Boundaries and boundary management in counselling: The never-ending story

Abstract

The concept of boundary has come into prominence in the field of counselling and psychotherapy in recent years. Its focus has been mainly problem-oriented because much of the thrust has come from concerns about boundary violations in the form of therapist sexual exploitation and abuse of clients. A consequence of this has been a growing caution and conservative stance to boundary management, running the risk of undermining aspects of therapeutic effectiveness. Attention is given to various non-sexual boundary dilemmas in recognition of the ubiquitousness of boundary matters in counselling. Essential therapeutic qualities are examined for their boundary-crossing expectations. Empathy, in particular, is seen as needing to involve boundary crossing, but with important qualifiers. Finally, in response to this process need, boundary management is considered, with the never-ending need for dynamic involvement and applying professional judgements, in contrast to operating rigid rules and adopting any fixed position. As well as arguing a theme, the paper provides an overview of boundary matters, serving as an introduction to the papers that follow in the symposium on boundaries.