SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

Social Media is a wonderful tool that helps people get informed and engaged. I use social media for my business, and I have created a social media policy to better inform you how I use social media in my practice. 

If you have any questions about my policy, I encourage you to bring them up when we meet. Social media and technology are also constantly changing and there may be times when I need to update this policy. If I do so, I will post the policy online and inform you of the changes in our session. The basis for this policy is to protect our relationship and your confidentiality in session. 

CONFIDENTIALITY: You decide what you want to keep confidential. I must keep my relationship with you completely confidential except in cases of where you might harm yourself or others. Thus, if you post on my page, you are opening up the possibility of people making assumptions about our relationship or asking you about your connection to me. You get to decide what you tell people. You have a choice as to what you reveal about yourself online; however, I will not reveal my connection to you. Thus, this is how I handle different social media options:

FOLLOWING: I have no expectation that clients will want to follow any of my public social media business accounts. You are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow my public social media business accounts. Note that I will not follow you back. I do not follow current or former clients. If there are things from your online life that you wish to share with me, please bring them into our sessions where we can view and explore them together

LIKING: You may “like” my Instagram or Facebook content. If you “like” any of my content, you are choosing to reveal that you are connected to me in some way. My business page exists to be a forum of information and inspiration. I will not engage in conversations with you on that page.

INTERACTING: Please do not use messaging on social networking sites to contact me. If there were an emergency, I would not be able to respond timely as I do not check these accounts regularly. The best way to interact with me is at (301) 613-6808 or by email at: safilynchtherapy@protonmail.com ,

USE OF SEARCH ENGINES: I do not “google” my clients or look up information on them for any reason. I think it is important that I know you as you are in our sessions. If I do come across your information online, I will move on and avoid reading content. 

EMAIL: I prefer using email only to arrange or modify appointments. Please do not email me content related to your 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.

TEXT: Text should only be used to communicate to me that you are running late to an appointment. Please know that text isn’t always secure.  Brief texts related to your appointment only are acceptable. 

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.