Our Social Media Policy
This document outlines our policy related to use of Social Media. Please read it to understand how we conduct our practice on the internet as mental health professionals and how you can expect our team to respond to various interactions that may occur between us on the internet.
If you have any questions about anything within this document, we would encourage you to bring them up with your therapist in your sessions. As new technology develops and the internet changes, there may be times when we need to update this policy. If so, we will notify you in writing of any policy changes and make sure you have a copy of the updated policy.
Friending
At Opus Therapy, we do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). This is part of our commitment to maintain your confidentiality. It may also blur the boundaries of the therapeutic relationships we build. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when you meet with your therapist so you are able to talk more about it.
Liking
We keep a Facebook Page for Opus Therapy to allow people to share the blog posts we write and updates with other Facebook users. All of the information shared on this page is available on our website.
You are welcome to view our Facebook Page and read or share articles posted there, but weask that you do not ‘Like’ the Page. Once again, this is to ensure that your confidentiality is not compromised. We feel it is best to be explicit to all who may view our list of Fans to know that they will not find client names on that list.
Following
We publish a blog on our website and Facebook page, which may include psychology news and self-help material. We do not expect that you as a client will want to follow our blogs or Facebook page. However, if you use an easily recognisable name on Facebook and we notice that you have followed us, we may briefly discuss it and its potential impact on our working relationship.
You are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow us. However, please note that we will not follow you back. We may follow other health professionals on Facebook, but not current or former clients on blogs or Facebook. We wish to stay away from casual viewing of clients’ online content outside of the therapy hour, so as not to create confusion in regard to whether it’s being done as a part of your treatment or to satisfy any personal curiosity. 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 your therapist, please bring them into your sessions where they can be explored during the therapy hour.
Interacting
Please do not use SMS (mobile phone text messaging) or messaging on Social Networking sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn to contact us. These sites are not secure and we may not read these messages for some time. Do not use Wall postings, @replies, or other means of engaging with us in public online if we have an already established client/therapist relationship. Engaging with us in this way could compromise your confidentiality. It may also create the possibility that these exchanges become a part of the records we keep about you, and will need to be documented and stored as part of good record-keeping practice.
If you need to contact us between sessions, you are able to do so by the mediums (i.e., either phone or email) and within the boundaries you will have discussed with your Therapist.
Use of Search Engines
It is NOT a regular part of our practice to search for clients on Google or Facebook or other search engines. Extremely rare exceptions may be made during times of crisis. If your therapist has a reason to suspect that you are in danger and you have not been in touch 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 would be extremely unusual situations and if we ever resort to such means, it will be fully documented and discussed with you at your next session.
Google Reader
We do not follow current or former clients on Google Reader and we do not use Google Reader to share articles. If there are things you want to share with your therapist that you feel are relevant to your treatment whether they are news items or things you have created, we would encourage you to bring these items of interest into your therapy sessions.
Business Review Sites
You may find Opus Therapy Solutions on sites which may 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 them, even if the business has not added itself. If you should find Opus Therapy Solutions on any of these sites, please note that we are NOT requesting a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from you.
You, of course, have a right to express yourself on any site that you wish. Please remember in this instance, that you may be sharing personally revealing information in a public forum (and you may wish to create a pseudonym). However, due to confidentiality, we will not respond to any of these comments, whether positive or negative. Further, there is a good possibility that the team at Opus Therapy Solutions are very unlikely to ever see these reviews or postings. We urge you to take your own privacy as seriously as we take it.
We would encourage that you bring your feelings and reactions directly into the therapy process. This is an important part of the therapy, even if you decide that Opus Therapy Solutions is not the service for yourself. This is not meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with us wherever and with whomever you wish. Confidentiality means that we are not able to tell anyone that you are our client (aside from the exceptions we have detailed in the Confidentiality section of your Contract of Care).
If you feel at any time that any of our team have acted in an unethical, harmful or inappropriate manner, and do not feel comfortable discussing it with your therapist or anyone else in the team, you are able to contact the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, who is the accrediting body for our therapists:
British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, Imperial House, Hornby Street, Bury BL9 5BN. Tel: 0161 705 4304.
Location-Based Services
If you use 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 you having regular sessions. Please be aware of this risk if you have a passive LBS app enabled on your phone.
We use email to arrange/modify appointments or send you information or worksheets. The use of email for any other purpose (i.e., communicating directly about your therapy content) can be discussed with your Therapist. If you do choose to communicate with us by email, please be aware that all emails are retained as part of good record-keeping practice.
Conclusion
Thank you for taking time to read our Social Media Policy. If you have any questions or concerns about any of what you have read, please bring them to our attention to be discussed.
Dhana, Niya, Naomi and Aisha