Mindful Musings

My Mindful Musings about mental health issues and other therapy-related things. Due to legal and ethical concerns, I’ve chosen not to allow comments on this blog. However, I always welcome direct email if you wish discuss any blog topic with me.

I also invite you to email me directly with any questions or topics that you’d like to see me blog about.

Thanks for reading!

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Upcoming Salon | The Web 2.0 Psychotherapist: The Therapeutic Relationship and Social Media

March 18th, 2010

Please be aware of my upcoming training. And feel free to share the following announcement with anyone you think might be interested!

Emacs!

SFCP Community Members’ Professional Development Salon

The Web 2.0 Psychotherapist: The Therapeutic Relationship and Social Media

Some clinicians are hesitant about having a personal social media presence (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) but are beginning to explore having a professional social media presence for their psychotherapy practices. The current APA Ethics Code does not explicitly address our activities on the Internet. What does it mean to be “transparent” using social media as a clinician? How might it influence one’s clinical work? What boundary issues do clinicians need to be aware of when they create an online social media presence? What happens when clinicians and clients cross paths in online spaces? Lastly, how can we think about this analytically and bring these new experiences of the relationship into the work?

Speaker:
Keely Kolmes, Psy.D., Dr. Kolmes is a psychologist in private practice in San Francisco who writes and speaks on the intersection of clinical care and social media.

Discussant:
Robert L. Friend, M.D., SFCP Member and Faculty

Moderator: Renée Spencer, M.F.T., SFCP Community Membership Co-Chair

Preparation
In preparation for the Salon, Dr. Kolmes suggests that attendees use Google or another search engine to search for yourself. Please use quotation marks around your name and search for yourself in various formats depending upon names you use on the Internet. For example, she would do the following searches on herself:
“Keely Kolmes”
“Keely Kolmes, Psy.D.”
“Dr. Keely Kolmes”
“drkkolmes”

Thursday, April 8, 2010
7:30 to 9 PM
San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis
2340 Jackson Street, 4th floor Auditorium
San Francisco

Registration & Fees
This series is free to SFCP members, candidates, and community members. For others, the cost is $35 per meeting payable at the door. Attendance at the previous salons is not required.  Prior salons were recorded on DVD and can be borrowed from the library.  Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. RSVP to 415-563-5815 or to finance [at] sf-cp.org.

1.5 CME/CE credits (pending) for $15.00

The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association (IMQ/CMA) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis takes responsibility for the content, quality and scientific integrity of this CME activity.

PHYSICIANS: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.5 credits as listed for each individual program, AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This credit may also be applied to the CMA Certification in Continuing Medical Education.

LCSWs/MFTs: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is a provider approved by the Board of Behavioral Sciences, Provider Number PCE623, for 1.5 credits on an hour for hour basis.

PSYCHOLOGISTS: Psychologists attending SFCP events approved for CME credits may report AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s) toward their CE requirements and are now able to directly submit their verification letters at the end of each renewal cycle using the MCEP credit reporting form that can be found on the internet at: http://www.cpapsych.org/associations/6414/files/mcepaa/files/MCEP_Reporting_Form.pdf

REGISTERED NURSES: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 02677, on an hour for hour basis.

SFCP is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SFCP maintains responsibility for this program and its contents.

Course Objectives:
1) Participants will develop a basic knowledge of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and blogging and how they might be used as an adjunct to one’s practice.
2) Participants will learn how the current APA Ethics Code may be applied to Internet activities.
3) Participants will have the opportunity to engage in discussion about clinical boundaries and the potential impact of both therapist and client encountering one another out-of-session in online spaces.

Commercial Support: None

Faculty Disclosure: The following moderators and planning committee members have disclosed NO financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with commercial companies who have provided products or services, relating presentation(s) or commercial support for this continuing medical education activity: Keely Kolmes, Psy.D., Robert Friend, M.D. and Renee Spencer, M.F.T. All conflicts of interest have been resolved in accordance with the ACCME Updated Standards for Commercial Support.

