What do you do if a client leaves you a poor review online? Should you respond?
Our online reputations are important. If you aren’t already aware of what is said about you online, you should be. A bad review can damage both our reputations and our livelihood.
Think it won’t happen to you? Think again. With our social-media sharing culture, and the sometimes unexpected ways clients can internalize our feedback, it’s more likely than you think. Yes, there are some truly bad therapists out there, and perhaps they deserve the poor commentary. But there are also a lot of good therapists who are having a “human day”, and when you combine this with clients who are coming from a painful and vulnerable place, or who have a personality disorder, you may get some undeserved backlash.
So, how do you handle it?
It’s a Question of Ethics
Your first instinct is probably to defend yourself. Your motivation may include wanting to repair your relationship with the client, or protecting your reputation. Plus you are probably upset — completely understandable. However, you must consider client confidentiality before you act.
If a client were to provide details about their mental health concern, or otherwise identify themselves, and you were to respond publicly to their complaint, you are acknowledging that they are a client. You can’t do that. However, no response at all can send the message that you don’t care.
So, what do you do instead?
One option is to reply to them privately, while publicly citing confidentiality concerns as the reason you cannot reply. Be as objective and compassionate as possible. I suggest you wait at least a day before responding so you can come from a calm, rational place instead of an emotional one. Avoid judging the client, or being defensive. Remember your training in repairing ruptured therapeutic relationships and call on those skills.
But wouldn’t you like to avoid all of this in the first place?
Soliciting Feedback Privately
You may be wondering, why be on these sites at all if we cannot respond to feedback? The answer is, we may not have a choice. Sites like Healthgrades create profiles for us without our consent, and we cannot remove them. Therefore, we must monitor the information collected there and manage it as best we can.
One way to do this is to add a blurb on the healthcare review site stating that we cannot respond to client reviews due to confidentiality concerns. Some go further and explain to clients that they are violating their own privacy by leaving such reviews.
But client feedback is important.
Instead, clients should be encouraged to provide feedback directly and privately, so that we can address it if necessary. In addition to this being considered best practice, it also tends to have the effect of providing a form of release for frustrated clients. If they feel their concerns are heard, they are less likely to take them to a public forum.
Lastly, if you do get a bad review, remember all of the people that you did help. That will help you put the negative feedback in perspective.
Yours in the Joy of Knowledge,
Dr. Barb LoFrisco
