Walking the Boundaries

Exploring everyday ethics in human services

Q: How do you unleash hours of rich debate in your team of practitioners?
A: Open a pack of Walking the Boundaries and stand back!

Every human service profession, organisation and business is governed by the laws of the land. Most are held accountable to codes of conduct created from within their organisation or profession as well. But many practitioners—including social workers, counsellors, teachers and carers—face dozens of everyday ethical decisions regarding both clients and colleagues that may not be clear cut.

What do you do when decisions call for actions that are not defined by the law or enshrined within a code of conduct? When there is no absolute right or wrong answer, where do you draw the boundaries?

Walking the Boundaries offers 80 probing, surprising, challenging—even confronting—questions that reflect the ambiguities and complexities of professional practice.

Designed by social workers for all human service practitioners, Walking the Boundaries can be used to:

• Reflect on practice, values and ethical dilemmas
• Explore the impacts of context and organisational culture on decision-making
• Open discussions about risk, confidentiality and privacy
• Develop strategies for managing uncertainty and staying safe
• Stimulate forthright, fun, unpredictable and revealing conversations with colleagues, supervisors, teams and new professionals!

Walking the Boundaries is not just about ‘doing no harm’ to clients, examining codes of conduct, or protecting practitioners from liability or litigation. This powerful, provocative set of cards is designed to help build the skills, knowledge, self-awareness and professional transparency that lie at the heart of respectful practice.

80 full-colour, laminated cards, 105mm x 120mm
Polypropylene box with 44-page booklet