The importance of professional boundaries
Maintaining public safety in the psychoanalytic profession is at the core of what we do.
Maintaining public safety in the psychoanalytic profession is at the core of what we do.
It’s very important that psychoanalytic therapy happens within a safe, trusting setting and it’s the therapists’ duty to protect this setting. This means that there are certain boundaries that must not be breached. For a fruitful therapeutic relationship, your therapist should provide a consistent and appropriate environment that supports your work together.
All of our Registrants are bound by ethical standards and an ethical framework that we outline below, this means they must practice safely. They should not take advantage of their position of power. During your therapy, it is innapropriate for the relationship with your therapist to become romantic, social or sexual in nature.
If you have reason to believe a BPC Registrant has breached professional boundaries as per our standards, please contact us. Visit our concerns page to read our step-by-step guide on reporting a concern. This provides you with transparent guidance around what to have prepared when you are reporting your concern and a rough idea on how long the process may take. Once you’re ready, just fill out the form on the same page and wait to hear from us.
If any of the information on this page feels familiar or triggering to you and you need support now, visit our resource page that lists organations that can provide immediate help.
As the professional home for our Registrants, our Member Institutions (MIs) uphold our standards and play a crucial role in reinforcing them through trainings and professional events.
All of our Registrants have to be registered with an MI where they have trained. This is also where they may continue their learning through CPD and supervision groups. Our MIs play a very important part within our regulatory model as they help foster relationships within the profession as well as provide a healthy professional environment for practitioners. The MI is also instrumental when concerns are raised to support the Fitness to Practice process alongside us.
Click here to learn more about our relationship with our Member Institutions and how they work with us to uphold our regulatory duties. The image below to outlines how different segments of our professional community work together to maintain safe practice.
Explore our other web pages below if you’d like to know more about our Standards of Conduct, our Duty of Candour and maintaing safe therapy in the UK.
