Policies
Social Media Policy
The BCACC requires Registered Clinical Counsellors (RCC) who use Social Media to have a Social Media Policy. This document outlines Therapeutic Conversations Health & Wellness policies related to the use of Social Media. Please review this policy so you are aware of how we will respond to potential interactions online.
This policy exists to inform clients of their rights around the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information in accordance with (PIPA). This policy applies to anyone who is a current or past client of Therapeutic Conversations Health & Wellness. The following information is intended for adults 19 years and up.
If you have any questions about anything within this document, we encourage you to bring them up when you meet your counsellor. If this policy needs to be updated, we will notify you in writing of any policy changes and will make sure to change the information on our website accordingly.
This Social Media Policy was copied and only slightly adapted for our use from the Social Media Policy of Keely Kolmes, Psy.D., who licensed it under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License, making it available to other mental health professionals.
Friending & Interacting
Clients are welcome to follow and take in the information we provide, however agree to be doing so voluntarily. We do not accept friend requests nor follow back any current or former clients on all social networking sites (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.)
We believe that adding clients as friends on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. If you need to contact a practitioner between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone, or by email. If you have questions about this, please bring them up with your counsellor to talk more about it.
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 we 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 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 are unusual situations and if we ever resort to such means, we will fully document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.
Business Review Websites
You may find Therapeutic Conversations Health & Wellness on sites such as Google, Bing, Yelp, Yahoo Local, 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 Therapeutic Conversations Health & Wellness 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 of Therapeutic Conversations Health & Wellness.
The British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) Standard for Promoting and Advertising Services states, “an RCC should never solicit testimonials, expressly or by implication, from clients or other persons who, because of their particular circumstances, may be vulnerable to undue influence” (BCACC Code of Ethical Conduct and Standards of Clinical Practice and Guidelines for Registered Clinical Counsellors, 2011).
You have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. But due to confidentiality, we cannot respond to any review on any of these sites whether it is positive or negative. We urge you to take your own privacy as seriously as we take our commitment of confidentiality to you. You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with one of us about your feelings about your sessions, there is a good possibility that we may never see it.
If you are working together with a counsellor, we hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide in the end your therapist is not a good fit.
Confidentiality means that your therapist cannot tell people that you are their client and our Ethics Code prohibits us from requesting testimonials. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone you wish about LTCC, your therapist, or how you feel about the treatment provided to you, in any forum of your choosing.
If you do choose to write something on a business review site, we hope you will keep in mind that you may be sharing personally revealing information in a public forum. We urge you to create a pseudonym that is not linked to your regular email address or friend networks for your own privacy and protection.
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 my office or if you have a passive LBS app enabled on your phone.
Emailing & Texting
Email and text is not a secure method of communication, and should only be used for scheduling purposes and general inquiries. This includes but is not limited to: new client inquiries, cancellations and scheduling, and administrative concerns.
If you choose to communicate with me by email and text, be aware that all emails and texts are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers or app. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are, in theory, available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the Internet service provider. By agreeing and consenting to the terms of therapy, you relieve the company and therapist(s) associated with the company of any liability related to privacy and protection through email and text messages.
Thank you for taking the time to review Therapeutic Conversations Health & Wellness Social Media Policy. If you have questions or concerns about any of these policies and procedures or regarding our potential interactions on the Internet, do bring them to our attention so that we can discuss them.
