As a doctoral student in a clinical psychology training program who will be working with both patients/clients and research participants, as well as with the broader community, it is important to consider the privacy of your personal information. Clinical psychologists are healthcare professionals who serve the public, and as such can become the target of unwanted contact, harassment and even threats. 

This document provides information, guidance and resources to help you to carefully consider how and whether you make your personal information available to others, including via public and social media platforms. 

PERSONAL INFORMATION 

Personal information includes any data that identifies you as an individual or relates to your identity. This could be your name, email address, home address, phone number, birthdate, student ID number, and even things like your social security number, medical records, and financial details. This also includes websites and social media channels. Protecting this information online is critical to maintaining your privacy and preventing identity theft.

PREVENTION

The best way to protect yourself is to carefully manage and restrict the personal information that is available to others. 

Contact Information:

It’s important in both clinical and research contexts to have a point of contact that is work-based.  It’s typically considered best practice to provide an email address for this purpose, or a web-based link that goes to a contact portal. This should always be a work email address (in most of your cases, @sdsu or @health.ucsd.edu). It should NOT be your personal email address.

If you want to make a phone number available, it should be the phone number associated with the work setting, such as the lab, the hospital/clinic, or the program. It is NOT considered good practice to give out your personal cell phone number for professional purposes. 

Physical Locations:

It’s often necessary to provide a contact mailing address or location of your place of work on communications with others. However, consider whether you want to disclose your work location(s) in all communications, and how much detail is needed. Generally, people will be contacting you through email or web-based communication portal, and do not have a need to know your typical physical location(s).

Information on CVs and Websites:

Many students disclose personal information on CVs and on websites (e.g., lab website, ResearchGate, LinkedIn, personal webpages or social media). You should carefully check anywhere your CV or other information about you appears and be sure to carefully restrict the information, such as home addresses and personal cell phones.

You are also encouraged to only  include work phone numbers and work mailing addresses on CVs and public-facing websites. As a best practice, adding a home address on a CV or in any other publicly accessible arena is discouraged. You also should carefully consider whether to list your cellphone number on a CV. If you do want to include your cellphone number on your CV, you are encouraged to include it only on copies that you provide directly to trusted sources, and not on CVs that are posted online.

Websites/Social Media:

In addition to being careful not to disclose personal contact information on social media, you should carefully consider how anything you post on social media might put you or your family, friends, or coworkers at risk. For example, even something as seemingly innocuous as posting a picture of yourself with a family member on a publicly accessible website that is associated with your name may identify where you live, and who you live with.  

On most social media sites (e.g., Instagram, X, Facebook, ResearchGate, LinkedIn), you can restrict the amount of information made available through privacy settings.  You can also restrict who can access the account. Check these privacy settings carefully and choose the most restrictive settings that meet your needs. 

Please also see the JDP’s webpage on Public Representation for more information on considerations for how you represent yourself on individual’s webpages and/or social media. SDSU’s social media guidelines, while created for those who manage official university channels, also have information and best practices that may be helpful to you. 

INTERVENTION: HARASSMENT AND DOXXING

Even if you engage in best practices to prevent the release of your personal information, you may still find yourself the recipient of unwanted attention, threats, or unsafe situations. Here are recommendations for dealing with those situations.

Harassment is behavior that threatens, intimidates, or demeans another person, creating a hostile or unsafe environment. It can include persistent unwanted communications, threats, or abusive language. 

Doxxing involves the unauthorized release of personal information online, such as addresses, phone numbers, or other private details, with the intent to harass or harm the individual. 

These are some of the actions you can take if you experience harassment or doxing:

  • Stay calm. Don’t respond immediately. Take a moment to assess the situation. 
  • If at any time you or someone you know is believed to be in physical danger, immediately contact police by calling or texting 9-1-1.
    • The San Diego State University Police Department may also be reached via its non-emergency line: 619-594-1991. 
    • The UC San Diego Police Department may also be reached via its non-emergency line: 858-534-4357.
    • The San Diego VA Police may also be reached via its non-emergency line: 858-642-3931.
  • You can also do the following:
    • Faculty, staff, and students can report to:
    • Students can contact the:
      • SDSU Dean of Students Office: 619-594-5211 or deanofstudents@sdsu.edu.
      • UC San Diego Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs: 858-534-3555
    • Employees (and students in their place of employment) can report the situation to their supervisor(s) and Human Resources representative. 
  • Never send any form of payment to remove doxxed content. Paying ransom can encourage further extortion.
  • Report to the appropriate personnel in the place where the harassment or doxxing took place (SDSU, UCSD, the VA, etc.). If possible, screenshot and save texts, calls and social media posts. Keep all communications and files; they may be needed for investigations. 

Texts and Phone Calls:

  • Use your phone’s settings to block the sender.
  • Do not engage: Responding may escalate the situation.
  • Contact law enforcement if a threat is made. Contact the police department most appropriate to where the threat was made (where you are working or physically located).

Email:

  • Block, filter, or mark unwanted emails as spam to prevent further messages from reaching your inbox. You can also set up a filter in your email client to automatically move emails to separate folders or delete them based on specific criteria.
  • Avoid clicking on suspicious links or attachments or sharing information from unfamiliar sources. 

Online/Social Media:

  • Change privacy settings online to restrict who can access your content/information.
  • If necessary, disable social media accounts that have identifying information, or any content that you no longer want accessible to the public.

Remember:

Other Resources:

FINAL NOTES

It’s important to take the time to check your publicly available information and make sure that your privacy is protected.  You should regularly check personal and professional avenues through which you communicate with the public, and make sure that only necessary information is provided.

If your privacy is compromised and you experience negative consequences, there are many resources available to help you (see above).  Contact JDP administration at any time if you have privacy concerns or need help resolving a problematic situation.