Boundary maintenance in mental health settings: a survey of practitioners

This study was designed to investigate opinions around boundary setting and boundary maintenance within a local mental health organization, Turning Point Community Programs. The study surveyed clinicians' opinions on whether boundaries can be flexible, if they believe that they have become more skillful in setting boundaries, and whether specific reasons to why a clinician may or may not uphold boundaries with clients. Study findings revealed that more than half of participants believed that boundaries can be flexible. Participants also expressed that they believe they have become more skillful in setting boundaries the longer they have been in the field. When it came to specific reasons to why a clinician would uphold boundaries, respondents ranked client outcomes as the most significant reason for being flexible in regards to boundary followed by client safety, ethics, and company policy. While client outcome was found to hold significant value amongst the data, safety and ethics did not meet a level of statistical significance. This study found that there was a sense of importance among professionals about boundaries. It is recommended that uniformity and consistency would further advantage professionals in holding boundaries. Boundaries are derived from the mission of the agency and the ethics of the professionals and they are meant to be guidance for the mental health professionals and the agencies. Upholding those boundaries among multiple clinicians brings a sense of uniformity within an organization. It is recommended by this study to have active engagements and exchanges between mental health professionals and organizations on the utilization of boundaries and understanding of the guidelines, which could benefit the professionals, the organization, and the clients.