Privacy Policy

I use social media to help people become more educated, aware and engaged with their mental health. as a Counsellor and Psychotherapist registered with PACFA, requires that I have a social media policy. This policy delineates how I conduct myself on the internet as a mental health professional, and how you can expect me to respond to interactions that occur between us through social media.

As a mental health professional, it is my role to keep our relationship completely confidential. The exceptions to this rule are; when I believe you may harm yourself or others, when the safety of a child is at stake and if you are involved in a court proceeding where a Court of Law subpoenas me to provide counselling records.

You will decide what you want to keep confidential with regard to your sessions with me. However, it is important that I remind you that social media is a public forum. Conversational interactions with me on social media open up the possibility of people inferring about our relationship or asking you about your connection to me.

I will always provide superficial responses on social media and will simply extend the offer for you to connect with me through more private methods such as email or telephone connections. You have a choice as to what you reveal about yourself online.

Use of Search Engines

I do not “google” my clients or look up information on them for any reason. It is important to me that I know you as you are in my office. If I do come across your information online, you can be assured that I will move on and avoid reading content.

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 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 very unusual situations and if I ever resort to such means, I will fully document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.

If we are working together, 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 that we are not a good fit.

This policy is not meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with me. That is your discretion. The policy is simply to let you know that I will maintain confidentiality by not revealing that you are my client.

If you do choose of your own volition to write something on a business review site, I hope you will keep in mind that you may be sharing personally revealing information in a public forum. I urge you to create a pseudonym that is not linked to your regular email address or friend networks for your own privacy and protection.