Don't talk about clients on the social media - UK case

A social worker recently got into trouble for commenting on what she'd done in a particular case on her Facebook page; the client found this and complained, and the social worker was disciplined by the HCPC. My own view is that it's wrong to discuss a client's situation in anything but highly anonymised form, and for reasons of professional development (e.g. education or progressing the profession), not letting off steam in a personal way.

HCPC decision on a complaint

Community Care website account of the HCPC decision. (While this is mainly just a brief summary of the HCPC decision, there are some interesting comments from various readers at the end).

There's HCPC guidance on using social media sites. Link to HCPC Guidance

A lengthy commentary on the 'social work helper' webpage, although not well-written, gives some useful practical guidance, and and the British Association of Social Workers has a useful if sketchy policy.

Social Work Helper commentary

BASW social media policy