PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES IN SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL CARE Q13 A volunteer working with the project seems slightly out of sorts and you think you can smell alcohol on them, although you are not sure. What d a. Keep an eye them and act if their behaviour is wrong b. Ask them if they are feeling all right C. Ask them if they have been drinking d. Explain your concerns and the reasons for your concern Q14 You turn up for a home visit and the client answers the door d in a towel What do you do? a. Refuse to enter the house and walk away b. Tell them to put some clothes on and wait outside whilst C. Laugh it off and go in anyway. d. Suggest they need to put some clothes on before starting the session Q15 You turn up to meet your friends for a drink in the pub. You see one of your current clients in the pub with some of their friends. The client looks slightly drunk What do you do? a. Ignore your client all night. b. Speak to your client and suggest they leave the pub C. Ask your friends to leave with you to another pub. d. Have a word with your client and suggest that you ignore each other e. Buy your client a drink
22 Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care Q13 A volunteer working with the project seems slightly out of sorts and you think you can smell alcohol on them, although you are not sure. What do you do? a. Keep an eye them and act if their behaviour is wrong. b. Ask them if they are feeling all right. c. Ask them if they have been drinking. d. Explain your concerns and the reasons for your concern. e. Speak to your manager. Q14 You turn up for a home visit and the client answers the door wrapped in a towel. What do you do? a. Refuse to enter the house and walk away. b. Tell them to put some clothes on and wait outside whilst they do. c. Laugh it off and go in anyway. d. Suggest they need to put some clothes on before starting the session. Q15 You turn up to meet your friends for a drink in the pub. You see one of your current clients in the pub with some of their friends. The client looks slightly drunk. What do you do? a. Ignore your client all night. b. Speak to your client and suggest they leave the pub. c. Ask your friends to leave with you to another pub. d. Have a word with your client and suggest that you ignore each other. e. Buy your client a drink
How TIGHT ARE YOUR BOUNDARIES Q16 One of your clients brings you a reasonably expensive bottle of perfume/aftershave as a gift towards the end of your time working with them What do you do? a. Accept the gift with thanks b. Refuse the gift as inappropriate C. Accept the gift but say you will have to share it with the team Q17 Whilst chatting with a client, they mention your favourite band/musician/singer, saying how much they love them a. Listen and ask them questions b. Say how much you like the artist C. Start chatting in depth about the music/lyri d. Talk about the time you saw them play live. e. Change the topic of conversation Q18 You are chatting with a group of clients when one of them tells a mildly racist joke. All the other clients laugh and you think the joke, although tasteless, is quite funny. What d a. Smile to yourself but walk away. b. Keep a straight face and say nothing c. Challenge the clients directly about the implicit racist d. Say that you find the joke offensive e. Remind them of the rules about racist language f. Laugh(but not too loud)
How Tight Are Your Boundaries? 23 Q16 One of your clients brings you a reasonably expensive bottle of perfume/aftershave as a gift towards the end of your time working with them. What do you do? a. Accept the gift with thanks. b. Refuse the gift as inappropriate. c. Accept the gift but say you will have to share it with the team. Q17 Whilst chatting with a client, they mention your favourite band/musician/singer, saying how much they love them. What do you do? a. Listen and ask them questions. b. Say how much you like the artist. c. Start chatting in depth about the music/lyrics. d. Talk about the time you saw them play live. e. Change the topic of conversation. Q18 You are chatting with a group of clients when one of them tells a mildly racist joke. All the other clients laugh and you think the joke, although tasteless, is quite funny. What do you do? a. Smile to yourself but walk away. b. Keep a straight face and say nothing. c. Challenge the clients directly about the implicit racism. d. Say that you find the joke offensive. e. Remind them of the rules about racist language. f. Laugh (but not too loud)
PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES IN SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL CARE How tight are your boundaries? Scoring table A C G B241133432 D4124 E5445 2 33324 2 5 o6a O6b 3 2244222 1531321 Q103 Q111 Q124 Q134 3332 Q141 53233 Q154 Q164 Q17 2342 5 Q183 Total score 22-35 Your boundaries are very severe, you should loosen up a bit and try and see things from your clients' point of view. 36-56 You're nice and safe, no problems. You could stretch yourself and with careful consideration you could work a bit closer to the line
24 Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care How tight are your boundaries? Scoring table A B C D E F G Q1 1 2 3 4 5 Q2 2 4 3 1 4 Q3 4 1 3 2 4 Q4 3 1 2 4 5 Q5 3 3 4 1 2 2 5 Q6a 3 3 3 5 1 Q6b 2 4 2 3 Q7 4 3 2 1 5 Q8 5 2 4 3 Q9 3 1 4 2 Q10 3 4 2 1 2 5 Q11 1 3 2 5 Q12 4 3 2 3 1 Q13 4 3 1 2 2 Q14 1 2 5 3 Q15 4 1 2 3 5 Q16 4 1 3 Q17 2 3 4 5 1 Q18 3 4 2 2 2 5 Total score _________ 22–35 Your boundaries are very severe, you should loosen up a bit and try and see things from your clients’ point of view. 36–56 You’re nice and safe, no problems. You could stretch yourself and with careful consideration you could work a bit closer to the line
