Professional Boundaries: Steps to Creating and Maintaining Strong and Effective Relationships

Urban Services YMCA Professional Training Dave Barry, LMFT

Welcome!

■ Dave Barry ❑ Marriage and Family

Therapist ❑ Former School Safety

Advocate

- Where We Are Going ❑ Personal Approach to

Boundaries ❑ Supporting Vision ❑ Supporting Goals

3

Personal Perception of Boundaries

■ What comes to mind when you think of boundaries?

■ How have you personally benefited from the assistance of boundaries? Negatively impacted?

■ What is an example of a professional boundary you encounter? Have to hold?

Professional Boundaries

■ Clearly established limits that allow for safe connections between service providers and their clients

■ A clear understanding of the limits and responsibilities of your role as a service provider

Boundaries: Caring Vs. Carrying

■ The framework within which the worker-client relationship occurs.

■ A sense of personal identity and self definition that has consistency and cohesion over time.

■ This remains constant regardless of emotional ups and downs or external pressures.

The Importance of Boundaries

■ Role modeling to the client healthy communication and professional relationships

■ Avoiding burn-out ■ Avoiding the “rescuer”

role

Setting Boundaries to Support Vision

■ The 5 Words Exercise ■ List 5 words that best

describe the core of what you do in your position.

■ Core Vision ❑ Attention ❑ Empathy ❑ Containment ❑ Choice ❑ Restoration

Potential for Blurred Boundaries

■ Self disclosure ■ Giving or receiving significant gifts ■ Becoming friends ■ Physical contact ■ Social Media ■ Over-identification with client’s issues ■ Dual or overlapping relationships

Self-Reflection When Considering Boundaries■ Is this in my client’s best interest? ■ Whose needs are being served? ■ How would I feel telling a colleague about this? ■ How would this be viewed by the client’s family or

significant other? ■ Does the client mean something ‘special’ to me? ■ Am I taking advantage of the client? ■ Does this action benefit me rather than the client?

Challenges of Upholding Boundaries

■ The Wise ■ The Unwise ■ The Wicked

■ Wise: Acknowledge instruction and adjust to it

■ Unwise: Resist instruction ❑ Address the pattern

❑ Learn to communicate: “I want to learn how to talk to you so to help you produce” ▪ “What will we do if nothing changes?”

■ Wicked: Those who seek to destroy truth/instruction ❑ Law enforcement, lawyers

Boundaries Supporting Professional Goals

■ 6 x 6 Card ❑ 6 influential tasks in 6

weeks ■ You can sprint for 6

weeks, not 6 months ■ Energy Bursts scheduled

to complete tasks

“100 Miles Wide and an Inch Deep”

Group Discussion

■ What are the boundary issues? ■ What are the potential responses?

❑ Pros/Cons to each potential response?

Group Discussion

■ You and a client have similar tastes and interests. After a year of therapy, you and the client terminate the professional relationship. The client expresses gratitude at her progress, sadness at the ending of the relationship, and hope that the two of you can become friends now that therapy has ended.

Group Discussion

■ A client, who is a mother of three school age children, is facing the breakup of her marriage. She is very concerned about how her children will respond, what steps she can take to minimize the disruption to their lives, and how she will manage financially with the reduced income. The social worker relates her own experience of divorce and the parenting issues which followed.

Group Discussion

■ You and your family are attending a Giants game. As you are walking to the stadium a client recognizes you and offers for you to join her tailgate party. The client also notices that your tickets are in the same area of the stadium as hers.

Group Discussion

■ You have a client who is an independent artist and he brings you a gift of his artwork. The client gathers the materials for his art from salvage around town.