Ask the Expert: Blurred boundaries in youth work

I run a drop-in service for young people. One young woman who attends only wants to talk to our male worker. He says it is important she has a choice and is happy to see her. I am concerned about it. What can I do?

There is a fine line when it comes to professional and personal boundaries. Have you discussed it with the worker in supervision? What are the issues that the young woman is presenting with? How is her body language with him, and vice versa?

He is right that she should choose who she wants to work with, but she needs also to be clear that it is the service and not the individual that she is engaging with. What would happen if he was off sick or had left his position? She would need to either work with someone else or have no service at all.

I suggest he time-limits the sessions with her and that you then allocate another worker to her. She needs to understand that personal boundaries are important for both her and any agency she works with in order to keep everyone safe. He needs to understand his professional boundaries too.

Answered by Jeanie Lynch, who works for Barnardo’s and has 25 years’ experience of working with vulnerable children and families