This policy has been written for the benefit of therapy clients of Aurora Mind and Body Ltd.
Though therapists are mostly trained to keep their personal lives out of the consulting room for the benefit of their clients, the availability of information about us on the internet means that this isn’t always possible. Furthermore, therapists need to make their own choices about their involvement in social media, how publicly available their online presence is, and to be aware of how their online presence can affect their clients. This document is based on our own choices with regard to social media and we ask all therapy clients, whether face to face or online, to read through this document so they are familiar with our views on the topic.
Our public activities
In addition to our therapeutic work, we also run the fitness side of Aurora Mind and Body Ltd. As part of these pursuits, we utilise various online resources including our website and social media channels to promote our activities. We see these as related to, but completely separate from any clinical work with therapy clients.
Our duty of care to our therapy clients and our professional commitment to confidentiality means that we only talk about clinical work in general terms publicly. As our client, you will have received a contract covering the confines of confidentiality and this is a contract we take most seriously.
Keeping boundaries
As a therapist, it is ethically important for us to make sure that relationship boundaries with clients are clear. Therapists do this to protect both their own interests as well as those of their clients. As part of these boundaries and to ensure the success of therapy, we will avoid ‘dual relationships’ where possible (for example, a friend also being a therapy client). The very nature of an online presence can blur these boundaries, so it is important for us to be as clear as possible about how boundaries may be challenged in an online environment.
Twitter and Instagram
We maintain a clinical and personal presence on Twitter and Instagram. We occasionally post links that may be of interest to our followers and engage in public conversations about these topics. We advise our therapy clients against following our personal Twitter and Instagram streams as it’s easier for relationships to remain ‘in the consultation room’ this way. We also will not knowingly follow any current or former therapy clients on Twitter or Instagram. You may, however, follow our Aurora Mind and Body streams if you wish.
Facebook and LinkedIn
We maintain personal Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. We aim to keep our personal Facebook accounts as private as possible and it would not be appropriate to be Facebook ‘friends’ with former or current therapy clients. You can, however, follow our Aurora Mind and Body Facebook page where we maintain a clinical presence, sharing related links and stories that may be useful to current or prospective therapy clients. We have also decided that it would not be appropriate to add current or former clients as connections on our personal LinkedIn accounts.
Interacting with your therapist
Social networking and other online activities are increasingly becoming a part of our daily lives and as a result, you may wish to share your stories and experiences with your therapist in between sessions or after your therapeutic relationship has ended. Should you wish to do this, you are welcome to contact us via email or via the Aurora Mind and Body Facebook page but please note that we will not generally reply to messages in between therapeutic sessions unless this has been agreed with you beforehand.
Reviews and testimonials
You are welcome to leave a review on the Aurora Mind and Body Facebook page or Google. We regret we are unable to publish testimonials on our website as this is prohibited by our professional body (National Society of Talking Therapies, or NSTT). Should you encounter something about us online that concerns you, please discuss it with your therapist.
* Special thanks to Dr Aaron Balick (http://www.mindswork.co.uk) and Dr Keely Holmes (http://drkkolmes.com) who provided the model for this social media policy.