Yes, this is pretty much how my ex-T responded when I told her I'd googled her and found a couple minor things (like photo of her H--who used to work in the office with her, so, if I'd seen her while he was still there, I'd have known what he looked like...). Apparently she'd basically been stalked by a client in the past, so this made her nervous. But at that point, she'd known me for like 5 years--you'd think she'd know I wasn't going to randomly show up at her house!

Marriage counselor immediately forgave me when I said I'd found his wife's Facebook page (mostly locked down). He asked me what exactly I'd seen, confirming that it wasn't her sister's page with updates about her. But he also asked me to stop looking around, at least with stuff related to her. I'd already known (not from Googling--long story) that she was chronically ill. She passed away a couple months after that Googling, so I think he was trying to keep me from learning exactly how sick she was...I only found out about her death from Googling, but that was because of a last-minute cancellation and ex-T seeming really sad when I mentioned it to her--then I just searched her name, and her obit was the first thing that came up. MC was not thrilled that we'd found that out, as he hadn't planned to tell any of his clients about her death (I don't think most knew she was even sick). But I think he eventually understood.

I mentioned some of this to current T during our first session, and he said, "Oh, I just assume my clients Google me." I said, "Oh good, because I already did!" He said he Googled the guy who cut down some trees on his property, that it just makes sense to check people out. He also writes a column about a sport he plays and mentioned that in his CV on his professional website, so I felt OK looking at that because. I haven't specifically mentioned to him that I've looked at it, but I'm sure he'd be fine with it. (I mean, if he doesn't want clients to look at it, then don't mention it on the site of your therapy practice!) I think he has the most realistic philosophy on client Googling--probably not coincidentally, he's also the youngest of the three (though only 5 years younger than MC).