Social Media Ethics (part 1): Digital Dual Relationship Dilemmas

photo credit: Eric Schwartzman

I’ve spent months writing about how to effectively use technology, and social media in particular, to build your private mental health practice. While the Internet has opened up exciting new ways for mental health therapists in private practice to market their practice, reach potential clients, and educate the public, it has also allowed for new ethical dilemmas.

When I first started practicing nearly two decades ago, I was concerned about my child being on the same soccer team as a client's child, or about running into clients at parties of mutual friends. The increasing Internet usage by therapists and clients alike has created new opportunities for dual relationships online. Over the coming weeks I'll be discussing ways to use social media ethically in the digital age.

Here are a just few examples of digital dual relationship dilemmas that therapists now face:

• “A former clients sent a ‘friend’ request on my personal Facebook page? Should I accept it?”
• “One of my clients is a friend of one of my family members on Facebook. I don’t want him to have access to my personal information, photos, etc. Is there anything I can do to protect my personal information?”
• “A client just posted a comment on my private practice Facebook page that reveals some clinical information about his symptoms. How should I handle this?”
• “A potential client sent me a direct message on Twitter inquiring about my therapy services. Is Twitter confidential? How should I respond?”
• “During an initial intake with a new client the client shared some grandiose facts about her successful work history and public accolades. Should I Google her name to see if what she’s reporting is true?”
• “I just saw that a client is following me on Pinterest. I’m not sure how I feel about her seeing boards about how I want to decorate my dream house.”
• “Should I enable or disable comments on my private practice website blog? I'm concerned that it may look like I'm encouraging clients to comment on my blog."

I want to hear from you...

Have you faced any of these situations in your clinical practice?

What are some ethical dilemmas you've come across since venturing into social media?

Do you have any specific questions or ethical concerns about the impact of your online activity and it's potential impact on the client-therapist relationship?

Does Google Love Your Therapy Practice?

When is the last time you opened a phone book, looked in an actual encyclopedia, opened a dictionary, or navigated with an  paper map? The Internet has revolutionized where we go for information. The several hundred million Google searches every day include searches by potential clients looking for your expertise, your niche, and your services. Can they find you? Try Googling your name, or your therapy practice, or your specialty areas in your city. Where do you come up in the Google search? On the first page or on page number 25? If Google can't easily find you then neither can potential clients who are searching for you and your specific therapy services.

Take a look at these Internet facts:

• 62% of Americans use the Internet to find health care information. (Pew Internet and Family Life Study, 2009)
• 28-35% of Americans look online specifically for mental health information. (Pew Internet and Family Life Study, 2009)
• Kids aged 8-18 spend 7.5 to 10 hours a day “plugged in.” (2009 Kaiser Family Foundation Study)

For the past 5 years I've been actively leaving my digital footprint on the Internet for a two reasons: 1) To provide useful information to help women and families improve their mental health and family relationships and 2) To make it extremely easy for my ideal clients to find me and come to my private practice.

Keeping up with technology is crucial to building your private practice in a digital age. If you want to educate on mental health topics, promote grass roots social causes, and reach new clients (especially youth) with accurate mental health information and details about your services it's time to work harder to get Google's attention.

Here are a few things you can do to get Google to love your therapy practice and send new clients your way:

1) Get a website (if you don't already have one). Even if it's a one pager, it's better than nothing.

2) Include important keywords throughout the text of your website. Imagine what words that your ideal clients will be searching for.

3) Add a blog to your current website and write on topics that interest your ideal clients. Google favors new information so blog weekly.

4) Get others to link to your website. If you do media interviews, write articles, or network with other professionals always ask them to provide a link to your website. Add links to your website on any of social media profiles.

Google is the #1 referral source to my private practice. I love Google. I just searched my name "Julie Hanks LCSW" and Google found 26,100 results in about 0.16 seconds, and a search for my clinic "Wasatch Family Therapy" yielded 17,200 results in 0.18 seconds.

Over the next several months I'll be blogging on ways you can increase your visibility on search engines, ethically and effectively use social media so you can make it easy for your ideal clients to find your private practice...stay tuned.

photo credit: The Daring Librarian