Explore the school counselor’s role in balancing the complex work of trying to provide loyalty and support to students while being vigilant to boundary issues. School counselors have a responsibility to ensure students’ emotional safety. It is a strongly recognized and respected tenet in the profession that school counselors try... more

Explore the school counselor’s role in balancing the complex work of trying to provide loyalty and support to students while being vigilant to boundary issues. School counselors have a responsibility to ensure students’ emotional safety. It is a strongly recognized and respected tenet in the profession that school counselors try to avoid dual relationships and if unavoidable, the school counselor takes steps to minimize possible negative implications. Dual relationships evolve in many ways. To avoid interpersonal conflicts, the school counselor is attentive to professional distance with students and parents. Once professional distance is breached it becomes easier to soften, blur and then violate a boundary. A boundary crossing is a departure from the verbal and physical distances normally maintained in a counseling interaction. Respecting the boundaries between school counselor and student is a hallmark of the counseling profession. School counselors out of necessity and showing loyalty sometimes cross boundaries and soften professional distance. Any deviation from standard practice should cause school counselors to reflect on their rationale for the action before proceeding.

Learning objectives: 

After viewing this webinar you should be able to:

• Discuss court cases involving school counselors and boundary violations.


• Review best practices for the school counselor who cannot avoid a dual relationship.


• Apply the meaning of role, time and place to boundary crossing and the implications of each for the professional school counselor.

Speaker
Carolyn Stone, Ed.D. less