4.16 Safer Practice with Technology Guidance

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Thinking about Boundaries
3. Boundaries in Practice
4. Considering Social Networking
5. Next Steps

1. Introduction

This practice guidance is being issued for two reasons:

1. In response to some recent incidents that have required formal processes to resolve
2. As a way of raising professional standards and insight to empower our employees.

The Safer Practice With Technology Procedure should be read in conjunction with this guidance. The purpose of the guidance is to enable staff to be thoughtful and safe in their practice, thus maintaining the integrity of our service delivery.

This is very important, as the consequences of not maintaining appropriate boundaries can be very detrimental to the young people, re-enforcing their negative understanding of relationships with adults. It can also bring adults into conflict within their teams or require action under organisational Policies and Procedures.

2. Thinking about Boundaries

We work in an environment where there are several important elements that we have to take into account in deciding how we manage our personal and professional boundaries:

1. We are employed in positions of trust and therefore there are expectations placed on us in terms of how we conduct ourselves.
2. We work with vulnerable young people, often with boundary or attachment issues - therefore it is essential that all the adults in child facing roles have a good understanding of what this means for practice. We are the ones who have to maintain the boundaries of relationships and behaviour, thus providing positive role models.
3. We are responsible for safeguarding our clients.
4. Our work is dependent on team working, both within our settings and also across the other disciplines within the organisation (E.g. home/ school) and externally with other agencies (E.g. CAMHS or Youth Offending). However, team working brings its own dynamics, values and authority issues that should be reflected on. This is not just a task for managers but something that every team member should be engaged with.
5. Particularly for residential staff (but with bearing on other roles), the job requires working with young people and colleagues in close proximity for extended periods. Indeed, in residential care, there is the 'domestic element' that requires us to eat and sleep in our homes. All of this creates a setting which both requires strong and close working relationships but which also brings with it the potential for collusion and/or disagreement. Both sides of this tension need to be acknowledged and worked with.
6. The job requires us to 'bring ourselves' to work, to use our strengths and interests and to build relationships with young people. Yet at the same time we have to maintain an understanding that we are professional carers and as such it is our responsibility to think about where the line is between the personal us and the professional us.
7. This is important in managing our work/ life balance, in understanding how not to bring work home with you and equally, how to leave outside problems at the front door before you come into work. This is one of the reasons that supervision is provided to help give reflective space to explore these issue and develop appropriate strategies

3. Boundaries in Practice

The following points give some key examples of working with boundaries that all staff should consider. However, this list is not exhaustive - boundaries are a 'live' issue that have to be worked with pro-actively and consciously in day to day situations. It is easy to see boundaries in a negative sense - a list of the things you cannot do. However, if worked with consciously and in a thoughtful way, boundaries become a positive tool which you can use in your everyday practice. Some will seem obvious but perhaps there are others that you have not considered in detail.

• Do not share personal information, addresses, phone numbers, details about your own personal life, relationships or family as these are not relevant to the young person.  If these issues come up in discussion with the young person, use this as an opportunity to divert and focus the attention back on the "here and now" i.e. the relationship between the young person and you as their carer/educator.
• No play fighting, tickling or "horse play" - we should respect personal space and remember that young people can read different interpretations into our actions. Its also very easy for these situations to escalate. Physical contact is highly symbolic and must be used in an informed way with a clear purpose.
• Be careful not to collude with young people - be aware that our young people can be very skilled in drawing adults into situations. We should remain in our professional role as this ultimately offers safety to the young person.
• Challenge discriminatory language/jokes - we have to act as role models for our young people and ensure that we respect difference. We also have a responsibility to challenge negative ideas, assumptions behaviour and language whenever it occurs. This is how young people will learn new ways of thinking about themselves and others.
• Respect confidentiality - Do not discuss information regarding other young people or members of staff. Also be aware of being overheard whilst on the phone or in other rooms. This happens much more that you might first think.
• Never take young people home or introduce them to family or friends. Work is work, home life is home life and the two should not mix. This puts all involved in difficult and compromising positions. We also have a responsibility to ensure the protection of all involved.
• Do not give young people gifts or lend or borrow items. There are issues of power and control involved in these areas and it also prevents consistency within the team. Staff should also discourage the young person from offering gifts to staff. They already have our positive regard and don't need to "buy" favour.
• Maintain high levels of personal hygiene/appearance. This is important for two reasons - we are professionals at work and as such represent the organisation. Also, we are role modelling to the young people self-care and self-respect.
• Respect the personal space and privacy of the young person at all times. The only exception to this will be around the safe management of a risk. Do not encroach on young person's personal boundaries, either in fun or to gain compliance
• Be positive - we are all human and will have things going on in our lives (work or home) that will affect our mood, attitude, judgement and demeanour. We have to learn to separate these issues when we are working directly with the young person. Use supervision, team meetings and other channels of support if you find this difficult. It is not always easy - so talk to other adults about how they manage their emotions.  Our moods and feelings affect our thinking and most importantly our communication - especially non-verbal (Body language, eye contact, facial expressions). This has a huge impact on our interactions with young people and colleagues.
• Create a homely atmosphere of unconditional positive regard for young people and colleagues. This is created through what you say and what you do. Building relationships can be about you sharing and explaining to a young person the thoughts/ thinking behind what you say and do. This is how we build mutual trust and respect and for the young people, it is an opportunity to learn new ways of looking at the world and their place within it.

