Boundaries IssuesTeam DFebruary 18, 2014Beatriz Zayas

Introduction• The following information

will inform about different examples of crossing boundaries. A boundary is defined as the “edge” of appropriate professional behavior. Boundaries define the expected and accepted psychological and social distance between practitioners and patients.

Confidentiality Breach

Interaction

Crossing Boundaries

• Marissa Sturm has been giving counseling services to her client Ray approximately a year now. Ray has been in constant depression with constant suicidal thoughts due to his divorce and other personal issues. Client has shown tremendous improvement and is extremely grateful to counselor for her help. Valentines Day comes and client sends counselor a beautiful flower arrangement with a letter expressing how thankful and in debt he feels towards her, for, he feels she saved and changed his life for good. He concludes his letter by inviting counselor out to dinner, he writes down the time and place of a restaurant reservation. Counselor accepts the flowers and attends dinner.

Crossing Boundaries.Another situation that is considered as a crossing boundaries is getting personally involved with a client. For example a social worker can actually have personal problems , so If they start to get attention from a client that they are not having personally out of work they can get attached personally involved which is unethical.

Self-Disclosure

•One of the situations that could be considered as crossing boundaries is giving your personal information to a client. An example could be giving your address to a child victim of domestic violence so that she can go to the therapist house whenever their parents start fighting. The therapist is at a greater risk of forming a problematic relationship with the client by revealing self-disclosure.

Boundaries Issues

•Being a counselor to patients does have it’s tolls on the relationship between the Pt./Counselor.▫The time that they spend together.▫The private consultations.▫It is hard for a Pt./Counselor to not grow

feelings towards another.▫A perfect example of this “crossing the

boundaries between Pt. and Counselor.

Video

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmjcKSMwC1Y

Conclusion • One way professional associations help their members to be mindful of the importance of professional ethics and to avoid ethical conflicts is through a commitment to a robust code of ethics. Such a document is an open disclosure of the way an organization operates. They also offer an invaluable opportunity for responsible organizations to create a positive public identity for themselves and an increased level of public confidence. Today is the creation of codes of ethical conduct in recognition that these documents are more important than ever in today’s environment for establishing the publics trust.

References• American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (2012). AAMFT Code of

Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.aamft.org/imis15/content/legal_ethics/code_of_ethics.aspx

• Youtube. (2014, February 18). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmjcKSMwC1Y