BDS Insight > About > Social Media Disclaimer
Social Media Disclaimer
(Updated 8/1/14. Changes in grey reflect updates)
This document outlines office policies related to use of Social Media. Please read it to understand how Dr. Brady conducts herself on the Internet as a psychologist & collaborative practice professional and how you can expect her to respond to various interactions that may occur between you on the Internet.
If you have any questions about anything within this document, bring them up when you meet with Dr. Brady. As new technology develops and the Internet changes, there may be times when this policy is updated. When this happens, the date of these changes will appear on my public business website and the change will be highlighted within the document .
Friending Dr. Brady
I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former individual clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). I believe that adding individual clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of our coaching and collaborative practice relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.
Fanning
I keep a Facebook Page for some of my personal and professional writing projects which I use to allow people to share my blog posts and practice updates with other Facebook users. You are welcome to view my Facebook pages and read or share articles posted there, but I do not advocate or solicit clients to become “fans” of these pages. These pages are publicly available and it is possible that a client wishing to “fan” a page I am associated with may be revealing their connection to my professional services in a way they do not intend or desire. I believe having clients as Facebook Fans creates a greater likelihood of compromised client confidentiality. In addition, the American Psychological Association’s Ethics Code prohibits my soliciting testimonials from psychotherapy clients and so I do not use or desire Facebook pages I am associated with to be a base for testimonials or client endorsements. Note that you should be able to subscribe to the page via RSS without becoming a Fan and without creating a visible, public link to my Page. You are more than welcome to do this.
Following
I publish a blog on my website and I post psychology and business news as well as collaborative coaching information on Twitter. I have no expectation that you as a client will want to follow my blog or Twitter stream. However, if you use an easily recognizable name on Twitter and I happen to notice that you've followed me there, we may briefly discuss it and its potential impact on our working relationship.
My primary concern is your privacy. If you share this concern, there are more private ways to follow me on Twitter (such as using an RSS feed or a locked Twitter list), which would eliminate your having a public link to my content. You are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow me.
Note that I may not follow you back. In general I do not follow current or former individual psychotherapy clients on blogs or Twitter. My reasoning is that I believe casual viewing of clients’ online content outside of our professional contacts can create confusion in regard to whether it’s being done as a part of our work together or to satisfy my 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 me, please bring them into our meetings where we can view and explore them together in our professional relationship.
Interacting
If you have been a psychotherapy client please do not use SMS (mobile phone text messaging) or messaging on Social Networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to contact me.
These sites are not secure and I may not read these messages in a timely fashion.
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 through social media like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn could compromise your confidentiality. It may also create the possibility that these exchanges become a part of your legal or medical record.
If you are a consulting or coaching client, please know the best way to reach me is through my cell phone number or my email. If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone. Direct email at [email protected] is second best for quick, administrative issues such as changing appointment times. See the email section below for more information regarding email interactions.
Use of Search Engines
It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google or Facebook or other 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 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 I ever resort to such means, I will fully document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.
Business Review Sites
You may find my coaching and consulting practice on sites such as Yelp, Healthgrades, 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 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. The American Psychological Association’s Ethics Code states under Principle 5.05 that it is unethical for psychologists to solicit testimonials: “Psychologists do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients/patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence.”
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 take your own privacy as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. 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.
If we are working together, I hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into our meetings. This can be an important part of working with a psychologist, even if you decide we are not a good fit. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are working with me as a professional 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 served as your therapist or that you are using my coaching services and 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, 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.
If you feel I have done something harmful or unethical and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with me, you can always contact the New Hampshire Board of Psychology, which oversees psychology licensing, and they will review the services I have provided. This body will be called to order beginning July, 2014. Prior to this any concerns should be directed to the Board of Mental Health Practice, New Hampshire.
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. I do not place my practice as a check-in location on various sites such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, etc. However, if you have GPS tracking enabled on your device, it is possible that others may surmise that you are a client due to regular check-ins at my office. 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.
Email
I prefer using email only to arrange or modify appointments. Please do not email me content related to your coaching sessions, as email is not completely secure or confidential. If you choose to communicate with me by email, be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers. 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. You should also know that any emails I receive from you and any responses that I send to you become a part of your legal record.
