Social Media Policy
Social Media Policy
The purpose of this document is to provide information to you specifically on the social media policy for Oak Haven Psychology. This form helps to ensure the welfare, satisfaction, and privacy of our clients. As psychologists registered with AHPRA, we have ethical obligations when conducting ourselves on the internet. This information will outline the social media policy and how you may expect us to respond to any interactions between us on the internet, especially if you are, or have received therapy sessions with us.
This policy is compliant with the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Authority (AHPRA) Social Media Policy (2014), the Australian Psychological Society (APS) Code of Ethics, and Section 133 of the National Law concerning Advertising of Registered Healthcare Services. If you have any questions about the social media policy, feel free to email admin@oakhavenpsych.com.au.
Purpose of Social Media Communication
Oak Haven Psychology may use social media to inform clients, health professionals and the public about latest research and health-related resources, and new programs or services. All social media channels managed by Oak Haven Psychology are for professional use- and not personal use.
Friending and Following
Oak Haven Psychology does not accept friend requests from current or former clients on any personal social networking sites. Adding clients as friends on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. We also do not follow any current or former clients on any social media forum. Viewing your online activities without your consent and without explicit arrangement towards a specific purpose could potentially have a negative influence on the therapeutic relationship. If there are things from your online life that you wish to share please bring them to sessions to explore during therapy.
You are welcome to view Oak Haven Psychology’s public Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages. There is no expectation that you as a client will want to follow us, and you are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow us. If you would like to discuss any of the website’s content, you are welcome to bring it along to our sessions.
Interacting
If you are a client and would like to contact Oak Haven Psychology in between sessions, please do so via email. Please do not use social networking sites to contact us, as these sites are not secure and we may not read these messages in a timely fashion. Also, engaging with us this way could compromise your confidentiality. 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.
Likes, Follows and Comments
It is possible to view social media content without liking, following or commenting on content. Please be aware that if you choose to like or follow Oak Haven Psychology social media channels using your name you may be publicly disclosing a relationship with this practice.
This practice welcomes your feedback on news feeds, research, and current projects, but please do not post testimonials or reviews about your experience of treatment. Under the National Law it is prohibited for registered health professionals to publish testimonials, and it is mandated that these comments are removed.
We welcome your feedback in therapy sessions, so please discuss this with us.
Use of Search Engines
It is NOT a part of our practice to search for clients on Google or Facebook or other search engines. If we have a reason to suspect that you are in danger, and if you are not responding to phone calls or an 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 unusual situations and if we ever resort to such means, we will fully document it and discuss it with you when we next meet.
Business Review Sites
The Australian Psychological Association’s Ethics Code states that it is unethical for psychologists to solicit testimonials from therapy clients: “Psychologists do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients/patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence.”
You may find Oak Haven Psychology listed on automatically generated business review sites (i.e.- without our consent). Some of these sites include user ratings and reviews. Please be aware these listings are NOT controlled by Oak Haven Psychology, and this practice never solicits client reviews or testimonials. We urge you to take your own privacy as seriously as we take our commitment of confidentiality to you. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone you wish that we are your therapist or how you feel about the treatment we provided to you, in any forum of your choosing.
Links
This website may contain links to other websites. Links to third party websites do not constitute sponsorship or endorsement or approval of these websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. We encourage our users to be aware, when they leave our website, to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information.
Conclusion
If you have questions or concerns about this policy, or regarding our potential interactions on the Internet, please bring them to our attention so that we can discuss them. As new technology develops and the Internet changes, there may be times when we need to update this policy. If that happens, you will receive notice of any policy changes so you can ensure you have a copy of the updated policy.