About this courseIn this course, we explore the legal, ethical and organisational frameworks, also known as professional boundaries, that protect workers in ‘helping roles’ and their clients from physical and emotional harm, and help to maintain a safe working environment.   These boundaries help workers to make objective decisions about the therapeutic process to most effectively assist clients to achieve their goals. Sometimes you may encounter challenging situations in your therapeutic work which can make maintaining these boundaries difficult. For example, if a client offers gifts, invites you to a social function, or wants to extend the therapeutic relationship beyond the service provided, such as to be your friend or divulge information that is not relevant to the therapeutic goals. Situations such as these require you to have a clear understanding of your role and ethical principles, and your organisation’s policies and code of conduct. It is also important to be clear and assertive with clients about the boundaries of your role and what is appropriate behaviour for the therapeutic process.