Working as a psychologist is a privilege and carries a duty of care to our clients. In the bricks-and-mortar world, you, the public, are protected by professional bodies and guidelines to ensure that your care is appropriate, ethical and delivered by someone deemed competent. You are assured that your care is being given by people who are qualified to do so.
This duty of care is much more difficult with digital content online, with mental health topics written by content writers and other people you would not trust with your care in the real world.
I strive to be as transparent as possible to help build trust in the material presented in MoodSmith, and I shall outline below how I do that.
Who writes the content on MoodSmith?
I write all content on the site. I am a Dr of Psychology with almost two decades of experience working as a psychologist. When I write about mental health on the website, you know that this is my job in the real world. I have degrees and professional training that deem me competent to work with mental health.
On other websites, you may see the words medically reviewed by (person’s name.) This is often due to the content written by a non-mental health professional and then examined by a mental health or medical professional.
You do not see this on MoodSmith, as a mental health professional already writes all content, namely myself, a Dr of Psychology.
Expertise in the content
I write on subjects that I deem competent to do so. I have researched and worked with issues I am trained in in the non-digital world.
Continuing professional development.
I keep up to date with advances in mental health and use it to inform new articles and update old ones.
Fact-checked references and sources.
When I present information in articles, I use information from reputable sources such as mental health journals, research papers and government bodies. It is important to do this. Otherwise, the content is the opinion of the writer.
I cite the sources I use in producing articles as I believe in transparency and want you, the reader, to be able to check back to sources where relevant.