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Posted at 5:48 am with tags: 
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appearances, continuing education, social networking, tools for mental health professionals

Social Media Policy & Updates to Office Procedures

March 17th, 2010

I have uploaded my Social Media Policy and have made some minor updates to my current Office Procedures and Agreement for Psychotherapy Services.

If you are a current client, I will update you on the changes and have you sign a new Acknowledgment of Notifications form to indicate that you are aware of these changes when we next meet.

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Posted at 3:31 pm with tags: 
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consumer information, office information, services

Update: Findings on Research on Therapists on the Internet

March 15th, 2010

If you are looking for the results of the survey on therapists encountering client information on the Internet, please note that we have extended our data collection period.

Results of our survey will be posted on this blog by August 30th, 2010.

Please check back then.

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Posted at 1:15 am with tags: 
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research

Out of the Office

March 3rd, 2010

Please note that I will be out of the office from Thursday, March 11th until Monday, March 22nd.

I will still be checking and returning phone messages and emails, but my response time may be delayed.

If you are experiencing a crisis, you should call 911 or go to your nearest Emergency Room.

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Posted at 9:30 pm with tags: 

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office information

Location Based Check-In Sites for Mental Health Professionals

February 26th, 2010

At a couple of recent trainings, and in consultations with other mental health professionals, the question has come up about whether is is okay to check in on sites like Foursquare, Loopt, brightkite, and Gowalla when one is involved in the provision of clinical services. I have met with a few clinicians in training who use these sites socially and who are eager to rack up points by checking in when they go to work at their practicum or internship sites to see clients. My predictably conservative take on this is that it is probably not the best idea.

It’s one thing for clients to decide on their own to add your clinic or private practice to these sites and, subsequently choose to check in when they attend therapy. But adding your own psychotherapy office or clinic to location-based social networking sites could be a walk down a slippery slope. It could be perceived as your encouraging clients to publicly check-in on these sites which raises a number of sticky issues.

When sites like foursquare encourage business owners to put their sites up to connect with their customers, they are usually thinking of bars, restaurants, or other non-confidential services. But when you put your own business on a site like this when you are involved in the provision of confidential services it’s a bit more dicey whether it’s simply strategic marketing and business promotion or an invitation for people to check-in. Given that ethics codes for psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists all strictly prohibit the solicitation of client testimonials, might putting your psychotherapy practice on sites like this be perceived as a passive request for endorsement by clients? A trickier question is whether a “check-in” is the same thing as a testimonial. Maybe not, but it does seem to be some sort of indicator of patronage. We may not be realizing it, but our presence on these sites may be perceived as a veiled invitation for clients to disclose that they are in treatment with us.

I find myself wondering if particular populations or individuals are more likely to be lured by points and badges at the expense of their privacy. I can certainly imagine some adolescent clients going for the check-in before thinking twice. And if you work in outpatient treatment or see people multiple times a week, do you want them to become the Mayor of your clinic? We may hope that distressed clients have more on their minds than checking in when they go to therapy, but one never knows.

Some might point out that putting your practice up on a site does not mean that you have identified who you have seen in your office. This is correct, of course. A client still gets to choose whether or not to check in when they attend therapy and the disclosure is theirs to make. But the question remains whether the invitation alone could be perceived as subtly influencing some clients to do so.

These are questions about the gray areas of overlap between social networking and marketing of services. They stir up issues related to boundaries, ethics, confidentiality, and multiple roles. The APA Ethics Code applies only to activities that are a “part of (our) scientific, educational, or professional roles as psychologists.” The Internet has been already making it harder to distinguish the separation between our personal and professional lives. And certainly, once we have created a listing on sites to advertise our practices, we have brought our professional lives and the duties and responsibilities that come with it into another realm. It’s worth it to be mindful about which risks you want to take in your own professional practice.

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Posted at 12:31 pm with tags: 
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ethics, privacy, social networking, technology

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