Personal versus Professional: Reflection

Workskil is a non-governmental organization that helps people to find jobs. During my placement at Workskil as a social work student, I experienced a situation where the clients whom I served were enquiring into my private life. Most of the clients that I interacted with were open, and they disclosed the information about their personal situations and families. Therefore, they wanted me to reciprocate by telling them my story. At a personal level, I enjoy sharing my private stories with the people I meet. However, the ethical standards for the practice of social work prevent me from disclosing any confidential information to my clients. The requirement made me uncomfortable because it created a dilemma between my personal preference and the ethical requirements as contained in the codes. The professional code of ethics 5.1.6 identifies how social workers should maintain professional boundaries and manage dual relationships with their clients. It places a restriction barring social workers from disclosing their personal stories to the clients. According to this code, it is the duty of a social worker, but not the client, to set and keep appropriate, professional boundaries in all forms of communication with their customers. Therefore, an apparent conflict existed between the personal preference to openly share my story with clients and the ethical requirement of the profession of social worker, which prevents me from such disclosure.

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Social work is a profession that brings people to interact closely with the view of solving problems. Williams & Briskman state, “The unique positioning of social work in the intimacies of private lives and at the nexus of state and civil society places the profession in … the contact zone of affect.” Williams & Briskman also suggest that, in social work, a worker and his or her clients develop close relationships; and the consequence is that they may find it tricky to avoid disclosing their personal information because a contact zone that involves sharing their personal emotional experiences exists in the profession. In other words, it is difficult for the worker and his/her clients to avoid exchanging confidential stories between each other completely, for example, when such information is part of solving the pertinent problems. Farrah states, “Historically within social work, the relationship that exists between worker and client has been viewed as the most integral element and distinguishing feature of the profession.” Essentially, Farrah stresses the important role that the cordial relationship between a social worker and his/her clients plays in the profession’s success.

My personal experience at Workskil entails assisting people who lack knowledge about computers to find jobs. Clients become friendly in the process of interacting with me as a social worker who assists them. Consequently, they start sharing with me their personal stories, and they are equally interested in knowing mine. However, the professional code 5.1.6, which guides me on how to keep professional boundaries with my clients, prevents me from disclosing personal information to them. Despite the idea that I like sharing such information, the code would interpret such behavior as unethical. Therefore, it suggests that if I choose to tell the clients my confidential stories, I will engage in unethical conduct, thus violating the code. Nevertheless, considering the perspectives of different researchers can provide guidelines to determine a possible course of action.

Cooper published a practical guide that helps social workers to understand how they can manage and maintain professional boundaries with their clients. Professional boundaries are necessary for a social worker because different groups involved expect “safe, professional, and effective service”. The code that governs the issue of boundaries exists in good faith. Its purpose is to protect either side, including a social worker and the clients, from abuse, negligence, and self-harm. According to Cooper, it is unethical for both the clients and the social workers to expose confidential information about their personal or family lives to one another. For instance, Cooper states that negligent social workers or organizations may abuse clients when they disclose their confidential information. The implication is that the social worker has the responsibility of providing safe and supportive services to the clients without necessarily revealing his or her personal life.

Furthermore, Cooper discusses that it is the duty of a social worker to know the relevant codes that govern the issue of professional boundaries, and that, “Ignorance or lack of training is no excuse”. A professional should conduct some research to understand the relevant laws affecting the relationship between a social worker and his/her client. The meaning of Cooper’s discussion is that the legal requirements or codes of ethics supersede a social worker’s personal choices. Therefore, a worker should give prominence to the codes rather than his/her personal choices in situations of moral dilemma. Applying Cooper’s knowledge to my situation, I should follow the code that requires me to protect personal confidential data from reaching the clients. However, since the clients disclosed their confidential information, I should use it responsibly by avoiding any kind of abuse that utilizes the client’s private data.

Bray explains the areas of social work that require a social worker to observe professional boundaries. Bray enumerates the areas as:

· Under-involvement or over-involvement with the client, whereby more emphasis is on over-involvement. A worker should not display excessive attachment to the client. Narrating private stories may cause over-involvement;

· The exchange of gifts or establishing a financial relationship between a social worker and the client;

· Disclosure of personal information; and Bray notes that this includes the situation where a social worker makes excessive self-disclosure to the client;

· Having a dual relationship, which means a worker becomes too friendly to the client;

· Involvement of any kind of touch that is not necessarily part of the job.

The danger of sharing confidential information with the client is that it may encourage the development of negative emotion. A social worker should objectively identify the factors that cause stress and eliminate them. Collins also encourages social workers to use positive emotion as a coping strategy for overcoming stressful circumstances. Collins states that, “Coping in social work is a very significant topic in itself, which has been explored in depth,”. The author adds that when social workers face negative emotions, that are most likely to cause stress in their work, they can use the following three coping strategies:

· Provide psychological break or a breather;

· They can act as sustainers, and the advantage of this alternative is that it enhances self-esteem and effectiveness;

· They can act as restorers.

AASW explains the obligations of a social worker under the code of ethics 5.1.6. Firstly, it is my duty to observe that the distance that I keep with the clients protects me from engaging in a sexual relationship. The code bars me from entering into an intimate relationship with the client. Thirdly, it is a requirement, according to the code, for me to set and maintain clear and appropriate professional boundaries in all kinds of communication with the client. The forms of communication the code covers include, “face to face contact, written communication, telephone, and online communications”. Furthermore, the code gives me the responsibility of using self-disclosure only with circumspection. This means that I should critically analyze the circumstances surrounding my disclosure of personal information. The objective is to ensure the social workers only apply self-disclosure when it is reasonable to do so and for the benefit of the client. In my case, it is within my clients’ best interest for me to share with them my personal stories. It is also within my best interest to do so. Therefore, I can still abide by the code disclosing my personal information. Though, I should be very careful so that I do not violate the need to maintain professional relations with the clients.

My personal feelings contradict the code’s requirements in the sense that I like sharing private information with others, yet the code restricts me from doing it because I am likely to violate professional boundaries. Nevertheless, the code provides some relief. Although I should keep confidentiality as a social worker, the code gives me the allowance to analyze situations, for instance by considering the client’s best interest, and ensuring that the sharing of personal information does not in any way affect the professional relationship and boundaries that I should maintain. Therefore, I have two alternatives for resolving the ethical dilemma. Firstly, I should follow the code and avoid disclosing personal information to my clients. In this case, I am a relationship sustainer, and my role is to explain to my clients why I cannot narrate to them my personal stories. Such explanation elicits positive emotions. The second alternative is to disclose to them my stories, but only after applying circumspection. It is the one that I used in the situation. I observed that the details I provided to the clients only worked towards the achievement of the goals of social work, and not my personal goals.

In conclusion, the situation that I faced at Workskil was an ethical dilemma because my interest was different from the requirement under the professional code 5.1.6. However, through research, I found a solution to the problem. The research findings show that it is a social worker’s legal responsibility to maintain professional boundaries between him/her and the clients. The sharing of personal information is risky because it may affect the quality of the client/social worker relationship. Nevertheless, the code allows a social worker to apply circumspection when it is necessary to use self-disclosure. I inspected the situation and realized that it was necessary to share personal information because it was both in my and my client`s interest. Therefore, I resolved the ethical dilemma by carefully sharing personal stories so that it does not breach professional boundaries.