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Social media and your online presence
CRPO's Guideline on Social Media (June 2026) with the standards behind it: conduct (1.5), public and private accounts, boundaries (1.7), what you share, confidentiality, advertising (6.2), the limits of free expression, and why social media is never a therapy platform (3.4).
Study aid, not legal advice.Last verified against the official sources linked below on .
CRPO's guideline
- CRPO's Council approved a Guideline on Social Media on June 11, 2026; it clarifies how the standards apply online.
- Posting, liking, commenting, resharing or joining groups can be conduct unbecoming (Standard 1.5); the Code of Ethics is the test.
- CRPO's guidelines may be used in deciding whether standards of practice were maintained.
Private is rarely private
- Private and personal accounts may still be considered public: posts, likes and comments travel, and followers know you are an RP.
- Set reasonable privacy settings on personal accounts.
- Consider separate personal and professional profiles.
- Naming yourself an RP in a post or an account name ("John Doe, RP") ties what you say to the profession.
- You can be held accountable even without the title, for content promoting violence, hatred or illegal conduct.
Before you post (the guideline's questions)
- How does it reflect on you, and on the profession?
- Could it cause a loss of trust, suggest a lack of competence, or make someone less likely to seek care from an RP?
- Is it targeted at a person or group, or meant to incite a reaction rather than inform?
- Does it threaten anyone's safety, or refer to your title?
Boundaries with clients (1.7)
- Liking, friending or following a client is likely a boundary crossing; violations are harmful (1.7.4: boundaries online and in person).
- Do not interact with clients on personal accounts; you may redirect them to a professional account and explain why.
- Have a social media policy and explain your technology boundaries at the outset of therapy.
- Watch for transference, a parasocial relationship or dependence; after an accidental disclosure, use judgment and consider supervision.
- Do not look up clients online: it violates trust, widens the power imbalance and, without consent, breaches 3.1.1.
What you share
- Health information must be accurate, verifiable and current; clinical advice rests on reasonable professional opinion (2.1.3).
- Good faith efforts to educate or raise awareness are generally not unprofessional; calls for violence or violent imagery can be.
- The manual's scenario: opposing a government's actions is less likely to draw action than saying a country's citizens deserve harm.
- Do not answer direct questions about treatment: it can create, or seem to create, a client-therapist relationship.
Confidentiality
- Never share identifiable client information unless a legal exception applies (PHIPA).
- A pseudonym or redacted details may still identify a client, especially in smaller communities.
- Using personal health information for marketing needs express consent (PHIPA s. 33).
Advertising online (6.2)
- No reviews or testimonials; only accurate, truthful and verifiable content, and practice areas not exaggerated.
- Paid content (a paid "best of" listing, an influencer, an ad dressed as an op-ed) must be identifiable as an ad.
- No promised results, no comparisons or superlatives ("voted best psychotherapist"), no appeals to fear.
- Selling products or third-party content: disclose conflicts of interest.
The limits of free expression
- Free expression has reasonable limits; courts have upheld colleges' authority to respond to speech that reflects poorly on the profession.
- Criminal Code: defamatory libel (s. 298 (1)), criminal harassment (s. 264 (2)), public incitement and wilful promotion of hatred (s. 319).
- Harassment and libel can also be pursued in civil court.
Not a therapy platform (3.4)
- Social media is never a platform for providing therapy; agree with clients what email or text is for, such as booking.
- No psychotherapy to anonymous clients.
Online is still practice: private is rarely private, no clients on personal accounts, nothing about clients, advertising that is true, and the Code of Ethics as the test.