11/01/2025

Between Clinical Practice and Content Creation: A New Frontier in Counselor Career Development

By Alanni Brown, Giovanna Ford, Isabelle Essa, Chantel Smoots, Paige Stabile-Dunnigan

Career counselor educators are witnessing a significant shift in how professional identity is being shaped and expressed. Counselors are more visible online than ever, through short videos, podcasts, and other content. This rise of the "mental health influencer" creates new opportunities for learning, advocacy, and career growth. For counselor educators, this phenomenon brings opportunity and obligation: to prepare future counselors to use technology ethically. Social media can serve as a great teaching tool for counselor educators to model psychoeducation and advocacy, but it also presents difficult ethical challenges.

Ethical Issues Regarding the Mental Health Influencer

The American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics guidelines concerning the boundaries of the counseling relationship have been expanded upon, particularly, new parameters on the use of social media in professional practice. Outlined in distinct sections, such as Section H.1.and H.6, counselors are prompted to view the ethical regulations on maintaining a clear, professional boundary while utilizing a virtual presence. Once the ethical code is thoroughly considered, it may need to be frequently revisited while the counselor has a social media presence.

In employing a social media presence, the chances of a client finding their counselor on a social media platform greatly increase alongside the counselor’s account growth. This potentially gives clients access to a personal side to their counselor’s life, blurring the lines between a professional and personal relationship and creating a power imbalance (Hanley, 2022). When counselors give clients that type of access, there is a risk of losing professional distance. Opening the door to a dual relationship, one professional and the other parasocial, holds potential to erode the ethical professional boundary, threatening a therapist’s most effective tool: the client-counselor relationship.

Another issue is the spread of misinformation. Within seconds, any information – correct, incorrect, or somewhere in the middle – can be found by anyone with access to the internet. Hopefully, with accurate and helpful online information and interventions, the general public gains access to mental health resources that they otherwise would not have access to. However, inaccurate information or incorrectly applied diagnoses can be seen as fact to a select few overnight. There are even concerns for imposters posing as clinicians giving out information, preying on people who may be emotionally vulnerable. Because there is an ethical responsibility to gatekeep within the profession in order to keep the general public safe, the counselor who has a social media presence should be intentional about sharing accurate information.

Opportunities for an Ethical Online Presence

Technological evolution poses both a great opportunity for career counselor educators to learn and teach as well as a great difficulty as continuous growth and development outpace the establishment of guidelines (Drude, 2020; White & Hanley, 2023). The onset of platforms that allow counselors to share professional anecdotes and offer psychoeducation to emerging counselors is dually exciting and concerning (White & Hanley, 2024). Rather than discouraging social media use entirely, counselor educators should be encouraged to view online platforms as a space for ethical career development and professional collaboration. The following steps offer a foundation for career counselor educators to competently build their own intentional, online presence, while guiding their students.

Step 1: Know Your Presence (Smith et al., 2020)

1. Personal Presence: Expression of your personal identity– allows for both intentional and unintentional self-disclosure.
2. Business Presence: Marketing of services and/or self to highlight practice and competency– allows for increased outreach and maximization of opportunities.
3. Influencer/Content Creator Presence: Sharing of authentic, personal experiences to spread knowledge about the field– allows for a sense of rapport with the audience.

Step 2: Set Clear Account Expectations

According to the ACA Code of Ethics (2014), counselors are prohibited from “engaging in a personal virtual relationship” with those with whom they have a current therapeutic relationship. Career counselor educators should assist students in translating this guideline into real-world practice as they create their preferred social media presence while maintaining professional standards by:

1. Familiarizing yourself with the ACA Code of Ethics.
2. Maintaining a separate personal (i.e., family, friends) and professional account (i.e., general population).
3. Identifying the purpose of your account – what are you aiming to share?
4. Knowing the audience of your account – who is the target audience of your content?
5. Understanding the privacy tools on different social media platforms and apply them when needed.
6. Being transparent about qualifications, certifications, and educational background.
7. Formulating a plan (or automated response) for followers seeking clinical support via social media platforms – requests can appear in the comment section or direct messages. 

