This document outlines my policy relating to my (Callie Di Nello) use of Social Media, how I conduct myself on the Internet as a UKCP Registered Trainee Psychotherapist (and other modalities not covered by UCKP regulations) and how you may expect me to respond to various interactions that may occur between us on the Internet.
If you have any questions about anything within this Social Media Policy document, I warmly encourage you to talk about them when we next meet.
As new technology develops there may be times when I need to update this policy, and I reserve the right to do this whenever I deem it necessary. An updated policy document will be made available here at www.createavity.com
*** Please kindly note: if you attending for services other than hypnotherapy or hypno-psychotherapy (including Mindscaping, Unfurling sessions, workshops and other modalities), these are not subject to, or covered by, UKCP regulations. However, for the sake of consistency and transparency, the Social Media policy is intended to cover all professional services offered by myself, except where specifically identified.
UKCP: UK Council for Psychotherapy
You may view the UKCP Ethics Code at https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/registers-standards/standards-guidance-and-policies/
1.1 Friending
I use LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp solely for personal use, and do not knowingly accept friend/contact requests from potential, current or past clients.
I believe that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites may compromise your confidentiality and our respective privacy, and may also blur the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have any questions about this, I would be happy to talk more in our next session.
1.2 Facebook: CreaTEAvity Studio
I keep a Facebook Page for my professional practice, in order to allow people to share with ease any articles and practice updates I make available, which will also appear on creativity.com. You are more than welcome to view the CreaTEAvity Studio Facebook page to read and/or share articles posted there, but I respectfully request you do not become a “fan” of this Page if you are receiving, or have received, hypno-psychotherapeutic support from me. The concept of “fans” creates the potential for compromised client confidentiality.
In addition, the UKCP’s Ethics Code prohibits my soliciting testimonials from hypno-psychotherapeutic clients, and the term “fan” feels too close (to me) to an implied request for public endorsements of my practice. You are welcome to subscribe to my Page without (a) becoming a fan, and (b) without creating a visible, public link to my Page.
Please note that Audience Optimisation, Messages, Tagging and Page Location for Effects are turned off on this page. Any other Facebook Pages I actively use in a professional capacity and which you may occasionally come across - for example, Slow Sew ASMR - may not have these options disabled.
1.3 Following
I publish blog posts (‘Blogs’) on createavity.com, posting about creative wellness, mental health, psychotherapeutic news and service/class updates. I also publish content on Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. I have no expectation that you, as a client, would wish to follow me on social media. However, if you use an easily recognisable name on social media and I happen to notice you have ‘followed’ me there, or have liked some of the content, we may briefly discuss this in our next session, and any potential impact this may have on our therapeutic relationship.
My overriding concern is for your privacy. You are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow me.
Please note that I will not follow you back: a casual viewing of any client’s social media content online, outside of our therapeutic hour, may create confusion. Am I viewing this as a part of your treatment plan, or to satisfy my own personal curiosity? I believe that viewing your online activities without your consent, and without any explicit arrangement towards a specific purpose, may potentially influence our therapeutic relationship in a negative manner. However, should I have serious concerns for your safety or wellbeing, and have been unable to contact you via our usual methods of communication, I may feel that viewing your online activities is appropriate. Please see ‘Use of Search Engines’ (section 1.6, below) for clarification.
1.4 CreaTEAvity.com - Blogs
From time to time I post, or curate, articles on my website. These may be found on the ‘Blog’ tab. You are welcome to read these articles, and to share them. I have turned off the option to comment on these posts.
If you wish to browse my website, you may like to switch to your browser’s “private mode”, by choosing your web browser's ‘incognito’ function.
If you wish to share with me things from your online life, please bring them into our sessions, where we can view and explore them together during the therapeutic hour.
1.5 Interactions Outside of The Therapy Room
If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by email. Telephone contact is the second best option, which will be given to you during our first meeting. This telephone number is only answered by myself.
Please kindly note this number may not offer a reliable telephone voicemail facility and therefore there is no guarantee I will receive your voicemail message, so please email me where possible.
I respectfully request that you do not use SMS (mobile phone text messaging) or messaging facilities on social sites such as Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook as a way to contact me. Firstly, these sites are not secure. Secondly, I rarely access (or read) messages on these platforms and so will not be able to respond in a timely fashion.
Similarly, please do not use wall postings, @replies, or any other means of engaging with me online in public if we have an already established client/therapist relationship. Engaging with me in this way may compromise your confidentiality. It may also create the possibility that these exchanges become a part of your legal medical record and, as such, would need to be documented and archived in your therapy notes. You should also be aware that any SMS communications I receive from you, and any responses that I send to you, automatically become part of your legal record.
