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Social Media: A Force for Good In Psychology and Essential for your private practice

Why do we think social media and psychology don’t mix? Social media and psychology can seem to be adversaries at first glance. Many of us did not grow up with social media. We were introduced to it as adults and have probably fallen foul of its temptations to blur boundaries and cause offence as we struggled to manage the disinhibition effect and to cope with the fact we couldn’t very easily switch it off. It is therefore understandable that we imagine it is a very risky thing for our clients, especially the young ones. It is important that this does not blind us to the positive impact of social media for our clients. Over the past two years in my private practice I have changed my view on social media dramatically from one of deep suspicion to one of appreciation. Yes there are definitely pit falls associated with it. There are times when I personally find it completely draining and the data, privacy and catfishing scandals seem never ending. But it does also seem to have an almost exponential potential for good. Today I will focus on the positives rather than the risks of social media. I think the risks deserve a whole episode of their own.

Unpacking the positive impact of social media: Building the community for community psychology

• See the episode with Dr Kate Quinn from Heavy Metal Therapy – HMT brings people together around a shared passion or interest, we can facilitate that interest becoming a positive and productive sense of identity. • Within supportive communities we can find the strength we need to dare greatly. People who have been through hard times can often stay small in their hobbies, careers and families because of shame. Sharing experiences and gaining support from others can unlock that. I think the Mums in Business networking groups I am a member of are a good example of this. Lost of people share stories of mum guilt

• If you then want to introduce something aimed at people having a hard time you have built genuine relationships and the community can build it with you. Creating what people need Building a social community helps you form genuine relationships. You then have the platform to make an impact.

• You can develop the online course or book or workshop that people actually want and need. This means you don’t take as much risk, financial and work wise and you are more likely to be profitable. Online sales conversion rates are only 1-2% so in real terms if you have an email list of 100 you will most likely only sell one course or place on a workshop. Of course if you genuinely build your offer with the community you may well have a higher conversion rate. • Without a community to talk to you won’t stand a chance of making a big impact.

• I learned these lessons and managed to make my hypnobirthing workshops successful in Plymouth because I spent time getting to know mums to be in groups on FB and at local events. I made an offer they wanted/could afford.

Reaching more people

Psychologists and therapists in private practice often don’t NEED social media to market their services effectively. I have an “overbooked” practice and not many of my clients come from social media. I could very easily earn good money without it. But I still care about it and this is why:

• It helps you win your own clients. If you are using directory sites to win referrals you often end up paying them a huge chunk of your fee. If you rely on insurance companies or word of mouth your referral streams can dry up quickly if someone else’s situation changes. That feels precarious. • You can speak to the kind of clients you actually want to work with. If you have a specialism SM allows you to speak to exactly who you want to help. The clients I have who have followed my Facebook page know and actively like my approach so we can really hit the ground running. This is even more important if you want to be an online psychologist as people can choose from any of the private practice psychologist’s out there.

• You can spread your message to a wider audience. We have things to SAY that people need to hear. If we don’t spread our way of viewing mental health as far and wide as possible we can’t sit there and complain when people still believe they have chemical imbalances in their brain. Social media can be an amazing community psychology intervention in itself and I believe it is our responsibility to use it.

• If you want to do more than therapy you need it. Got plans to write a book? An online course? A community psychology intervention? These are the ways we can make BIG impact in the world beyond the four walls of our therapy room. NO ONE will know believe it is happening if you aren’t screaming about it on social.

Unpacking the positive impact of social media: Inside the therapy room

Psychology and social media also work well together in therapy. I have used social media in several ways with clients in my private practice and I am sure there are many more. You don’t have to be an “online psychologist” to use the online world in therapy.

1. Polls. If a client is struggling with cognitive restructuring social media can give you an easy way of asking lots of people a quick question or sending out a more in depth survey. I must admit I do not do a lot of traditional CBT cognitive restructuring these days as I am more fond of the ACT approach to dealing with difficult thoughts. However, when I have a client who believes something like “I am such a freak for getting upset when that taxi driver had a go at me, I must have an anxiety disorder” I have often used social to normalise this experience by putting a poll on my personal page or in a “safe” group just asking people whether or not they would find a similar upsetting. I find this a powerful intervention for people who think normal human feelings are pathological. It is posted with no identifying information from my own page so I don’t have any worries about confidentiality. Clearly the poll only goes out to your network which can be a bit of an echo chamber. However, I find that clients do not normally worry too much about this.

2. Identity formation. Social media gives clients the opportunity to try out new identities that they may not be ready to adopt in other ways. I have supported clients to create accounts using pseudonyms and high privacy settings that show case a particular aspect of them they feel has been neglected in “real life.” They can then see how it feels to put that type of content out to a small group of trusted people and receive feedback. We can then practice skills for dealing with any uncomfortable feelings that come up and assess how well this potential identity fits with their values. It is really important when doing this to make sure the client understands that the platform could do something unpredictable and make this information public. I always make sure a client doesn’t post anything that would cause them great distress if it was publicly known and we have several sessions around boundaries and managing the temptation to break them before we go ahead with this. I have found that most of my younger clients actually have a much more intuitive grasp of this subject than me. I find that using social media in this way has significant positive impact as it shows clients that they have the power to change how they are perceived by others and how they see themselves. A talented client of mine started a blog during this kind of experiment in therapy. We weren’t sure if she would find the potential for criticism tolerable so entered the experiment with a lot of trepidation. It has blossomed into a potential career path for her and she now considers “writer” to be part of her identity.

3. Finding meaningful activity. In the modern world it is so much easier to support our clients to find activities that bring them true vitality. Whatever your passion there is a good chance your client can find a local Facebook group or event to attend where they can meet others who share a passion.

4. Some “healthy” stalking. Many clients express that certain things aren’t possible for them. When we feel low we can often feel like all the doors that open for others slam in our faces. Social media allows us to find exceptions to this. I actually never do this FOR a client but I often ask them to do it for homework. Recently I had a client who had suffered a life changing injury. After six months of therapy she was still struggling to believe that she would ever live a meaningful life now she could no longer walk unaided. I set her between session work to find someone who had found meaning after injury so we could see what was different about the. She came back having found #superhumans. She still believed the Paralympians were the exception not the rule but it gave her the glimmer of hope we needed to take therapy forward. The future for psychology and social media.

Taking the positive impact of social media further.

There are so many other ways you could use social media as a community psychology intervention or as part of your practice as a therapist or clinical psychologist. I have no doubt that in the future we will be finding more creative ways to use avatars, closed social networks and other social technology to support our clients. The most important message is really that we don’t need to just blindly fear the impact of social media. Social media can have a positive impact and social media and psychology can mix just fine!

Are you a psychologist or therapist in private practice or