Professional Boundaries in Social work and Social care A Practical Guide to Understanding, Maintaining and Managing your Professional Boundaries FRANK COOPER Foreword by Jonathan Coe
Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care A Practical Guide to Understanding, Maintaining and Managing your Professional Boundaries FRANK COOPER Foreword by Jonathan Coe ‘Frank Cooper provides helpful checklists and some core questions to assist practitioners in their decision-making. […] [He] does much to improve professional understanding, and to protect the public.’ – From the Foreword by Jonathan Coe, Managing Director, The Clinic for Boundary Studies, UK Professional boundaries between worker and client underpin all areas of practice in social work and social care, and the mismanagement of these boundaries can lead to unprofessional conduct and negative consequences for both worker and client. This book is a no-nonsense guide to boundaries – what they are, why they are there and how to maintain them, from legal boundaries and policies governing behaviour to rules surrounding confidentiality. Presenting a flexible framework of rules and guidelines which can be applied to any client relationship, the book offers practical advice and suggestions on how to judge boundaries and how to manage a situation when they have been crossed. It also explores the benefit to both worker and client of establishing a good rapport whilst maintaining a professional emotional distance. Throughout the book, and in the self-assessment test provided, the reader is invited to examine his or her personal responses to working with clients and their effect on maintaining professional boundaries. This simple and practical reference guide will be of essential use to professionals in social work and social care working with or managing support for clients. Frank Cooper is a freelance trainer specialising in professional boundaries in social care, and has over 16 years’ experience as a social care professional. He previously also taught in the fields of volunteer training and drugs awareness, and has developed accredited courses in his chosen fields of speciality. His website can be found at www.professionalboundariesinsocialwork.com. Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Cover image © Sylverarts | Dreamstime.com Cover design by Jan Marshall Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care FRANK COOPER
Professional Boundaries in Social work and Social care
Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care
500 Tips for Communicating with the Public Maggie Kindred and Michael Kindred ISBN9781849051750 A Practical Guide to Working with Reluctant Clients in Health and Social Care Maggie Kindred ted by Catb K ISBN9781849051026 Social Work Under Pressure How to Overcome Stress, Fatigue and Burnout in the Workplace Kate van Heugten ISBN9781849051163 ng Social Work Supervision Jane Wonnacott ISBN9781849051774 Mastering Social Work Skill series Relationship-Based Social Work Getting to the Heart of Practice Edited by Gillian Ruch, Danielle Turney and Adrian Ward ISBN9781849050036 The Social Workers Guide to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Steven Walker Foreword by Stephen Briggs ISBN9781849051224 Reflective Practice in Mental health Advanced Psychosocial Practice with Children, Adolescents and Adults Edited by Martin Webber and Jack Nathan Foreword by Alan Rushton ISBN9781849050296 Reflective Practice in Social Care series The Survival Guide for Newly Qualified Child and Family Social Workers Helen Donnellan and gordon Jack ISBN9781843109891
of related interest 500 Tips for Communicating with the Public Maggie Kindred and Michael Kindred ISBN 978 1 84905 175 0 A Practical Guide to Working with Reluctant Clients in Health and Social Care Maggie Kindred Illustrated by Cath Kindred ISBN 978 1 84905 102 6 Social Work Under Pressure How to Overcome Stress, Fatigue and Burnout in the Workplace Kate van Heugten ISBN 978 1 84905 116 3 Mastering Social Work Supervision Jane Wonnacott ISBN 978 1 84905 177 4 Mastering Social Work Skill series Relationship-Based Social Work Getting to the Heart of Practice Edited by Gillian Ruch, Danielle Turney and Adrian Ward ISBN 978 1 84905 003 6 The Social Worker’s Guide to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Steven Walker Foreword by Stephen Briggs ISBN 978 1 84905 122 4 Reflective Practice in Mental Health Advanced Psychosocial Practice with Children, Adolescents and Adults Edited by Martin Webber and Jack Nathan Foreword by Alan Rushton ISBN 978 1 84905 029 6 Reflective Practice in Social Care series The Survival Guide for Newly Qualified Child and Family Social Workers Hitting the Ground Running Helen Donnellan and Gordon Jack ISBN 978 1 84310 989 1
Professional Boundaries in Social work and Social care A Practical Guide to Understanding, Maintaining and managing your Professional boundaries FRANK COOPER Foreword by jonathan Coe Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and philadelphia
Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care A Practical Guide to Understanding, Maintaining and Managing Your Professional Boundaries Frank Cooper Foreword by Jonathan Coe Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia
First published in 2012 by jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville road London NI 9 B, UK 400 Market Street. Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA Copyright o Francis Cooper 2012 Foreword copyright o Jonathan Coe 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form(including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby eet, London ECIN 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner's written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publish Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN9781849052153 eSBN9780857004468
First published in 2012 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Francis Cooper 2012 Foreword copyright © Jonathan Coe 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84905 215 3 eISBN 978 0 85700 446 8