Ethical Boundaries: What Are Boundary Violations?

What Are Boundary Violations?

Boundary violations occur when the healthcare professional violates or exploits the professional or personal relationship in some way.

These violations can vary in terms of severity.

For instance, a recovery support person may share too much personal information with a resident. Excessive self-disclosure is a boundary violation. Ask yourself, “How does talking about myself so much focus on the needs of the resident?”

Other examples are:

• Going out with residents or spending too much time with them socially. Especially if it’s an individual resident.
• Keeping secrets for your resident.
• Abusing, neglecting, sexually exploiting or mistreating your resident in any way. If you’ve done any of these things, you’ve not only violated boundaries, but you could be in deep trouble.