

Your therapist must keep your relationship completely confidential (with noted exceptions as described in the Privacy Policy and Informed Consent, Client Rights, and Clinic Policies & Procedures form). However, you can decide what you want to keep confidential regarding your relationship with FreeBird Counselling. If you follow, like or post on any of FreeBird Counselling social media pages, you are opening yourself up to the possibility of people inferring about your relationship to FreeBird Counselling or asking you about your connection to the agency. You get to decide what you tell people, and you have a choice as to what you reveal about yourself online. However, psychotherapists practising at FreeBird Counselling will not reveal any connection to you. The following sections outline how FreeBird Counselling handles different aspects of social media:

FRIENDING, FANNING AND FOLLOWING

FreeBird Counselling may maintain social media accounts for the purpose of education, inspiration and engagement. Clients are welcome to follow or like FreeBird Counselling using these platforms, however, FreeBird Counselling, and myself as an individual on these sites, will not follow or like current or former clients. If you choose to follow or like FreeBird Counselling on social media, it is assumed that you understand the risks to confidentiality that this interaction may pose.

I, Samantha Davidson MSW, RSW, sole proprietor of FreeBird Counselling, do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social media site. 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 the therapeutic relationship.

FreeBird Counselling may follow other health professionals and other related organizations on social media as well as non-client contacts, however, individual psychotherapists at FreeBird Counselling, do not follow current or former clients on blogs or other social media. Casual viewing of client’s online content outside of the therapy hour can create confusion in regard to whether it’s being done as a part of the treatment or to satisfy a personal curiosity.

In addition, viewing your online activities without your consent and without an explicit arrangement towards a specific purpose could potentially have a negative influence on the working relationship with your psychotherapist. If there are things from your online life that you wish to share with your psychotherapist, please bring them into sessions where you and your psychotherapist can view and explore them together, during the therapy hour.

INTERACTING AND COMMUNICATING

I, Samantha Davidson MSW, RSW, do not interact directly with clients on FreeBird Counselling, or my personal, social media sites. Please do not use messaging on social media sites to communicate with me or your assigned psychotherapist at FreeBird Counselling. Social media sites are not secure, and we may not read these messages in a timely fashion, as we do not monitor social media sites 24-7. Therefore, if there was an emergency, we would not be able to respond in a timely fashion.

Please do not use wall postings, @replies, or other means of engaging with psychotherapists at FreeBird Counselling in public online if there is an already established a client/therapist relationship. Engaging online in this manner could compromise your confidentiality. If you post on your psychotherapist’s personal social media pages, or the media pages of FreeBird Counselling, it may create the possibility that these exchanges become a part of your legal clinical record and will need to be documented and archived in your file. FreeBird will delete any requests regarding your sessions that appear on any of our social media platforms.

SEARCH ENGINES

It is not a regular part of practise to search for clients on Google or other search engines or social media sites. If your psychotherapist does inadvertently come across your information online, they will move on and avoid reading content. Extremely rare exceptions may be made during times of crisis. If your psychotherapist has a reason to suspect that you are in danger and you have not been in touch with them via the usual means (coming to appointments, or phone contact) 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) may become a necessary as part of ensuring your welfare. These are unusual situations and if your psychotherapist ever resorts to such means, they will fully document it and discuss it with you when you next meet.

BUSINESS REVIEW SITES

You may find FreeBird Counselling on sites such as Yelp, Google, 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 FreeBird Counselling on any of these sites, please know that the listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from you as a client.

The OCSWSSW’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, states that Registered Social Workers may advertise psychotherapy services, however, they cannot include any endorsements or testimonials. Testimonials may create a kind of dual relationship in which clients come to believe that they have a different relationship with their psychotherapist as a result of the endorsement that they have provided.

Of course, you have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. But due to confidentiality, FreeBird Counselling cannot respond to any review on any of these sites whether it is positive or negative. You are cautioned to take your own privacy as seriously as FreeBird Counselling takes our commitment of confidentiality to you. You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with your psychotherapist about your feelings about your work together, there is a good possibility that they may never see it.

When you are working together with a psychotherapist at FreeBird Counselling, it is our hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to the work directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide that your psychotherapist is not a good fit for you. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy wherever and with whomever you like.

Confidentiality means that psychotherapists at FreeBird Counselling cannot tell people that you are a client and our professional Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice Ethics prohibit FreeBird Counselling from requesting testimonials. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone you wish that you receive therapy at FreeBird Counselling, or how you feel about the services provided to you, in any forum of your choosing.

If you do choose to write something on a business review site, please keep in mind that you may be sharing personally revealing information on a public forum. Please consider creating a pseudonym that is not linked to your regular email address or friend networks for your own privacy and protection.

If you feel that your psychotherapist has done something unethical or harmful and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with them, you can always contact the regulatory body for Social Workers and they will review our services.

Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers 

Phone: 1-416-972-9882 

Toll-Free: 1-877-828-9380 

Email: info@ocswssw.org

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. If you have GPS tracking enabled on your device, it is possible that others may surmise that you are a therapy client due to your location. Please be aware of this risk if you are intentionally “checking in’ from the FreeBird Counselling office or if you have a passive LBS app enable on your mobile phone.

QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS

The information contained in this policy is subject to periodic revision and changes. The current version will always be posted to www.freebirdcounselling.com and and your psychotherapist will inform you of any changes during your next scheduled session. 

If you have any questions about this policy please contact FreeBird Counselling directly at hello@freebirdcounselling.com. If you wish to make a formal complaint about this policy, please do so in writing to FreeBird Counselling. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly, and provide you with a formal response in writing.

If you have a concern about the professionalism, competence or the mental/physical capacity of your psychotherapist at FreeBird Counselling, please discuss those concerns with your psychotherapist directly. However, if you do not feel comfortable discussing your concerns with your psychotherapist, or if they are unable to resolve your concerns, you are entitled to make a complaint to our regulatory body at: 

Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers 

Telephone: 416-972-9882 

Toll-Free: 1-877-828-9380 

Email: info@ocswssw.org