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to review my 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 my attention so that we can discuss them.
This document outlines office policies related to use of Social Media. Please read it to understand how Dr. Brady conducts herself on the Internet as a psychologist & collaborative practice professional and how you can expect her to respond to various interactions that may occur between you on the Internet.
If you have any questions about anything within this document, bring them up when you meet with Dr. Brady. As new technology develops and the Internet changes, there may be times when this policy is updated. When this happens, the date of these changes will appear on my public business website and the change will be highlighted within the document .
Friending Dr. Brady
I do not accept friend or contact requests from current or former individual clients on any social networking site (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). I believe that adding individual clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of our coaching and collaborative practice relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up when we meet and we can talk more about it.
Fanning
I keep a Facebook Page for some of my personal and professional writing projects which I use to allow people to share my blog posts and practice updates with other Facebook users. You are welcome to view my Facebook pages and read or share articles posted there, but I do not advocate or solicit clients to become “fans” of these pages. These pages are publicly available and it is possible that a client wishing to “fan” a page I am associated with may be revealing their connection to my professional services in a way they do not intend or desire. I believe having clients as Facebook Fans creates a greater likelihood of compromised client confidentiality. In addition, the American Psychological Association’s Ethics Code prohibits my soliciting testimonials from psychotherapy clients and so I do not use or desire Facebook pages I am associated with to be a base for testimonials or client endorsements. Note that you should be able to subscribe to the page via RSS without becoming a Fan and without creating a visible, public link to my Page. You are more than welcome to do this.
Following
I publish a blog on my website and I post psychology and business news as well as collaborative coaching information on Twitter. I have no expectation that you as a client will want to follow my blog or Twitter stream. However, if you use an easily recognizable name on Twitter and I happen to notice that you've followed me there, we may briefly discuss it and its potential impact on our working relationship.
My primary concern is your privacy. If you share this concern, there are more private ways to follow me on Twitter (such as using an RSS feed or a locked Twitter list), which would eliminate your having a public link to my content. You are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow me.
Note that I may not follow you back. In general I do not follow current or former individual psychotherapy clients on blogs or Twitter. My reasoning is that I believe casual viewing of clients’ online content outside of our professional contacts can create confusion in regard to whether it’s being done as a part of our work together or to satisfy my 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 me, please bring them into our meetings where we can view and explore them together in our professional relationship.
Interacting
If you have been a psychotherapy client please do not use SMS (mobile phone text messaging) or messaging on Social Networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to contact me.
These sites are not secure and I may not read these messages in a timely fashion.
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 through social media like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn could compromise your confidentiality. It may also create the possibility that these exchanges become a part of your legal or medical record.
If you are a consulting or coaching client, please know the best way to reach me is through my cell phone number or my email. If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone. Direct email at [email protected] is second best for quick, administrative issues such as changing appointment times. See the email section below for more information regarding email interactions.
Use of Search Engines
It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google or Facebook or other 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 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 I ever resort to such means, I will fully document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.
Business Review Sites
You may find my coaching and consulting practice on sites such as Yelp, Healthgrades, 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 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. The American Psychological Association’s Ethics Code states under Principle 5.05 that it is unethical for psychologists to solicit testimonials: “Psychologists do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients/patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence.”
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 take your own privacy as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. 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.
If we are working together, I hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into our meetings. This can be an important part of working with a psychologist, even if you decide we are not a good fit. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are working with me as a professional 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 served as your therapist or that you are using my coaching services and 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, 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.
If you feel I have done something harmful or unethical and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with me, you can always contact the New Hampshire Board of Psychology, which oversees psychology licensing, and they will review the services I have provided. This body will be called to order beginning July, 2014. Prior to this any concerns should be directed to the Board of Mental Health Practice, New Hampshire.
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. I do not place my practice as a check-in location on various sites such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, etc. However, if you have GPS tracking enabled on your device, it is possible that others may surmise that you are a client due to regular check-ins at my office. 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.
I prefer using email only to arrange or modify appointments. Please do not email me content related to your coaching sessions, as email is not completely secure or confidential. If you choose to communicate with me by email, be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers. 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. You should also know that any emails I receive from you and any responses that I send to you become a part of your legal record.
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to review my 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 my attention so that we can discuss them.
