Setting boundaries

1. The issue of unclear boundaries

The issue of unclear boundaries can have several dimensions. First and foremost, it is about defining the boundaries between workers and clients, whether they are parents or young people. This is often addressed by novice professionals. Furthermore, it can be problematic to define the boundaries between professionals themselves. This is highlighted in the topic of multi-institutional cooperation, where it is often unclear who is responsible for what.

If we were to dwell on the topic of boundaries between professionals and clients, we would ask about personal boundaries.

For example, during interview meetings in Slovak group a participantraises the issue that a client wants to hug her at the end of a session. Different approaches reflect different views on physical contact between professionals and clients—for example, it may be assumed that clients who lack physical contact seek it, but on the other hand, there are approaches that do not recognize any touch between the roles of professional and client, because it would blur the boundaries in a relationship that should be clearly defined by the nature of the meeting itself. This dilemma, with questions such as "What about my personal space?" and "Is this still professional?", arises mainly in organizations and institutions where there is no code of ethics to guide professionals and educators through ambiguous situations.

From our point of view, this provides the following guidelines:

• if touch is to become a secret and replace words, the professional should avoid it. Similarly, if there is a risk of violence, discomfort on the part of the professional, coercion, or an attempt to manipulate the professional into touching (e.g., "Don't you want to hug me? Don't you like me? Nobody wants to hug me.").
• Last but not least, it should be mentioned that any touch should be purposeful and appropriate.
• Both parties should understand the boundaries and know the purpose of the touch.
• Every professional in direct work should be aware of the impact of touch in a professional relationship.
• The relationship between two people is defined by boundaries and their clear and transparent determination; no relationship should be boundless, and we should not do anything in it that is unpleasant or unclear in its meaning, and we should also teach this to the young people we work with.