Social Media Policy
Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. Social Media Policy
The British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) requires Registered Clinical Counsellors (RCC) who use social media to have a social media policy. This document outlines Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. policies related to the use of social media. Please read it to understand how Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. and its staff conducts social media engagement and how you can expect Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. to respond to various interactions that occur between the organization and clients online, and the potential limitations of social media.
If you have any questions about anything within this document, please do not hesitate to bring them up when you meet with your counsellor. As the internet and technology continually evolves, there may be times when this policy needs to be updated. When this happens this policy will be updated and posted on the Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. website and clients will be informed of the update during their next session post policy updates.
Confidentiality
If you decide to tell others about your sessions at Hawthorn Counselling Ltd., or the progress made with your therapy, that is entirely your choice. However, we must keep the relationship with you completely confidential except in cases of where you might harm yourself or others. If you choose to post on any of the Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. social media pages, you invite the possibility of people making assumptions about our relationship or asking you about your connection to the Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. and/or counsellors at the practice. You get to decide what you tell people. You have a choice as to what you reveal about yourself online; however, Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. and counsellors will not reveal their connection to you.
Friending
In order to respect your privacy and confidentiality, Counsellors at Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. do not accept friend requests from current or former clients on social networking sites (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) or any other social media platform. We believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality. It may also blur the boundaries of the therapeutic relationship. If you need to contact your counsellor the best way to do this is through phone or email.
Like
You may like the Facebook business page if you want to do so. However, if you like the page, you are choosing to expose that you may be connected to Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. in some way. The business Facebook page exists to be a forum of information and inspiration. Counsellors will not engage in conversations with you on that page.
Following
Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. often puts out information on social media and may post to Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. You are not obliged as a client at Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. to follow the practice in anyway on social media. It is your choice if you do, but Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. will not follow you back. Any content posted on social media by Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. is for educational/marketing purposes only and is not intended to be a part of a therapeutic intervention or relationship. Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. makes every effort to ensure that any social media content created is evidence-based, clearly cited and verifiable. Clients or other individuals who use tips or tools, or access information shared through Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. social media channels do so at their own risk.
Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. will not view your personal online content because it can create confusion regarding whether it’s being done as a part of your treatment or to satisfy 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 the therapeutic working relationship. If there are things from your online life that you wish to share with your counsellor, please bring them into the sessions where you can view and explore them together.
Interacting
Please do not use messaging on social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or any other, to contact Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. or any of the counsellors at Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. These sites are not secure, and messages may not be read in a timely fashion. The best way to interact with Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. or your counsellor is by email or phone. If you post on the Facebook feed, it may also create the possibility that these exchanges become a part of your legal medical record and will need to be documented and archived in your chart. In the case of an emergency, please call 911 or the crisis line at 604.872.3311.
Search Engines
It is NOT a regular part of practice at Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. to search for clients or look up information on clients using Google, Facebook or other search engines. Occasionally, clients information may show up on a newsfeed or other public domains. If counsellors do come across your information online, you can be assured that counsellors will move on and avoid reading content. Extremely rare exceptions may be made during times of crisis. If there is a reason to suspect that you are in danger and you have not been in touch with your counsellor via usual means (showing up for 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 very unusual situations and if a counsellor were to ever resort to such means, it would be fully documented and discussed with you when you next meet your counsellor.
Business Review Sites
You may find Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. in an online directory. Some of these sites include places where users can provide ratings and reviews. Many of these sites scrape search engines for businesses and automatically add entries, regardless of whether the business has added itself to the site. If you should find Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. on any of these sites, please know that the listing is not a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from you as a client.
The British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) Standard for Promoting and Advertising Services states, “an RCC should never solicit testimonials, expressly or by implication, from clients or other persons who, because of their particular circumstances, may be vulnerable to undue influence”(BCACC Code of Ethical Conduct and Standards of Clinical Practice and Guidelines for Registered Clinical Counsellors, 2011). You have a right to express yourself on any site you wish, but Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. or the counsellors here are not asking you to do so. If you do post a review, Hawthorn cannot respond on any of these sites, whether it is positive or negative.
Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. urges you to take your own privacy as seriously as the counsellors here take their commitment of confidentiality to you. You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with a counsellor or Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. about your feelings about the therapy you have had here, there is a good possibility that it may never be seen. Hawthorn Counselling Ltd.’s policy is to welcome the feeling and reactions (positive or critical) of clients directly into the therapy session or through the evaluation forms regularly distributed to clients. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide there is not a good fit. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy at Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. wherever and with whomever you like.
At Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. counsellors prefer to use email only to arrange or modify appointments. Please do not email your counsellors content related to your therapy or assessment sessions, as email is not 100% secure or confidential. If you choose to communicate with your counsellor by email, be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of both your and Hawthorn’s 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.
Conclusion
Thanks for taking the time to review this social media policy. If you have any questions or concerns about any of these policies or regarding potential interactions between you and Hawthorn Counselling Ltd. on the Internet, do bring them to your counsellor’s attention so that they can be discussed or to info@hawthorncounselling.ca.
Policy created March 7th, 2024