Winter 2004

Issues regarding boundaries seem to come in groups. Recently I have had several people complaining about unclear boundaries in the professional context. A current example is therapists practising more than one methodology, often without the express consent of the client. If a client is coming for craniosacral therapy then it is important to do just that. It is only appropriate to use other therapeutic approaches if they have been clearly explained from the outset and agreed to by the client. Another related topic which people have been uneasy with is when practitioners start to impose their beliefs upon the client.

Apart from the more obvious areas like race, gender and sexual orientation, the sort of areas where there is often a tendency for people to start imposing their ideas and philosophy are: (whether for or against) reincarnation / past lives, eating meat / animal products, kindred spirits / twinning / energetic connection, pregnancy termination, politics, religion, age, social class, things happening for a reason etc. Whilst the therapist might feel very strongly about any particular issue, it remains important to work within the framework and implied safety of the therapeutic form. Of course this raises the question of what the form actually is. You might well, for example, believe (and I