Policies

If we unintentionally attend the same queer, polyamory, kink or other meetup, club, munch or event, there is a high likelihood that I will choose to leave the event in order to maintain the boundaries of our professional therapist-client relationship. If I do so, I will not reveal any information on my reason to either the host or other attendees. In the event that there is some reason I am not able to leave, I will acknowledge you only in the event that you choose to do so first (and only to the extent that you address me). I will not reveal any further information about you or our professional connection without your express permission, in line with my policies on confidentiality. 

As a community organiser, there is a possibility that you may encounter me at certain meetups or events where I am hosting, and therefore not able to leave. In this situation, I will acknowledge you as a general member of the community with no reference to our professional relationship as counsellor and client, unless otherwise indicated by you. 

If we happen to encounter each other in public in any other context (such as passing in the street or at a supermarket or other activity), I will likewise follow your lead in either acknowledging me or not, including the extent of our connection.

As my client, I would recommend you read this page to understand what I will be doing to try and keep the boundaries from blurring between 'public personas' and our work together within the therapy room. In an ideal situation, the counsellor's personal life would be entirely separate from the counselling relationship, unless self-disclosure is deemed to be beneficial to the client. However, in a world of social media and ever-closer merging of the public, private, and professional, boundaries are no longer as straight forward. I aim to address here how I believe this open availability of the online world could have an impact on our counselling relationship.

I do have social media accounts, both for my personal life and for my work, including as a community organiser. I will not accept or send any 'friend requests' via these accounts for current or former clients, to prevent any unprofessional blurring of boundaries. I also do not post about any client work on these accounts, in line with the commitment to confidentiality I hold for my clients. 

Due to the nature of Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and similar social media platforms, it may be that our paths cross due to mutual groups, pages, or connections. If this becomes apparent, please bring the topic to our next session and we will discuss the impact of this. The most likely outcome will be that I block your profile to avoid any online interactions.  As above, I will never discuss any client content on this account, but I may use these to talk about a number of topics, including my therapy work (in a generalised way). You are welcome to engage with these pages by liking content or commenting; though do note the nature of your comments may limit your anonymity. 

I am an admin or member of a number of discord servers and Facebook groups or Pages for both private and professional use, including community organising. Due to the personal content and nature of both, it can be challenging to maintain suitable interpersonal boundaries and the therapeutic relationship if we were to find out we were members of the same server or group. Discord is also limited in the range of tools available for restricting interactions. 

As mentioned above, I will not accept or send any 'friend requests' via these accounts for current or former clients and if we were to cross paths this would need to be discussed in the next session to outline our expectations around boundaries regarding interactions. The most likely result is that I will block your profile to avoid any online interactions if possible.

It is becoming increasingly common for web searches to be done on individuals, however, I do not search for any information about my clients as I wish for any information I have about my clients to come from them directly. I will not follow or seek out any of your social media, blogs etc., so if there is something you would like to share with me, please do so in our sessions. 

You are free to search for information about me. I would suggest that if you do so and you find anything you wish to discuss, you bring this to our sessions. 

It is likely that you found me through some kind of directory or web search. Some of these directories may store your details so it is best to check their privacy policy directly if you are concerned. Some of these sites like nextdoor, google+, yell.com etc. allow for clients to leave reviews. I do not ask my clients to do so, however if you would like to leave one please do consider your confidentiality and limitations of anonymity when doing so.