Sustain Psychology - How We Use Social Media
Introduction.
This document outlines the way that I use Social Media in the course of my work within SUSTAIN PSYCHOLOGY. 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.
As a clinical psychologist I adhere to strict professional standards which mean it is important for me to maintain the professional boundaries of our relationship at all times. I am regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council and abide by their Code of Conduct, Performance and Ethics www.hcpc-uk.org as well as those of the British Psychological Society (bps.org.uk)
This means that the contact that we have is contained within the times and the structure of the agreed sessions that I have with you and does not spill out of this.
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.
1. Friending/Following/Adding as a Contact
I maintain an online presence on several social media sites. I use my full name or the username Sustain Psychology on these sites, so that it is clear it is me representing my business and myself. I do not want you to see a pseudonym and think you are following someone else, only to find out later that it is me.
I don’t accept friend or contact requests either from current or former clients on any social networking site. I believe 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 and make it feel like a friendship, a type of patronage, or simply encourage voyeurism. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.
In some rare circumstances people in my wider circle who previously followed me on social media might ask to meet with me for psychological therapy. If we agree that meeting together does not constitute a problematic conflict of interest, I will suggest that we unfollow one another on social media. This is to preserve the integrity of our working relationship.
I will not ever knowingly follow you on social media, although it’s possible that if you use a pseudonym, I may accidentally follow you. If this happens, you are welcome to let me know when we meet. My reasons for not following current or former clients on social media are described above.
In addition, viewing your online activities without your explicit consent and without a specific clinical purpose could have potential negative effects on your treatment. I might learn things about you that you have chosen not to discuss in therapy. It is your right to choose what to share in our work. But if I see these things outside of our sessions, then I will have to figure out how to tell you I have become aware of these things. If there are things from your online life that you do want to share with me, I encourage you to bring them into our sessions where we can view and explore them together, during the therapy hour. The best way to do this is to print things out and bring them to your session or show them to me on your devices. Please don’t forward me emails or screen shots that involve other people as anything you send me does become part of your legal record.
2. Interacting
Please do not use SMS (mobile phone text messaging) or messaging on Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Bluesky or LinkedIn to contact me. These sites are not secure and I may not read these messages in a timely fashion.
Please do not use Wall postings, @replies, or other means of engaging with me in public online if we have an already established 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 record.
3. Contacting Me.
If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by email at info@sustainpsychology.co.uk
I prefer that we only use email for administrative issues such as changing appointment times. See the email section below for more information regarding email interactions.
I also have a blog. Please don’t comment on the blog as it creates another public forum in which we may be interacting. I would much prefer that if you read something on my blog and you have a reaction to it, that we talk about it together rather than having a public exchange in my comments.
4. Use of Search Engines
It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on social media or using 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 instances in which using a search engine 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 document it in your records and I will discuss it with you when we next meet.
Again, the reason I don’t do this is because I see it as a potential breach of your privacy and the trust between us. I believe that viewing your online activities and postings can alter my impressions of you and change the relationship we are mutually developing in our meetings, as described in the section on Friending/Following. It can also create confusion in regard to whether I’m looking at your online activity as part of your treatment (for assessment or diagnostic purposes) or to satisfy my personal curiosity.
If you do have online activity that you want me to know about, please talk to me about it during our work together, when we are meeting.
5. Discovering/Viewing My Online Activity
I publish a blog on my website. I also have a LinkedIn account, a Pinterest, a business Facebook, an Instagram and Bluesky account and a Podcast. I have no expectation that clients will want to follow my writings or social media postings. However, if you use an easily recognizable name online and I happen to notice that you’ve followed me, we may briefly discuss it and its potential impact on our working relationship.
You may also run across my information in other settings. You may see online ads that I post, you may discover that we have friends or contacts in common on social media. You may see me quoted or published in the media or see my published writings or research. You may discover my podcasts or videos. Or you may find that I have online reviews of my psychotherapy practice.
Whether you find this information accidentally or intentionally, what is most important to me is that you feel safe and comfortable bringing it up if it has an impact on you and your feelings about our work together. I want to make it clear that is very normal for people to be curious about their therapist and some people feel shame or embarrassment about bringing these things up. But I hope to create a relationship in which you are warmly welcomed to bring up anything you learn about me outside of our sessions that has an effect on your comfort in working together.
6. Business Review Sites
You may find my psychology practice on sites 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 consider your own privacy if you choose to write a review on such a site. 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.
In our work, 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.
If you do choose to write something on a business review site, keep in mind that you may be sharing personally revealing information in 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.
7. Complaints.
If you feel I have done something harmful or unethical please discuss this with me or let me know by emailing info@sustainpsychology.co.uk. If you do not feel comfortable discussing it with me, you can always contact the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC), which regulates my profession, and they will review the services I have provided. www.hcpc-uk.org Please note that if they open an investigation into my actions, and you have given your name, they may request your records to pursue the investigation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have questions or concerns about any of these issues please do bring them to my attention so that we can discuss them.
This policy is modified from a form purchased from Dr K Kolmes. Please do not copy, sell, distribute, or post it without her express permission. If you are someone wanting to use this form, go to https://drkkolmes.com to purchase a copy of this form. © Keely Kolmes, Psy.D. – 6/14/2020 – Dr. Kolmes’s Updated Private Practice Social Media Policy
© Sustain Psychology July 2025