This page provides a summary of my various writings for psychotherapists who wish to explore using Social Media in mindful and ethical ways. It will be updated regularly for those who are only interested in this type of information.
Managing Twitter as a Mental Health Professional
An overview of Twitter and guidelines for therapists who wish to use it.
Yelp
The Yelp Dilemma: Clients Reviewing Their Therapists on Review Sites
Geared more towards clients who are considering writing a Yelp review of a therapist. But therapists who are considering putting up a Yelp page need to be aware that it is a violation of all mental health ethics code to request testimonials from current clients.
For therapists (or others engaged in confidential services) who are distressed to find themselves listed on Yelp, some are opting to post a disclaimer similar to the one I’ve posted on my own page. I invite anyone to copy it or edit it to reflect your own language. I did this since Yelp refused to remove my listing, claiming that it’s public information and they will not remove listings.
Managing Facebook as a Mental Health Professional provides information about privacy, shared friend networks, and some distinctions between profiles and pages.
Google & Search Engines
The Google Question: Should Therapists Google Their Clients?
A response to DeeAnna Merz Nagel’s blog which initially posed the question.
Status Updates
You Have Major Depressive Disorder. Mind if I Tweet That?
A reminder of our need to be cautious about what we share with our friend networks. Inspired by a recent news story about hospital employees violating HIPAA and privacy policies on social networks.
LinkedIn for Mental Health Professionals
Describes some clinical and ethical concerns for therapists wondering whether they want to accept contact requests from current or former clients.
Facebook Privacy Changes
How Facebook is Getting it Wrong: New Privacy Settings Offer Less Privacy
Describes how the Facebook privacy changes in December 2009 affected people who may have previously chosen more restrictive privacy settings.
Facebook Blocking
Should Mental Health Professionals Block Clients on Facebook?
My ethical musings on whether blocking clients on Facebook is a reasonable response to new limited privacy settings offered by Facebook.
General Guidelines
CrossCurrents Special Issue on the Digital Couch
This post links to an article which incorporates many of my guidelines for therapists who wish to avoid boundary blurring with clients on the Internet. From this blog post, you may download a digital copy of the article.
Facebook Fanning
I’m Not a Rock Star! (More Thoughts on Facebook Fanning)
Expresses some of my difficulties with accepting clients as Fans on Faebook business pages.
Google Buzz
Google Buzz Alarms a Psychotherapist
My response to Google Buzz which turned gmail into a Social Network in February, 2010.
Foursquare, Loopt & Other Location Based Sites
Location Based Check-in Sites for Mental Health Professionals
My musings on whether it’s a good idea to place your practice on sites like Foursquare, Loopt, and others and what ethical issues this may raise.
Social Media Policy
My Private Practice Social Media Policy
The policy I share with my clients as part of our treatment agreement which explains how I conduct myself on the Internet and how I will respond to potential interactions between us.
Private Practice Social Media Policy by Dr. Keely Kolmes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Other clinicians may copy, share, or adapt this policy to suit your own practice needs, but you may not use this work for commercial purposes.
If you use my policy for training or educational purposes, please cite me as the original author.
Facebook Does it Again
More privacy issues on Facebook occurred in April, 2010. I provide a walk-through of adding a bit more security to your profile, although it is becoming harder to really completely secure any information on Facebook. Be aware that Facebook has defaulted all user profiles to “Instant Personalization,” and you must opt-out if you don’t want this information shared.
Using Email
I realized that I’ve been posting all of this information on clinical issues related to using Social Media and I hadn’t really directly addressed considerations about using email. Email Tips for Clinicians corrects this.
A psychotherapist’s guide to Facebook and Twitter: Why clinicians should give a Tweet!
This is an article I wrote for psychotherapy.net. It documents some of my own personal challenges with using social media and why I came to develop a presence on Twitter. Clinicians may register to get 1 CE credit for reading this article.
People in Your Social Circle: Google Social Sharing & Yahoo Updates
Dr. Kathleen Young and I exchanged ideas about the challenges of using social media as clinicians, including Google’s beta version of People in Your Social Circle. Clinicians will also want to take note of upcoming changes for Yahoo users.
An Introduction to Media Psychology for Bloggers and Tweeters
This post outlines some of the issues to be aware of when creating a social media presence and some of the ethical challenges related to becoming a media psychologist. Provides some excellent resources for those wishing to learn more.
Additional Thoughts on Documentation for Clinicians
A response to Ofer Zur’s article on Record-Keeping of Phone Messages, Email and Texts in Psychotherapy & Counseling.
Psychology Today Introduces New Call Tracking: Raises Privacy Concerns
The week of July 26, 2010, Psychology Today opted many users into a new call tracking service which replaced clinician’s office phone numbers with a new virtual phone number. This raised several key concerns related to clinical business and patient privacy.