It's a small world, after all, or so it’s said. Professionals in small towns, communities and rural areas are often called upon by members of their communities who are known to them. It is not uncommon for these practitioners to engage in more than one relationship with a client.

This course introduces concepts applicable to multiple relationships between two people, the power dynamics of the client-practitioner relationship, dynamics of power and imbalance of power, the risk of co-dependency, and suggestions for addressing the issues that may be raised.

Though the most common occurrences of potential multiple relationships might be in small communities and rural areas, this course applies to all social work professionals regardless of where they live and work. In any setting there is the potential to be called upon to engage in helping relationships, in which professional boundaries are essential. The dynamics of such helping relationships are not limited to particular geographical environments, and should be understood by working professionals in order to maximize their effectiveness and their clients' safety and well-being.

This online course is designed for professionals practicing in rural settings or in a cross-cultural setting in large urban areas and looking to enhance their knowledge about managing professional boundaries within practice.

At the completion of this course, participants will be able to

• Identify the nature of the multiple relationships they may have with clients



• Describe the dynamics of power in client-practitioner relationships



• Determine appropriate and inappropriate boundaries in their relationships with clients



• Identify boundaries they want to establish, and ways to maintain them