Skip to main content
Social media is where therapy privacy is most likely to go wrong by accident. A client recognizes you. A photo shows the office calendar. A comment implies someone is a client. This page is about not letting that happen.

​
Your personal accounts

  • Don’t connect with clients. Don’t friend, follow, or accept requests from current or former clients on personal accounts. If a client requests, don’t respond online; address it in session if it seems useful.
  • Don’t post about clients. Not a story, not a vague “hard session today,” not a de-identified anecdote. Even without a name, clients recognize themselves, and so do the people who know them.
  • Don’t post about the practice in a way that reveals client information, including photos of the office where a schedule, a sign-in sheet, or a client could be visible.
  • You may identify yourself as working at The Healing Haven. If you do, be aware that your posts reflect on the practice.
  • Don’t speak for the practice. Personal opinions are yours. Don’t present them as the practice’s.
This page is about client privacy. It doesn’t limit posting about your own pay, schedule, or working conditions, or discussing them with coworkers; see Your rights at work.

​
Clients who find you

Clients will look you up. Assume anything public on your accounts will be seen by a client. Adjust your privacy settings accordingly, and think about what a client should and shouldn’t know about you before they ask.

​
Reviews and comments

If a client leaves a public review, positive or negative, don’t respond, even to say thank you. A response confirms they’re a client. Tell Zack, who handles public reviews on the practice’s behalf using language that doesn’t acknowledge a clinical relationship. If someone comments on the practice’s content in a way that reveals they’re a client, don’t engage with the disclosure. Tell Zack.

​
The practice’s accounts

The practice’s social media, blog, and website are run by Zack and Helen. If you’re asked to contribute content, it goes through them before posting. Content never includes client information, never makes outcome claims, and never says “HIPAA-compliant.”

​
Photos and video

Don’t photograph or record clients, ever, without a signed consent for that specific use in the record. Don’t photograph the office in a way that could capture a client, a screen, or a document. Team photos at events are fine with the consent of the people in them.

​
Reporting

If you see a privacy problem on social media, including a colleague’s post or a client’s disclosure on a practice account, tell Zack and the practice manager. See Breach and incident reporting.