How Should Therapists Respond to Negative Comments Online?
Handling complaints is an art form in itself. If you have been in business for some time you may already have a complaints process in place.
When it comes to Twitter or any other social media platform it is best to tread very carefully.
Whatever you post in response to a negative comment or even something abusive will immediately reflect on you as a professional and your practice.
Apologize and Move On
If someone states that you didn’t help them in the way they thought you should have the best approach is to apologize, recognize it, and move on.
The sensible thing to do is to invite the person to speak to you about their issues privately, and get them off the social media platform.
Respond to Negative Comments Online Carefully
Invite them to talk to you on the phone. This way nothing that they say is recorded online. You may offer to help them further or agree to disagree about the treatment they received, that’s entirely up to you.
What does matter is that you take care of the complainant’s issues, and show you still care.
If the other person becomes abusive, however, then you are well within your rights to block them.
Be Prepared and Have a Complaints Process in Place
To ensure that you get the best out of Twitter or any other social media platform, make sure that you have guidelines clearly in place for all staff stating how they should use each of the social media platforms.
You may even want to add a disclaimer on your website which you can refer the public to if they do have any complaints.
Always take the high road, and don’t react with snipes or sarcasm. You will only be fueling their issues and making matters much worse.
