PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES IN SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL CARE harm for clients, and professional disgrace for the practitioner. Frank Cooper provides helpful checklists and some core questions to assist practitioners in their decision-making Awareness of boundaries in professional practice has been around a long time, and they were memorably articulated by Hippocrates, in the Oath written in the fifth century BC. It included mention of staying within what one is trained to do: I will not use the knife/./ but will withdraw in favour of such men as are engaged in this work. It was clear on the need for confidentiality: What I may see or bear in the course of treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep myself bolding such things shameful to be spoken about. And it outlawed improper relationships th clients: Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons/./ But, as Cooper notes, there has been a dearth of education social workers and there is no mandatory component on boundaries in formal social work qualifications. Statutory regulation for qualified social workers has thrown light on the previously hidden; we now know that significant numbers of cases coming before professional conduct panels have concerned violations of boundaries, in fact they represent one in five of all misconduct findings, a rate far in excess of figures published by for example, the General Medical Council Boundary transgressions occur across all professions and the Clinic for Boundaries Studies is aware of cases involving hospital doctors, surgeons, complementary therapists, priests, psychoanalysts, counsellors and social workers. There appears to be a higher risk in disciplines which involve relationship as a central part of their practice. This may help to explain why there are significant numbers of cases within the talking therapies, why GPs and psychiatrists are reported more often than other doctors to the GMC and, perhaps, why social workers have seen such significant percentages in front of the Social Care Councils There are some dangers around the raising of awareness about professional boundaries. One is the overly rigid application of theory, a response which leads to organisational policies which make any self-disclosure by practitioners whatsoever(as one NHS8 Professional Boundaries in Social Work and Social Care harm for clients, and professional disgrace for the practitioner. Frank Cooper provides helpful checklists and some core questions to assist practitioners in their decision-making. Awareness of boundaries in professional practice has been around a long time, and they were memorably articulated by Hippocrates, in the Oath written in the fifth century bc. It included mention of staying within what one is trained to do: I will not use the knife […] but will withdraw in favour of such men as are engaged in this work. It was clear on the need for confidentiality: What I may see or hear in the course of treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep myself holding such things shameful to be spoken about. And it outlawed improper relationships with clients: Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons […]. But, as Cooper notes, there has been a dearth of education for social workers and there is no mandatory component on boundaries in formal social work qualifications. Statutory regulation for qualified social workers has thrown a light on the previously hidden; we now know that significant numbers of cases coming before professional conduct panels have concerned violations of boundaries, in fact they represent one in five of all misconduct findings, a rate far in excess of figures published by, for example, the General Medical Council. Boundary transgressions occur across all professions and the Clinic for Boundaries Studies is aware of cases involving hospital doctors, surgeons, complementary therapists, priests, psychoanalysts, counsellors and social workers. There appears to be a higher risk in disciplines which involve relationship as a central part of their practice. This may help to explain why there are significant numbers of cases within the talking therapies, why GPs and psychiatrists are reported more often than other doctors to the GMC and, perhaps, why social workers have seen such significant percentages in front of the Social Care Councils. There are some dangers around the raising of awareness about professional boundaries. One is the overly rigid application of theory, a response which leads to organisational policies which make any self-disclosure by practitioners whatsoever (as one NHS