Sarah Stirling Psychology
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
As a Clinical Psychologist registered with AHPRA, certain rules and ethical obligations must be met when interacting on the internet. This information will outline Dr Stirling's social media policy and how you may expect her to respond to any interactions with you on the internet, especially if you are, or have received therapy sessions from Dr Stirling.
Friending and Following
Dr Stirling does not accept friend or contact requests from current or former clients on any personal social networking site under her personal accounts name Dr Sarah Stirling (Facebook, Linkedin, Instragram etc). She believes that adding clients as friends or contacts on these sites can compromise your confidentiality and your respective privacy. It may also blur the boundaries of the therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please bring them up with Dr Stirling directly.
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You are welcome to view Dr Stirling's public Facebook or Instagram Pages under Sarah Stirling Psychology, as she shares blog posts, psychology news, and professional updates in this forum. Dr Stirling has no expectation that you as a client will want to follow her professional pages, and you are welcome to use your own discretion in choosing whether to follow her. If you would like to discuss any of the websites' content with Dr Stirling, you are welcome to bring it along to your sessions.
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Interacting
If you are a client and would like to contact Dr Stirling in between sessions, please do so via email or phone, which can be found in the contact tab of this website. Please do not use social networking sites to contact Dr Stirling, as these sites are not secure and she may not read these messages in a timely fashion. Also, engaging with Dr Stirling in this way could compromise your confidentiality. It may also create the possibility that these exchanges become a part of your legal medical record and will need to be documented and archived in your chart.
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Use of Search Engines
Dr Stirling and any of her employees will not use search engines or social media platforms to search for clients, present, current or prospective. This is an invasion of your privacy and knowledge of your online activities can blur the boundaries of the therapeutic relationship.
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Business Review Sites
The Australian Psychological Association's Ethics Code states that it is unethical for psychologists to solicit testimonials from therapy clients. If you happen to find Dr Stirling's practice or website on review sites, please note that these listings are NOT a request for a testimonial, rating or endorsement from you as her client. Of course, you have the right to express yourself on these sites if you wish, however, due to confidentiality, Dr Stirling will be unable to respond to any review on any of these sites, whether positive or negative. We urge you to take your own privacy as seriously as we take our commitment of confidentiality to you.