{"id":5356,"date":"2011-10-17T12:46:21","date_gmt":"2011-10-17T16:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ccpa.scottbuckingham.ca\/blog\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2015-07-03T16:13:45","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T20:13:45","slug":"to-google-or-not-to-google1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/to-google-or-not-to-google1\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTo Google or not to Google\u201d[1]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Go ahead and Google yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How many hits did you get?\u00a0 What kind of information is out there in cyberspace about you?\u00a0 Photographs?\u00a0 Training programs?\u00a0 Schooling?\u00a0 Home address?\u00a0 Political or religious affiliations? Anything else?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now \u2013 think about this.\u00a0 Lots of people you know have likely done the same thing \u2013 googled you \u2013 including your clients.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which brings up an excellent question. Should we, as counsellors, be googling our clients? Is it ethically appropriate to search for information about clients using the Internet? What about a client\u2019s right to privacy or informed consent?\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it is to verify facts provided by the client, to obtain information perceived to be clinically relevant, or just out of curiosity, the types of information that can be accessed by therapists about clients are virtually limitless\u201d1<\/a>.\u00a0 After all, information on the Internet is public [isn\u2019t it?] and Internet searching and social networking are commonplace.\u00a0\u00a0 But does that make it okay for us as professionals? Just because we can does it mean we ought to?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recent research on the attitudes and behaviours of psychology doctoral students regarding this question shows that 67% felt it was never <\/em>or usually not acceptable <\/em>to search for information about a client using search engines and 76.8% felt it was never <\/em>or usually not acceptable <\/em>to search for client information on social networking websites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet [and this is fascinating to me] 97.8% reported they had searched for at least one client\u2019s information using a search engine and 94.4% said they had searched using a social networking website [Go figure – we humans are inconsistent]. The main reasons given for searching for client information were; to gain a better understanding of the client\u2019s outside life, to clarify personal information given (i.e. phone number or address), and to investigate issues that arose in therapy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you are thinking about searching for information on one of your clients here are some questions to consider.\u00a0 Why are you searching?\u00a0 Does the client know you are doing it?\u00a0 How and when do you get their consent? What will you do with any information you find? How would you handle the discovery of a potential risk to your client or catching them out in a lie?\u00a0 And finally, do you document your search in your case file?\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the CCPA Code of Ethics A2 states \u201c<\/strong>Counsellors participate in only those practices which are respectful of the legal, civic, and moral rights of others, and act to safeguard the dignity and rights of their clients, students, and research participants\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

B4 states \u201cWhen counselling is initiated, and throughout the counselling process as necessary, counsellors inform clients of the purposes, goals, techniques, procedures, limitations, potential risks and benefits of services to be performed, and other such pertinent information\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So \u2013 to Google or not to Google?\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n

Dawn Schell, MA, CCC is an Affiliate Counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. www.therapyonline.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

The opinions expressed in this blogpost are personal.<\/p>\n

[1] DiLillo, D. & Gale, E. B. (2011). To Google or not to Google: Graduate Students\u2019 use of the Internet to access personal information about clients.\u00a0 Training and Education in Professional Psychology, <\/em>5(3), 160 \u2013 166.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Go ahead and Google yourself.\u00a0 How many hits did you get?\u00a0 What kind of information is out there in cyberspace about you?\u00a0 Photographs?\u00a0 Training programs?\u00a0 Schooling?\u00a0 Home address?\u00a0 Political or religious affiliations? Anything else?\u00a0 Now \u2013 think about this.\u00a0 Lots of people you know have likely done the same thing \u2013 googled you \u2013 including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-counselling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cTo Google or not to Google\u201d[1] - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/to-google-or-not-to-google1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cTo Google or not to Google\u201d[1] - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Go ahead and Google yourself.\u00a0 How many hits did you get?\u00a0 What kind of information is out there in cyberspace about you?\u00a0 Photographs?\u00a0 Training programs?\u00a0 Schooling?\u00a0 Home address?\u00a0 Political or religious affiliations? 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