Symantha’s Talking Social Media Policy
Contact information:
Symantha Simcox
30 Langholm Drive, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY2 5UN
Tel: 07918 396 814
Email: connect@symanthas.com
Social Media Policy: Commitment to my Clients and Confidentiality
The following outlines my policies regarding Social Media. Clients and followers can expect my professional conduct always regarding the various interactions that may occur on the Internet.
I do not accept friend requests on social networking sites from current or former clients. Nor people who have connected with me via my practice, website or blogs. I believe that adding clients (past, current, and potential) as “friends” compromises confidentiality and our respective privacy. It blurs the boundaries of therapeutic relationships and makes it ethically flawed for me to accept someone as a client in the future.
Symantha’s Talking Therapy has a Facebook page where you can view and share my blog and vlog posts. This information is also available on my website.
My primary concern is your privacy and safety. You can follow me on Twitter but please be aware that I will not follow you back. I only follow other health professionals and I do not follow current or former clients on any media platform. My casual viewing of your online content outside of therapy may be unhelpful to the work that we are doing. It can create unhelpful bias or irrelevant interest on my part. This could potentially have a negative influence on our working relationship.
Please do not use Social Networking sites to contact me. These sites are not secure, and I will not read these messages with regularity. Likewise, 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 confidentiality.
If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone. Oftentimes, I will be in a therapy session but if you leave your name, number, and a brief message, I will come back to you as soon as I am able. You can also send me a brief SMS message (mobile phone text messaging) and again, I will respond as soon as I am available. Direct email at connect@symanthas.com is preferred for administrative issues such as booking/ changing appointment times.
Business Review Sites
You may find Symantha’s Talking Therapy on sites such as Yahoo Local, Bing, Google or other places that list businesses. Some of these sites request reviews about the businesses that they list.
I do not ever request testimonials, ratings, or endorsements from my clients.
In fact, the UKCP Code of Ethics under which I work states that therapists are obliged not to make any claims which they cannot demonstrate to be true and that would instantly compromise client confidentiality.
Please see my page on testimonials.
Irrespective of my professional stance, you have a right to express yourself in any way and on any site you wish but I will not respond to any review you post whether positive or negative due to the strict confidentiality under which I operate and I urge you to take your own privacy as seriously too.
If you do choose to write a review please be mindful of protecting your own personal information that you are placing in a public forum. I recommend creating a pseudonym that is not linked to your regular email address or friend networks for your own privacy and protection and f you used location-based services on your mobile phone, please be mindful of inadvertently revealing regular check-ins at my address if it is something that you would prefer to keep private.
Commitment to Confidentiality
My commitment to confidentiality means that I will not tell people that you are my client and my Ethics Code prohibits me from requesting testimonials; to this, I am both professionally and personally committed.
As detailed previously, you are at liberty to tell anyone you wish that I am your therapist and how you feel about the work that we are doing. I encourage openness in the work that we do and am hopeful that in any scenario where you feel any concern or dissatisfaction you would feel comfortable enough to share your thoughts with me. I am dedicated to forging a therapeutic relationship built on trust, confidentiality, and safety.
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 UKCP or NCHP or follow the complaints procedure detailed on my website and Therapist’s Declaration.
I prefer using email only to arrange or modify appointments.
Internet service providers keep logs of all emails sent. It is unlikely someone will access them, but theoretically, they could be read by the system administrators. Any email exchanges with my clients become a part of the client’s legal record.
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 further.
My commitment always is to provide the best and safest service to my clients who deserve no less.