Lines drawn
What are boundaries?
Roles
Interactions
Professional Boundaries establish appropriate limits to the professional – participant relationship.
Mental Health Association
Mental Health AssociationOctober, 2011
Professional Boundaries
Contracted services depend on professionalism.
Why Care About Boundaries?
Increases awareness of participant rights
Complaints often center around professionalism
Professional Boundaries establish appropriate limits to the provider – participant relationship.
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They help protect against the risk of harm.
How do limits help?
Protects participants
Protects providers
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Boundaries help you recognize the difference between professional and personal relationships
Professional boundaries create appropriate distance.
How?
Protects participants from agency concerns.
Protects participants from staff worries.
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Protects staff from taking on participant challenges as their own.
Yours. Not the participant’s.
Whose Job Is it?
You follow agency policy.
You reserve your personal issues for friendships outside the workplace.
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You set the standards by the way you carry yourself and the things you say.
Boundaries
More Benefits
give each person a sense of legitimate control in a relationship.
protect the space between the professional’s power and the participant’s vulnerability.
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promote a productive, positive workplace.
• Laws
• Licensing bodies
• Specialty organizations
• Work place policy
• Individuals
Who Creates Boundaries?
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Personal Limitless Equals Doesn’t require formal
preparation No fee/money Mutual gain Mutually agreed upon levels of
intimacy Mutually agreed upon
confidentiality with no legal bounds.
Professional Have limits and boundaries Power differential Require formal training Money/fees/funding For purpose of participant
gain No physical intimacy Rules of confidentiality
Relationships
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Personal• Unlimited time frame• Anywhere, anytime• No goal oriented• Not documented• No defined roles• No codes of ethics
Professional• Scheduled interaction /
time limit• Place designated / time
limited• Well defined focus / goals• Documented• Legally defined roles,
licenses, codes of ethics
Relationships
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• Maintain proper physical distance
– Don’t touch participants in an inappropriate manner or one that can be misconstrued
• Failure to see the participant as a participant.
• Don’t assume unless they tell you
– Boundaries are unique to each person
– Proceed carefully
– When in doubt ask
Physical Boundaries
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Beware of feeling informal.
Careless whispers-pretend a personal microphone is always on.
Refrain from gossip “let’s not go there.”
Never say something you wouldn’t want heard or repeated.
Walls are thin.
Think before you hit the send button.
Take the mail to the correct address-directly and privately.
Respond in a controlled manner verses reacting.
Employ tact.
Conversational Boundaries
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• An action or behavior that deviates from an established professional boundary in the health care provider-participant relationship.
• May be intentional or unintentional.
Boundary Crossings
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Even when the action or behavior appears appropriate,
it is not acceptable when it benefits your needs rather
than the needs of the participant.
Boundary Violations
Are never appropriate
Actions or behaviors by a professional which use the relationship to meet personal needs of the professional at the expense of the participant.
Harm the participant
Are exploitative
Violate ethical standards
Can result in disciplinary action at work or by professional associations, or result in criminal charges.
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Respect the individual characteristics of the participant such as cultural and social identity, appearance, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, talents, and skills.
Cultural Context Matters
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