When you come into work, you immediately cross a symbolic threshold - you stop being the personal you and become the professional you (with a different set of responsibilities and expectations placed upon you).

If we stop to reflect and actually think about how we are using our own selves,  as a tool, to engage the young person in a deliberate and planned way, then we begin to understand that the above mentioned issues are critical to our role, not only working with the young people but equally in how we work with each other as adults.

4. Considering Social Networking

Given the above considerations, we can now understand that the technological developments in recent years have brought a new area of boundaries to be worked with.

Alongside the personal you and the professional you, Social Networking Sites (such as Facebook) have allowed people to create a 3rd element - the online you. It should be stated from the start that the organisation values the positive aspects and uses of new technologies, yet there are aspects that staff must take individual responsibility for.

There is no question that your work role, work identity, the details of the work you undertake or organisational information has absolutely no place on personal social network sites. Equally, as with phone and email - no staff should have online links with any of our clients. Doing so would place both staff and young people at risk as it would take the relationship outside the professional (and therefore safe) boundaries.

However, there is another significant area of social networking that many staff overlook. Social networks create artificial connections between groups of staff. People who are your work colleagues or acquaintances can be given access to all sorts of personal information that you choose to place in the public domain. These networks become more tangled as 'friends' of 'friends' become linked, perhaps joining you with colleagues you don't even know. Perhaps these connections cross line management or other authority boundaries.

This can (and does) create significant challenges for working relationships and the maintaining separateness between the personal and professional you. All staff must consider what information, photos and associations they want to publicise. Staff should also consider that the more they "publish" about themselves, the greater scrutiny they automatically bring to bear. As stated earlier, we work in positions of trust and therefore there can be consequences in our professional lives from matters that occur in our private lives.

We have had situations recently where staff have shared information about work or made remarks about colleagues using social networking that have resulted in formal processes. This is absolutely avoidable if all staff take personal responsibility for their own boundaries and privacy.

As an organisation, we cannot (nor do we want to) control your actions outside of work. However, if your conduct or the choices you make have a direct impact on the young people, your colleagues, the organisation or indeed any aspect of our service delivery to young people, then this will bring you into conflict with organisational/ professional boundaries. Under these circumstances we have no option but to respond formally at some level. Therefore, we are reliant on each of you taking adult responsibility for maintaining your own personal boundaries.

We have previously issued instruction, which we will restate here, that Facebook or other similar sites:

1. Should not be accessed during work time or on work equipment
2. Should not be used to discuss any aspect of our work, clients, colleagues or organisation

5. Next Steps

This guidance is issued as a positive step to support staff in maintaining the highest standards of professional practice.

Managers should ensure that all staff have read and understood the contents. It is strongly suggested that this is discussed openly in team meetings in order that it can be thought about together in groups and specifically considering the vulnerabilities and application with your young people.

Individual staff may wish to discuss this further with their line manager for one to one support in addressing any matters that this may raise.

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