Social Media Policy
The document below outlines the policy of Ben Foster Therapy with regard to the use of social media and electronic information. If you, as a client, have questions about any aspect please do ask. As the world of technology is constantly changing this document is likely to be updated regularly.
It is my prime goal to ensure I uphold the highest ethical standards and the following factors are taken into account in my use of social media:
I do not accept friend requests on my personal / professional Facebook / Instagram / LinkedIn page to ensure your confidentiality is protected and that the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship remain intact as this ensures your psychological safety. This relates to both present and past clients.
Please do not message me on social media relating to appointments or our sessions if we are in a therapist / client relationship as these sites are not secure and your confidentiality can be breached. A phone call to change appointment times will ensure the message gets to me in a timely manner, otherwise you can communicate via text or email. We can discuss further details of our communication at the session.
As business review sites may add my practice to their listing without interacting with me first, and my clients may leave comments and reviews to these – please note that I do not interact with these sites and will not respond to your comments. I will also not ask you to leave reviews for my services as this takes the focus away from you and your process which is the focal point of our work. You are of course welcome to comment if you wish to express yourself on any site, however I will not respond or comment on a positive or a negative review as acting in your best interest and protecting your confidentiality are of utmost importance to me. Please also note that if you use these forums to express your feelings to me about our work there is a chance I may never see it. If you have any concerns or comments about my practice or our work please come to me directly. If you feel I have conducted myself in an unethical manner and you feel that you cannot speak with me about it I encourage you to get in touch with UKCP Ethics Board and share your thoughts / concerns with them, they will be able to assist you.
Liking or following my personal / professional Facebook / Instagram / LinkedIn page. As part of the UKCP ethics code and my commitment to you and acting in your best interest I will never ask you to “like” or endorse my professional page as the therapeutic process is not about serving my professional interests. I would suggest not following me on social media and if I notice that you have I would suggest we discuss this in the following session.
Please be aware of the way location based services work and how they affect your privacy - it is possible for you to be identified as a client in therapy due to you often “checking in” in my office.
I do not use search engines to search for you and learn about you. It is not part of my practice to do so and if there is ever an extremely rare exception in the time of crisis where I suspect you may be in danger and you have not been in touch using our usual mode of contact and I may use the search engine as part of ensuring your welfare – I will document it fully and discuss with you during our next session.
Following my clients online content. Casually viewing clients’ content outside of therapy can impact our working relationship and create confusion whether this is done as part of your treatment. If there are things from your online life that you would like to discuss please bring those into the session.