Principles of Care and Professional Boundaries

Looking at principles of care and professional boundaries within the housing sector.

  • Principles of Care and Professional Boundaries

    Staff working in care and support roles within services for vulnerable adults are frequently working in situations where they are party to/involved with personal and intimate details of an individual’s life. From time to time, service users will view their support workers as ‘friends’ and this may lead to blurring of the professional boundaries in the helper/client relationship.

    This one day course looks at the underlying best practice principles of care and support and enables participants to explore the boundaries within their relationship with service users, and to identify ways of ensuring that they remain within the appropriate boundaries at all times.

    Learning Outcomes

    By the end of this course learners should be able to understand:

    • The principles underpinning their relationships with service users (respect, dignity, choice, empowerment and privacy)
    • The boundaries of their professional relationship with service users
    • The areas of their work in which they may be at risk of breaching these boundaries
    • The risks that ensue if professional boundaries are not maintained
    • The policies and procedures that underpin their relationships with service users
    • How to respond to service users in situations where boundaries may be blurred
    • What to do if they are concerned that they may be in a situation where professional practice/boundaries may be compromised

    Training methods

    This is a participative course and methods will include:

    • Group work
    • Word shower/discussion
    • Role play (where appropriate)
    • Communication games
    • Feedback
    • PowerPoint presentations
    • Handouts