Understanding Professional Boundaries

Personal and professional boundaries are an integral part of any provider-client relationship, particularly for those in the medical and human service industries. They represent invisible structures imposed by legal, ethical, and/or professional standards. The ability to set and maintain boundaries is critical to ensure effective and successful interactions with clients as well as colleagues.  Yet these boundaries are often not known to, or overlooked by, staff that may be guided by them.  This training will explore the importance of personal and professional boundaries and how maintaining good boundaries improves client relationships and builds self-sufficiency.  We will define what constitutes personal versus professional, and legal versus ethical boundaries. Through didactic learning and experiential exercise participants will work to identify most appropriate actions to various situations that may arise when working with clients.