Play Therapists: To post or not to post on Social Media?

I haven’t written a blog post in a very long time, but today I felt my passion reignite after having a discussion with one of my play therapy supervisees. So, this blog, in case you haven’t read the title, is about the ethical practice of posting client work (especially child therapy “work”) on social media. 

So, is it ethical for therapists to post photos of  their child’s client work or the playroom after they have finished their session? Absolutely not. 

I love the code of ethics from the Irish Play Therapist Association:

If you have a social media presence, keep it separate from your profession, keep it positive, and most importantly, keep it client free.

Note what it says: keep it client free. That means do not post anything about clients. The APTA, APPTA, and BAPT have a similar stance in their code of ethics:

PRINCIPLE F: RESPECT FOR PEOPLE’S RIGHTS AND DIGNITY Play Therapists respect the dignity and worth of all people and the rights to privacy, confidentiality and autonomy. Play Therapists who respect the autonomy of those with whom they work ensure accuracy of advertising and delineation of service information.

Play Therapists may think that because they have consent from the parents that it is ok to post a photo of their client’s work. Even when therapists ask young children if they can post a photo, and the child says “yes”, do they really understand cognitively what that means? Are they consenting just to please the adult they view as a safe person? Do they understand that their inner world, how they feel, and their experiences are being shared and made public to anyone, anywhere in the world? This is not respecting client privacy and confidentiality.

I don’t think parents fully understand the internal process of what happens in the play therapy room unless they are in therapy themselves. When a child is in the process of play therapy they play out their feelings and experiences of their world. Play is the child’s natural language so all their play has significance and meaning. 

What if a child has experienced trauma of sexual abuse or domestic violence, and they recreated a sand tray, or a picture or a play sequence with dolls depicting their experience or feelings about it. Then the therapist takes a photo, and posts it to their Facebook or Instagram account. How much guilt and shame would the parents feel if they saw that photo and knew that it was their family’s story? Is that respecting the clients dignity and creating a neuroception of safety? The child’s therapy work is not a way to engage people to come to the practice. It demonstrates little to no consideration or respect for the client and the family. 

I often see therapists who post photos of the playroom after the client has finished their session stating about the “mess” and the “chaos” of what unfolded in the room with captions and emojis of “lot’s of big feelings happened in here today!”. That “mess” and “chaos” is a representation of how the child feels inside that should remain private.

Imagine you went to your adult therapy session and described all the feelings that you felt about yourself or your partner to your therapist because you trusted them. Imagine the therapist took a record of all the words that you had spoken and posted it on social media. How would you feel? Hurt? Betrayed? Angry? Would you argue that it was a breach of confidentiality? Perhaps you had a health check appointment with your GP, and they then took a photo of your health check results and posted them on their social media account. 

So, why is it different for a child’s play therapy or child therapy session? That child will be able to identify themselves, and they will feel betrayed, which could impact their trust for therapists and the process of therapy. 

We have to consider that when we see photos of the child’s therapy work online, we have to consider how people will interpret or judge with little to no understanding of play therapy or the therapy context.

I think social media can be a great way to market for therapists, but does it need to come at the expense of the clients’ neuroception of safety and trust? These components are so vital for the therapeutic agent of change and growth for the client. We place that all at risk when we post on social media.

If you feel like you need to share your client’s work it would be advisable to get regular supervision. Like the Irish Play Therapist Association states “keep your social media client-free”. Your child clients are not your promotional tool. 

Thank you for reading, and allowing me to share my passion.

Sending love and light,

Sarah Harwood MA MACA RPT, 

Sarah Harwood is a Marriage, Child and Family psychotherapist, and a Registered Play Therapist. She is also a wife and mother to two wonderful daughters.