Dual Relationships, Gifts, and Social Media: Handling the Gray Areas

Some boundary questions do not have an obvious answer. Three come up again and again: dual relationships, gifts, and social media.

Dual relationships

A dual relationship exists when you have a second connection with a client beyond your professional role: a neighbor, a relative, a former coworker, or a member of the same congregation or recovery meeting.

These are common in close communities and for staff with lived experience. They are not always avoidable, but they do need to be managed.

• Tell your supervisor as soon as you recognize the connection.
• Ask whether the client should be assigned to someone else.
• Keep what you know from work out of your personal life, and the reverse.

Some relationships are never acceptable. Romantic, sexual, or financial relationships with clients are serious violations.

Gifts

Clients sometimes offer gifts out of real gratitude, and turning one down can feel unkind.

• Know your agency's gift policy before it comes up.
• Many agencies allow small, non-cash tokens and require anything else to be declined or reported.
• If you must decline, honor the gesture: "This means a lot. I'm not able to accept gifts, but thank you for thinking of me."
• Never accept money or anything offered in exchange for a favor.
• Giving gifts to individual clients raises the same fairness issues.

Social media

• Do not friend, follow, or message clients from personal accounts.
• Check your privacy settings.
• Never post about clients, even without names. Details can identify people.
• Do not look up clients online out of curiosity.
• Never photograph clients or the site without following your agency's consent process.

A simple test

Before acting, ask yourself: Whose needs does this serve? Would I do this for every client? Would I be comfortable if my supervisor saw it?

When in doubt, ask

Raising a question early is a sign of professionalism. Our Boundaries and Ethics Training works through gray areas like these.