Boundaries in the Workplace & Voluntary Settings

Boundaries in the Workplace

What are boundaries, and why do we have them?

Many organisations have been experiencing greater numbers of people attending their centres and accessing their services during this period, and those visiting are often coming with more complex circumstances than we have the capacity to manage. This can have a significant impact on us as service providers.

Professional and personal boundaries are key to keep service-users, staff, and organisations, safe, effective, and professional. They help us to utilise our skills in the most appropriate way within our professional roles, and to ensure consistency of service and management of the expectation of service-users. But what are boundaries, and what can make it difficult to maintain them?

Our workshop explores the various aspects of boundaries in the workplace, using open discussion of our own boundaries, case studies of situations that can arise, and how we can manage the maintenance of boundaries through internal and external policies and personal accountability.

Aims

This workshop is designed to support staff and organisations in the voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) to consider, plan, and implement personal and professional boundaries in the workplace.

Objectives

By the end of this workshop participants will:

• Understand their personal and professional boundaries
• Be confident in how to manage boundary issues
• Have explored situations that can occur, and how they can be managed.
• Consider implementing boundaries policies, and how they can support staff and service-users.

Our workshop includes:

• What boundaries are and why we have them
• What can make it difficult to maintain boundaries
• Case studies that explore situations that can occur, and how we might apply effective boundary management.
• Developing policies that support effective boundary management in your organisation.

Who is it for?

This workshop is for staff and volunteers of organisations who provide supportive services across the UK, especially those in public-facing roles. Participants will not require any prior knowledge of boundaries to participate. There will be a maximum of 15 participants per workshop to allow for meaningful engagement.

Host or Publisher NDVS