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The importance of professional boundaries

Maintaining public confidence in the psychoanalytic profession is at the core of what we do.

It is the responsibility of every Registrant on our Register to meet the Standards of Conduct, Practice and Ethics we uphold. A core tenet of these Standards is understanding, adhering to and maintaining professional boundaries with every patient at all times.

At the BPC, we understand our responsibility of upholding our standards, and we take this very seriously. We understand that these standards are an important part of supporting safe, psychoanalytic therapy and at the core of these standards, is maintaining professional boundaries.

What to keep in mind as a Registrant of the BPC

Our first standard: Make the care of patients your primary concern outlines the importance of professional boundaries.

Swipe below to read our official standards and guidance around maintaining profressional boundaries:

At the BPC we consider any breach or degradation of professional boundaries to be a very serious violation of psychoanalytic practise. This is a failture to act in a patient’s interest at puts them at risk of harm in many ways that can also result in public protection concerns. The BPC may investigate these concerns particularly where we’re contacted by the patient.

Every Registrant of the BPC has an individual duty to uphold the confidence in our profession.

What to do if you need to report your concerns about a BPC Registrant

If you have reason to believe a BPC Registrant has not maintained professional boundaries with their patient/s, then it is of vital importance that you contact the BPC with these concerns, read our step-by-step guide below on what our concerns process entails:

If you’d like to know more about how our Fitness to Practice Process works, here’s a breakdown of the stages your concern will go through:

1. We receive a complaint which is reviewed by our clinical adviser for acceptance. Is this urgent? An interim Order Hearing is prepared if the matter is urgent 2. If accepted, complaint is prepared for our screening committee who consist of Registrant and lay members. 4. If referred to a full hearing, a Panel of registrant and lay members will impose a sanction 3. Disposal options available to the Screening committee: Adjourn the case for further information; Close the case with no further action; Close the case with no further action but issue advice to the Registrant about their future conduct; Issue a Warning to the Registrant; Refer the case to the Fitness to Practise Committee Conditions; Reprimand;​ 5. Sanctions available to the Fitness to Practise Committee at a hearing ​ Suspension;​ Termination from the register;

Standards of Conduct, Practice and Ethics & Guidance

All BPC Registrants must download and keep a copy of the Standards and corresponding guidance notes, reading these in full and ensuring each point is understood. If you choose to print these documents, please ensure you keep up to date with the latest versions as the guidance notes will be updated from time to time.
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Duty of Candour

All Healthcare professionals have a professional responsibility to be open, honest, and transparent with patients when things go wrong. This obligation is known as the professional Duty of Candour.
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Crisis Lines

Future work in this area: