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  1. Elizabeth Beck » Facebook for Therapists #2
    July 30, 2009 @ 5:58 pm

    […] Malchiodi’s recent post regarding art therapists on facebook, wrote a wonderful entry on guidelines to consider when a therapist has a facebook page for either friendship or business purposes. I strongly suggest that anyone maintaining an internet […]

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  2. Managing Facebook as a Mental Health Professional |
    November 21, 2011 @ 8:39 am

    […] Managing Facebook as a Mental Health Professional. […]

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  3. Facebook Resources for Certified EMDR Therapists
    January 24, 2012 @ 12:52 pm

    […] Link to her article:  “Managing Facebook as a Mental health Professional” […]

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  4. Sarah
    January 29, 2013 @ 5:12 pm

    Hi Dr Kolmes,

    I would be curious to read a further update to this post, based on all the ways that Facebook has changed and evolved their Fan pages in the past 3 years. So much of the marketing stuff for “holistic practitioners” emphasizes that it’s a crucial thing to do. My initial reaction is to think “not for therapists, that’s a bad idea”, but then I wonder whether I should consider it more deeply. It’s certainly complex and I would love to hear some thoughts on it.

    From what I can gather from Facebook, it appears that you no longer maintain a Fan page yourself?

    Best,
    Sarah

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    • drkkolmes
      February 9, 2013 @ 3:38 pm

      Sarah, I hope to be able to offer an update on this post in the future. The truth is that Facebook’s privacy settings change so frequently, that I have opted to have very little presence there myself. However, you ask about creating a business Page on Facebook. Again, while Pages semi-mask who has Liked the Page on the Page itself, it’s easy to go to search results in order to peruse the full list of people who have Liked a page. So people who are engaged in the confidential delivery of services are still left to struggle with whether they feel it is compromising of privacy to allow clients to Like a Page and whether to restrict comments or interactivity on the Wall itself.

      On the other hand, Facebook offers powerful targeted advertising which is more compelling for many than the various privacy risks it creates.

      For me, I chose to not continue to have a Fan page. However, some people have begun subscribing to my Keely Kolmes profile, on which I don’t add friends. While no psychotherapy clients subscribe to that page, it does replicate again the same privacy issue, although comments cannot be left on my profile.

      It should be noted that I’ve become much more lax about my Twitter followers, partly because of the sheer volume of people following me there, and it became impossible for me to even track who is following me all of the time. This made me worry less about a client being identified. So my personal take on these issues is somewhat gray, although protecting client confidentiality and avoiding problematic multiple roles is still a primary concern of mine.

  5. Using Facebook as a Mental Health Professional » The Counselor Coach
    October 24, 2013 @ 9:59 pm

    […] to make for your account.  I came across the following article by Dr. Keely Kolmes titled, “Managing Facebook as a Mental Health Professional” recently, and though it was written in 2009, it has a lot of information you may find relevant […]

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  6. Bernice Greene
    September 21, 2014 @ 1:44 am

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts about boundaries.
    Regards

    Reply

  7. Mental Health Practitioners Beware: Violations of Social Media ‘Code of Ethics’ | Marketing and Social Media
    May 11, 2015 @ 11:27 am

    […] Her article, “Managing Facebook as a Mental Health Professional” (information about privacy, shared friend networks, and some distinctions between profiles and […]

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  8. Georgia B
    November 9, 2016 @ 10:05 pm

    I’m so glad you suggest making a Facebook page for a mental health practice. This is such a great place for those in the medical field to keep clients up to date and give prospective patients an idea of who you are and what you do, without disclosing a lot of personal information like on your personal page. I’ve heard that people often go to Facebook pages before they go to the practice’s website because they like to see how they interact with followers and view their ratings!

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  9. Social Networking, How to respond when clients send 'Friend Request' to their psychotherapists or counselors
    January 21, 2019 @ 2:07 pm

    […] Kolmes, K. (2009). Managing Facebook as a Mental Professional. Online Publication. Retrieved on Feb. 15, 2010 from https://drkkolmes.com/2009/06/08/managing-facebook-as-a-mental-health-professional/ […]

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