Step 3: Track Social Media Engagement

As your students gain visibility, encourage reflective monitoring of their online behavior. Key considerations include:

1. Posts that you like, or comments made, can often be seen by the public.
2. Conflict may best be resolved either offline or via private message (rather than in the public sphere).
3. Refrain from diagnosing followers based on shared information in the comments section or direct messages.
4. Take extra precautions when sharing personal anecdotes to ensure client confidentiality.
5. Monitor how your online presence aligns (or misaligns) with ACA’s Code of Ethics
    

A New Frontier

The use of the internet as a source of information will continue to grow (White & Hanley, 2024; Wu & Sonne, 2021). For career counseling educators, this growth offers an opportunity to guide the next generation of counselors toward ethical and informed digital engagement. Social media offers counselors an avenue to attract new clientele and offer psychoeducation, but online platforms do not come without risks. Being aware of intended social media presence, setting clear expectations and tracking engagement through cautious monitoring can aid the counselor in the nuances of clinical practice and content creation.

 

 

References

American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ethics.pdf 

Drude, K., & Messer-Engel, K. (2021). The development of social media guidelines for psychologists and for regulatory use. Journal of technology in behavioral science, 6(2), 388–396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-020-00176-1 

Smith, K. M., Jones, A., & Hunter, E. A. (2021). Navigating the multidimensionality of social media presence: Ethical considerations and recommendations for psychologists. Ethics & Behavior, 33(1), 18–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2021.1977935 

White, E., & Hanley, T. (2023). Therapist + social media = mental health influencer? Considering the research focusing upon key ethical issues around the use of social media by therapists. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 23(1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12577 

White, E., & Hanley, T. (2024). Current ethical dilemmas experienced by therapists who use social media: A systematic review. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 24(2), 396-418. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12678 

Wu, K. S., & Sonne, J. L. (2021). Therapist boundary crossings in the digital age: Psychologists’ practice frequencies and perceptions of ethicality. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 52(5), 419–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000406 

 

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Alanni Brown is a second-year Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s student at Jacksonville University. Her clinical interests include working with children/adolescents and justice-involved youth to process traumatic experiences. She is also a twice published author, working to develop her research interest on the emerging opportunities for counselors in the digital era. Alanni can be reached at lbrown60@jacksonville.edu and via LinkedIn.

 

 

 

Giovanna Ford is a second-year master's student at Jacksonville University in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia, majoring in Psychology and minoring in American Sign Language. Giovanna hopes to pursue a career in counseling the adolescent population, taking a specific interest in those with anxiety disorders.  Giovanna can be reached at gford3@jacksonville.edu.

 

 

Isabelle Essa is currently a second-year graduate student at Jacksonville University working towards obtaining her Master of Science degree in Clinical Mental Health. She follows a person-centered approach, grounded in the belief that every individual has the capacity for growth and healing when provided with empathy, respect, and understanding. She has a special interest in working with individuals navigating trauma, adult ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Isabelle can be reached at iessa@jacksonville.edu.

 

 

Chantel Smoots is currently earning her master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Jacksonville University, where she also serves as Vice President of the Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) Eta Upsilon chapter. A Navy veteran, she is passionate about trauma therapy and helping individuals recover their sense of wholeness after traumatic experiences. Her research interest explores the link between technology and mental health practice, focusing especially on mental health influencers and the professional responsibilities involved with online visibility. Chantel can be reached at csmoots@jacksonville.edu.

 

 

Paige Stabile-Dunnigan is a second-year Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s student at Jacksonville University. She currently serves as President of the Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) Eta Upsilon chapter and holds roles as an Ethics Committee Member and Peer Mentor. Her clinical interests include working with individuals diagnosed with personality and mood disorders through Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). She is passionate about integrating trauma-informed and evidence-based approaches to promote emotional healing and resilience. Paige can be reached at pstabil@jacksonville.edu and via LinkedIn.