You may choose to download the free Signal app, which is available for iOS and Android phones. Signal messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted to keep communications safe; please ensure that the following settings are activated in Privacy: Screen Lock (turned off), Enable Screen Security (turned on), Always Relay Calls (turned on). Should you choose to use the Signal app or Telegram app to communicate with me, either by voice call or text message, I respectfully request that once we establish a connection please check that the Disappearing Messages functionality remains turned off. To do this, please select my profile: this setting is then located in Contact Info. Please note that any calls made to my number outside of the Signal app will not be answered or responded to, without prior agreement between us. Please refer to Email Communications (section 1.11, below) for further information regarding email interactions between us.
1.6 Use of Search Engines
It is not a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google, other search engines or Facebook (for example). Extremely rare exceptions may be made during times of crisis. If I have a reason to suspect that you may be in danger and you have not been in touch with me via our usual means (for example, coming to appointments, phone, or email), there may be an instance in where using a search engine to find you, someone close to you, or to check on your recent status updates may be a useful and necessary tool.
These are unusual situations and directly related to your personal welfare; if I ever needed to resort to such means, I will fully document my searches and discuss with you when we next meet.
1.7 Feed.ly and Medium
I do not follow current, or former, clients on feed.ly and Medium. If there are items of interest you wish to share, which you feel are relevant, I encourage you to bring these to your next session.
1.8 Online Directories
You may find my practice listed on sites such as UKCP, The National Society of Hypnosis, Psychotherapy and Mindfulness, General Hypnotherapy Register, or on a range of paid-for listings websites which change from time to time at my discretion. The purpose of listing on these sites is to maintain a visible profile.
You may also find my practice on sites such as Yelp, Bing, or other places which list businesses. Some of these sites include forums which users rate their providers and add reviews. Please be aware that many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings, irrespective of whether the business has added itself to the site.
None of the sites I currently use have a facility where clients may post feedback or testimonials. It is out of my control how these sites may evolve, and if any choose to provide such a facility in the future, I respectfully request you do not provide feedback which could in any way be construed as a testimonial for my services as a hypnotherapist or hypno-psychotherapist.
I am registered trainee psychotherapist with the UKCP, and my accrediting body is The National Society of Hypnosis, Psychotherapy & Mindfulness. I abide by the Codes of Conduct of these organisations, both of which forbid the use of testimonials for psychotherapeutic and hypno-psychotherapeutic services. You have a right to express yourself on any site you wish but due to confidentiality, I am unable to respond to any review on any online sites, whether they are of a positive or negative nature. You should also be aware that if you are using these sites to communicate indirectly with me about your feelings about our work, there is a strong possibility that I may never see it.
I urge you to take your own privacy as seriously as I take my commitment of confidentiality to you. I hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into the therapeutic process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide ultimately that we are not a good fit.
Confidentiality means that I cannot tell people that you are my client. However, none of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with me, with whomever you like.
If you feel I have done something harmful or unethical and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with me, you may always contact my psychotherapeutic accrediting (training) organisation. Please email me for the relevant contact details. Please note: all other offerings on my website (aside from hypnotherapy and hypno-psychotherapy services) are not connected in any way to the organisations listed above.
1.9 Location-Based Services
If you use location-based services on your mobile phone, you may wish to be aware of the privacy issues related to using these services. If you have GPS tracking or Find My Friends (or similar) enabled on your device, it is possible that other people may surmise from regular check-ins that you are attending for therapy. Please be aware of this risk if you are intentionally “checking in” if you visit in-person to my therapy rooms, or if you have a passive location-based service app enabled on your phone.
1.10 Online Hypno-Psychotherapeutic Services
I use a secure app called Zoom for online sessions. Communications on both platforms are established using 256-bit TLS encryption; all shared content is encrypted using AES-256 encryption. However, as with all online activity, there is a risk of data potentially being compromised and this is something to be aware of.
1.11 Email Communications
Should you wish to contact me by email, please do not email sensitive content related to your therapeutic sessions. Email is not completely secure or confidential, although I make use of an end-to-end encrypted email service, provided by ProtonMail.
If you have agreed to my sending you appointment reminders by email, they will be sent directly from the online scheduling software, noting the date, time and clinic location for your appointment. Please be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your Internet service provider. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are (in theory) available to be read by the system administrator(s) of your Internet service provider.
Any emails I receive from you, in addition to any responses I send, become a part of your legal record. All email correspondence will be retained for a period of up to 7 years in accordance with my Privacy Policy, which is in compliance with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679) requirements.
1.12 Liability
Whilst your confidentiality is a major concern of mine and I take every step practically available to manage the risk, I cannot be held responsible for breaches of confidentiality that are outside of my control.
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to read my Social Media Policy. If you have questions or concerns about any of these policies and procedures or regarding our potential interactions on the Internet, do bring them to my attention so that we can discuss them.
CreaTEAvity’s Privacy Notice may be found at www.createavity.com/privacynotice.
- updated 4 January 2023
Acknowledgment: This policy is based on Dr Keely Kolmes’ Social Media policy, made available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 (United States) License.