Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services / Edition 2

by Frederic G. Reamer

Overview

Should a therapist disclose personal information to a client, accept a client's gift, or provide a former client with a job? Is it appropriate to exchange email or text messages with clients or correspond with them on social networking websites? Some acts, such as initiating a sexual relationship with a client, are clearly prohibited, yet what about more subtle interactions, such as hugging or accepting invitations to a social event? Is maintaining a friendship with a former client or client's relative a conflict of interest that ultimately subverts the client-practitioner relationship?

Frederic G. Reamer, a certified authority on professional ethics, offers a frank analysis of a range of boundary issues and their complex formulations. He confronts the ethics of intimate and sexual relationships with clients and former clients, the healthy parameters of practitioners' self-disclosure, electronic relationships with clients, the giving and receiving of gifts and favors, the bartering of services, and the unavoidable and unanticipated circumstances of social encounters and geographical proximity. With case studies addressing challenges in the mental health field, school contexts, child welfare, addiction programs, home-healthcare, elder services, and prison, rural, and military settings, Reamer offers effective, practical risk-management models that prevent problems and help balance dual relationships.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231157018
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	08/28/2012
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Frederic G. Reamer is professor at the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College. His many books include Teens in Crisis: How the Industry Serving Struggling Teens Helps and Hurts Our Kids; Social Work Values and Ethics; Criminal Lessons: Case Studies and Commentary on Crime and Justice; and Social Work Malpractice and Liability: Strategies for Prevention.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Boundaries and Dual Relationships: Key Concepts
2. Intimate Relationships
3. Emotional and Dependency Needs
4. Personal Benefit
5. Altruism
6. Unavoidable and Unanticipated Circumstances
7. Risk Management: Guidelines and Strategies
Appendix: Excerpts from Codes of Ethics
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Once again Frederic G. Reamer provides social work and human service professionals with an informative guide to ethical practice and the prevention of boundry violations. He encourages professional helpers to be aware of their ethical responsibilities and to engage in a systematic, deliberate, and comprehensive series of decision making steps to manage risk and the appearance of impropriety. Seventy-eight cases are presented to assist in developing sensitivity to boundry issues in dual relationships involving sexual matters, emotional dependency, personal benefit, altruism, and unavoidable and unanticipated situations. Guidelines and strategies for dealing with evolving technology, including social networks and responsibilities in addressing the problem of an impaired colleague, are presented. A must read.

Sheldon R. Gelman

Reamer thoroughly discusses an array of boundary-issue cases, using credible examples throughout to illustrate the challenges posed in practice and the concepts for ethically solving those challenges. The inclusion of relevant excerpts from the codes of ethics in a variety of helping professions facilitates conversation and consultation about dilemmas in interdisciplinary settings.

Kim Strom-Gottfried

This book offers a balanced perspective to clarify underlying principles and to assist professionals in protecting themselves and their clients.... The author provides principles and case illustrations covering a wide range of circumstances that all involve maintaining appropriate boundaries with clients and former clients. The detailed and realistic case studies are based on real situations, drawn from the author's extensive experience as an expert witness, from public court cases, and from accounts of ethical complaints that have been heard by professional boards. The book goes beyond an explanation of rules and codes to present a conceptual framework and a process for ethical decision making that can translate to varied situations, including risk management strategies for the protection of clients and practitioners.

Administration in Social Work

All helping professionals would benefit from incorporating the guidelines presented into their practice.

Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work

This book goes a considerable distance to containing and compartmentalizing the complexity of boundary issues and dual relationships that are encountered by human service professionals. It is an essential reader for human service practitioners and students engaged in clinical practice.

Social Work Education

This book makes a unique contribution to the literature on professional values and ethics. The review of concepts, the typologies of boundary issues and examples, and the importance of practitioner alertness, reflection, and consultation will all lead to higher-quality decision making under uncertainty.

International Social Work

Praise for the first edition:

"This book makes a unique contribution to the literature on professional values and ethics. The review of concepts, the typologies of boundary issues and examples, and the importance of practitioner alertness, reflection, and consultation will all lead to higher-quality decision making under uncertainty."—International Social Work

"This book goes a considerable distance to containing and compartmentalizing the complexity of boundary issues and dual relationships that are encountered by human service professionals. It is an essential reader for human service practitioners and students engaged in clinical practice."—Social Work Education

"All helping professionals would benefit from incorporating the guidelines presented into their practice."—Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work

"This book offers a balanced perspective to clarify underlying principles and to assist professionals in protecting themselves and their clients.... The author provides principles and case illustrations covering a wide range of circumstances that all involve maintaining appropriate boundaries with clients and former clients. The detailed and realistic case studies are based on real situations, drawn from the author's extensive experience as an expert witness, from public court cases, and from accounts of ethical complaints that have been heard by professional boards. The book goes beyond an explanation of rules and codes to present a conceptual framework and a process for ethical decision making that can translate to varied situations, including risk management strategies for the protection of clients and practitioners."—Administration in Social Work

From the Publisher

Poorly handled boundary problems are the most common basis for lawsuits and licensing board complaints involving mental health professionals. Reamer has compiled an engaging collection of diverse case materials and integrated these with thoughtful discussion and excerpts from key professional standards. The result is an exceptionally helpful guide for students and experienced practitioners alike, and a highly engaging read.

Gerald Koocher

As an attorney who has represented mental health professionals for decades, I find this book to be an invaluable and comprehensive resource filled with practical examples and advice. Reamer understands the legal issues better than most attorneys and explains the issues facing behavioral health providers in an easy to understand and compelling manner.

Robert Landau

Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services provides an in-depth and clear presentation of ethics, dual relationships, boundary violations and boundary crossings, and a risk-management approach to avoiding ethical and legal issues for clients and practitioners.

Sandra Kopels

Dual relationships constitute the most problematic complaint registered against experienced practitioners. Reamer’s framework should become the centerpiece of continuing education and part of all social work academic programs.

Stephen M. Marson

Frederic G. Reamer has updated his important work on boundary issues and dual relationships to include the many boundary challenges presented by technological and digital advances. Replete with cases covering numerous compelling clinical situations, this work remains an important contribution for all health service professionals and a wonderful teaching tool for trainees.

Arlene Steinberg

Reamer’s unique ability to connect historical ethics with current trends is unmatched. His exceptional ability to tell the stories of the dilemmas faced by human service professionals is what makes him stand out as the most renowned ethicist in the social work profession. Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services will prove to be vital to all social workers and others in the human service field.

Dawn Hobdy