SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY 

Grace Backler trading as The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness (ABN 26 687 636 202) has various social media accounts (including but not limited to Instagram, LinkedIn) which allows us to share practice information, news, and updates with other social media users. This document outlines The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness’ policy relating to our usage of these social media accounts. 

Please read it to understand how we conduct ourselves as mental health professions on social media platforms and how you can expect us to respond to various interactions that may occur between clients and clinicians over the internet. As new technology develops and the internet changes, there may be times when we need to update this policy.

Social Media Activity 

If you choose to engage with any of The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness public social media posts, such as following The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness or commenting about your own therapeutic experiences with The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness, feedback of your clinician, or any general reference to being a former or current client with The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness, please know your confidentiality as a client of The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness may be jeopardised. 

Friend Request and Follows on Social Media

In order to protect your privacy and maintain the boundaries of the therapeutic relationship, The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness requests that former and current clients do not send friend requests to our clinicians personal social media accounts. These requests will not be accepted and will not be responded to. If you are wanting to follow The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness on any social media platform please note that you are welcome to do so, however, we will not follow you back, as this can jeopardise the therapeutic relationships and breach confidentiality. 

Email and communication 

Where possible, The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness only uses email to discuss administrative matters like booking appointments or sending links to online resources. Please be aware that any clinical corresponded via email, may be retained in the logs of your and The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness’ Internet service provides. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are, in theory, available and searchable by system administrators of Internet Service Provides. You should also know that any emails that The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness receives from clients and any responses that your clinician sends to you may form part of your clinical records. 

The Presence of The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness clinician on Social Media

As part of your engagement with The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness, we value transparency, professionalism, and informed consent. We would like to inform you that Grace may maintain a public social media presence and is occasionally featured in the media due to their professional work in psychology. Grace may also be frequently active on her professional social media accounts. 

While Grace is active in public spaces, she upholds strict ethical boundaries in line with the Psychology Board of Australia’s Code of Ethics and AHPRA Code of Conduct, including: 

• Confidentiality (APS Code A.4): Your identity, personal details, or clinical content will never be shared without your explicit written consent;

• Professional Boundaries (APS Code С.3): Grace will maintain appropriate separation between my public presence and clinical practice;

• Managing Multiple Relationships (APS Code C.5.2): If you follow or engage with The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness or an individual clinicians professional social media, it will not influence your therapeutic care. The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness will not respond to clinical enquiries via any of their social media platforms and will prompt any users who do reach out to The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness website.

Therapeutic Self-Disclosure 

The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness believes in the ethical and intentional use of limited, clinically relevant self-disclosure. This may include content shared on social media that normalises the human experiences, models values-led living, or provides insight into their therapeutic style. 

Research supports that, when used thoughtfully, self-disclosure can strengthen the therapeutic alliance, reduce perceived power imbalances, and foster client openness (Henretty & Levitt (2010) found that appropriate therapist self-disclosure is generally viewed positively by clients and can enhance connection and therapeutic depth when guided by clinical judgement).

However, if at any point you feel that viewing or consuming any content on social media is impacting your therapeutic experience - it is recommended that you unfollow or disengage from their public platforms. We encourage you to raise this in session if it becomes relevant to your therapeutic journey or emotional safety. 

The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness are committed to your wellbeing and delivering ethical, evidence-based, and client-centred care. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to discuss any part of this further. 

Business Review Sites

You may find The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness listed on automatically generated business review sites. Some of these sites include user ratings and reviews. Please be aware that these are NOT listings controlled by The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness and we never solicit client reviews or testimonials for therapeutic services. Please be aware that leaving a review may jeopardise your confidentiality as a client of The Sun Room Psychology & Wellness.