The Base EQ PLLC has created a social media policy to inform you how we use social media. The use of social media may impact our relationship. Social media is constantly changing, and there may be times when we need to update this policy. If we do, we will post the policy online and inform you of the changes at our session.

Do not contact your therapist on social media in cases of emergency. If it is a medical emergency or an emergency involving a threat to your safety or the safety of others, please call 911 or go to the closest emergency room.

The following resources are available to assist individuals who are in crisis.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline- 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line- Text HOME to 741741

The basis for this policy is to protect our relationship and your confidentiality. You are the person who can decide what you want to keep confidential. Your therapist must keep their relationship with you confidential except in rare cases. See the informed consent for details. Thus, if you post on any of your therapist's or The Base EQ PLLC's page, you are opening up the possibility of people inferring our relationship or ask you about your connection to us. You get to decide what you tell people. You have the choice as to what you reveal about yourself online. The Base EQ PLLC and your therapist, however, will not reveal their connection to you.

The following explains how we handle different social media options:

FRIENDING

To respect your privacy and confidentiality, we do not accept friend requests on any social networking site.

FANNING

You may “like” our Facebook business page. The information on our Facebook page is often also on our website. If you “like” our page, you are choosing to reveal that you are connected to us in some way. Our business page exists to be a forum for information and inspiration. We will not engage in conversations with you on that page.

FOLLOWING

We sometimes publish a blog on my website, and we post psychology news on Twitter, Instagram, or Tik-Tok. We do not expect that clients will want to follow our blog, Twitter stream, Live's, or Reels. You are welcome to use your discretion in choosing whether to follow us. We will not follow you back. We mainly follow other health professionals on social media, and we do not follow current or former clients on social media. If there are things from your online life that you wish to share with your therapist, please bring them into our sessions where we can view and explore them together during the therapy hour.

INTERACTING

Please do not use messaging on Social Networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to contact us. If there were an emergency, we would not be able to respond promptly as we do not check these accounts regularly. The best way to interact with us is by email or phone. If you post on our wall, these exchanges may become a part of your legal medical record and will need to be documented and archived in your chart.

USE OF SEARCH ENGINES

You may have a Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter accounts, or other social media accounts. We do not “google” my clients or look up information on them for any reason. We think it is important that your therapist know you as you are in the office. If we do come across your information online, we will move on and avoid reading content.

BUSINESS REVIEW SITES

We do have a Yelp page and other directory pages. Some of these sites include forums where users rate their providers and add reviews. Many of these sites comb search engines for business listings and automatically add listings regardless of whether the business has added itself to the site. If you should find our listing on any of these sites, please know that our listing is NOT a request for a testimonial, rating, or endorsement from you as our client.

You have a right to express yourself on any site you wish. If you do post a review, we cannot respond on any of these sites, whether it is positive or negative. We urge you to take your privacy as seriously as I take my commitment to your confidentiality. If we are working together, we hope that you will bring your feelings and reactions to our work directly into the therapy process. This can be an important part of therapy, even if you decide that we are not a good fit. None of this is meant to keep you from sharing that you are in therapy with me wherever and with whomever you like. Confidentiality means we cannot tell people that you are our client, and our Ethics Code prohibits us from requesting testimonials. But you are more than welcome to tell anyone how you feel about the treatment we provided you, in any forum you choose.

If you do choose to write something on a business review site, I hope you will keep in mind that you may be sharing personally revealing information in a public forum. We urge you to create a pseudonym that is not linked to your regular email address or friend networks for your privacy and protection.

If you feel we have done something harmful or unethical, and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with your therapist, if you receive services in California, you can always contact the Board of Behavioral Science Examiners, which oversees licensing, and they will review the services I have provided.

Board of Behavioral Sciences at 1625 North Market Blvd., 2nd Floor, Suite S-200, Sacramento, CA 95834, (916) 574-7830, or email BBSWebmaster@dca.ca.gov, or file a complaint at https://app.dca.ca.gov/bbs/complaint_ssl.asp.

If you receive services in Michigan, you can contact the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Professional Licensing, PO Box 30670, Lansing, MI 48909, 517-241-0199, or file a complaint at https://www.michigan.gov/lara/.

If you receive services in Nevada, you can contact the Board of Examiners for Marriage Family Therapists and Clinical Professional Counselors. Board of Examiners for Marriage Family Therapists and Clinical Professional Counselors 7324 W. Cheyenne Ave #10, Las Vegas, NV 89129, 702-486-7388, or file a complaint at https://marriage.nv.gov/Board/Contact/.

If you receive services in Nebraska, you can contact the Office of Behavioral Health & Consumer Services, Department of Health and Human Services/ Division of Public Health/ Licensure Unit.

Office of Behavioral Health & Consumer Services, Department of Health and Human Services Licensure Unit PO Box 94986 Lincoln NE 68509-4986, 402-471-2117, or file a complaint at https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/pages/mental-health-and-social-work-practice.aspx

EMAIL

We prefer using email only to arrange or modify appointments. Please do not email me content related to your therapy sessions, as email is not completely secure or confidential. If you choose to communicate with us by email, be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and our Internet service providers. 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 the Internet Service Provider.

LOCATION-BASED SERVICES

If you used location-based services on your mobile phone, you may wish to be aware of the privacy issues related to using these services. We do not place my practice as a check-in location on various sites such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, etc. However, if you have GPS tracking enabled on your device, others may surmise that you are a therapy client due to regular weekly check-ins at my office. Please be aware of this risk if you are intentionally “checking in” from our office, or if you have a passive LBS app enabled on your phone.

TEXT

Sometimes clients text their therapist to request an appointment time or to let them know if they are running late to an appointment. Just know, text messages are always secure. Your therapist may be with brief texts related to your appointment only.