Examples of Boundary Crossings and Violations
Your actions will depend on what role you hold in relationship to your colleague in terms of the actions you can take; i.e. are you a peer, supervisor, Team Leader, Director of Nursing, Director of Clinical Services? The following are options for a broad range of positions in the case of the video example of the therapist with client Warren.
Boundary Crossing – Over & Under Involved
- Keep a record and ensure information recorded is objective data – no emotional content
- Discuss with a trusted colleague
- Take to professional supervision for discussion
- Report to supervisor
- Counsellor may benefit from supervision / education on boundaries
Boundary Violation – Over & Under Involved
If you assess the client is at risk – ensure the counsellor does not have further contact with client until you have spoken with colleague / they have received professional supervision and they are assessed to be safe to continue in the role of counsellor with that client. Assess how safe they are with other clients and act to ensure other clients also safe.
- If your colleague is assessed to be an ongoing risk to Warren then Warren would have to be informed that the counsellor would no longer be looking after them.
- The colleague may require supervision, counselling, education, health check, may have to be suspended, terminated, reported to appropriate regulatory board.