Boundaries and relationships between service users and service providers in community mental health services

ABSTRACT

In this article, we discuss a qualitative research project aimed at understanding the various ways in which community mental health case managers and those receiving mental health services describe and envision their helping relationships, with a particular focus on awareness and navigation of boundaries. Boundaries are seen as particularly challenging to navigate in community practice, where relationships are necessarily informal and relatively unstructured. Twenty-six mental health services users and 19 service providers were interviewed. Participants describe their preference for a relationship that is supportive, flexible, and respectful. They highlight the importance of boundaries for increasing safety in the helping relationship, and the dangers created when conversations about boundaries are neglected or inadequate. We focus on the importance of these findings for education, training, and supervision.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health services
• boundaries
• relationships
• community practice
• social work practice
• service users
• service providers