How TIGHT ARE YOUR BOUNDARIES 57-75 You are treading a fine line between boundaried and unboundaried behaviour, though if you do it with enough consideration, judgement and caution you will be fine. If you are not careful enough you will cause problems for yourself, your team or your clients. Your boundaries are very loose. You are setting yourself or your clients up to fail. Have a good think about your motivations and personal boundaries 81-88 Your boundaries are non-existent. You need to sharpen up fast before Commentary on the self-assessment questionnaire Below you will find a brief explanation of the issues raised by the Q1 It is important not to engage too much with clients outside of work; however, if you blatantly ignore them they may be offended. Do also remember that they may not wish to see utside of work either, so allow them their anonymity hey wish. They may not want friends or family to know that hey receive any kind of support or professional help Q2 As a live-in support worker it is important that you have some time off. If you give residents time outside of your normal hours on a regular basis you will find that your time off will get used up more and more. If there is a genuine emergency then you may just have to sacrifice your personal time. However, residents should learn to come to you with problems within k time. If you do wish to hem some TlC. the doing it as you walk them home is a simple way to control the interaction and allow yourself a polite way to end it
How Tight Are Your Boundaries? 25 57–75 You are treading a fine line between boundaried and unboundaried behaviour, though if you do it with enough consideration, judgement and caution you will be fine. If you are not careful enough you will cause problems for yourself, your team or your clients. 76–80 Your boundaries are very loose. You are setting yourself or your clients up to fail. Have a good think about your motivations and personal boundaries. 81–88 Your boundaries are non-existent. You need to sharpen up fast before you cause some serious problems. Commentary on the self-assessment questionnaire Below you will find a brief explanation of the issues raised by the questionnaire. Q1 It is important not to engage too much with clients outside of work; however, if you blatantly ignore them they may be offended. Do also remember that they may not wish to see you outside of work either, so allow them their anonymity if they wish. They may not want friends or family to know that they receive any kind of support or professional help. Q2 As a live-in support worker it is important that you have some time off. If you give residents time outside of your normal hours on a regular basis you will find that your time off will get used up more and more. If there is a genuine emergency then you may just have to sacrifice your personal time. However, residents should learn to come to you with problems within your work time. If you do wish to give them some TLC, then doing it as you walk them home is a simple way to control the interaction and allow yourself a polite way to end it
PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES IN SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL CARE 23 Lending someone a book may seem fairly harmless, but it is the giving of a gift and it is not something you will do with every client. You do need to assume that any book that is lent may not come back and if the client loses or damages the book they may feel bad about it and this may impact on your ability to work with them. If they are interested in reading then this is a cue for you to encourage them to pursue this interest, not a cue for you to deepen your relationship with Q4 If you have a long relationship with a client then they will probably find out some of your personal circumstances. The basic facts about your personal life do not need to be totally guarded secrets. You should ask yourself why they are asking the question, what your motivation is for your answer and what they might do with the information 25 On the one hand you should try to understand your clients issues/needs and make adjustments to the service you provid accordingly. On the other hand you should not enable or reinforce their negative behaviour or disempower them by doing all the work for them Q6 There is nothing wrong with having feelings about your clients behaviour; however, you must realise that these are your personal feelings and should not influence your professional agement. It is acceptable to acknowledge your emotions to your client in a controlled and professional way. 2 Whilst this statement clearly shows that you are doing some things right, it should also serve as a warning signal that this client is putting you on a pedestal or becoming over-dependent on you. You should not feed into and encourage this behaviour but you should not reject it either. 8 Going to someone's wedding is clearly a very personal matter and should be avoided if possible. If it is very appropriate to go then you could go with another member of staff and attend he ceremony but not the reception. Remember not to hide behind the rules when rejecting the invitation
26 Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care Q3 Lending someone a book may seem fairly harmless, but it is the giving of a gift and it is not something you will do with every client. You do need to assume that any book that is lent may not come back and if the client loses or damages the book they may feel bad about it and this may impact on your ability to work with them. If they are interested in reading then this is a cue for you to encourage them to pursue this interest, not a cue for you to deepen your relationship with them. Q4 If you have a long relationship with a client then they will probably find out some of your personal circumstances. The basic facts about your personal life do not need to be totally guarded secrets. You should ask yourself why they are asking the question, what your motivation is for your answer and what they might do with the information. Q5 On the one hand you should try to understand your clients’ issues/needs and make adjustments to the service you provide accordingly. On the other hand you should not enable or reinforce their negative behaviour or disempower them by doing all the work for them. Q6 There is nothing wrong with having feelings about your client’s behaviour; however, you must realise that these are your personal feelings and should not influence your professional judgement. It is acceptable to acknowledge your emotions to your client in a controlled and professional way. Q7 Whilst this statement clearly shows that you are doing some things right, it should also serve as a warning signal that this client is putting you on a pedestal or becoming over-dependent on you. You should not feed into and encourage this behaviour but you should not reject it either. Q8 Going to someone’s wedding is clearly a very personal matter and should be avoided if possible. If it is very appropriate to go then you could go with another member of staff and attend the ceremony but not the reception. Remember not to hide behind the rules when rejecting the invitation