Boundary Practice in Human Service Work

Boundary Practice Workshop Many of us who choose to work in human services have big hearts and generous spirits. We develop our practice and communication skills, but we don’t always consider our boundaries, especially when the needs of those we work with so often exceed our own. Boundaries are essential to practice in the helping professions, as they make caring sustainable, and protect skilled workers from compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization and burnout. Boundary practice encourages us to consider our own energy and how we’re spending it, and to understand pre-existing patterns of relating that attract us to the helping professions while also making boundary practice more difficult. In this workshop, participants will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of different patterns of relating, with a view to becoming better stewards of our energy as helpers, and making our self-care practices more personal and effective. We’ll gain a better understanding of how we feel and think at work relative to how we’re negotiating boundaries with clients and co-workers. Boundary work ensures we’re bringing our best selves to the work we love so much. This workshop is interactive, with practical examples and lots of opportunity for questions.

Workshop Highlights
 The context of human service work and helping professions – organic hazards of our work and “protective equipment”
 Dimensions of health, and how they’re impacted by frontline work
 Vague, Rigid and Healthy Boundaries and how to recognize them
 Assessing our own boundary style, and how to work with it
 “Bond and Breathing Room” – understanding the need for connection and the need for space, and how to practice self-attunement when our job is to connect with others
 Boundary practice with clients, co-workers, and organizations
 Recognizing and preventing compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization and burn out
 Applying boundary practice to self-care – using self-attunement and to understand our needs and how to meet them
 Self-compassion as an essential component in boundary work – understanding both “tender” and “fierce” self-compassion

Jodie McDonald is a counsellor in private practice on Vancouver Island, specializing in Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP). As a Registered Social Worker in BC, Jodie has over 20 years’ experience in the non-profit sector, working in crisis and suicide intervention, family support, and mental health. Jodie has also taught at Vancouver Island University, and facilitates professional development workshops throughout BC, specializing in boundary practice, self-care, and wellness education for helping professionals and caregivers