“You feel like family …” Professional boundaries and social model aphasia groups

Abstract

In this theoretical paper, we argue that the adoption of the social model to aphasia rehabilitation within group settings changes the metaphorical location of the boundaries between clinicians and clients. Despite a growing literature on group work for aphasia and social model applications for people with chronic aphasia, there has been almost no attention paid to how professional boundaries are negotiated. This paper reviews how this issue is dealt with within professional codes of ethics and what is written more broadly on professional boundaries, and then uses a number of real case examples to encourage further discussion and awareness of this important issue in aphasia rehabilitation within group settings.

Keywords:

• Aphasia
• ethical issues
• group therapy