Personal Safety & Boundary Setting Tips for Home Visitors

Home Visitation SummitSeptember 29-30, 2014

Exercise

Look at the picture of the family just given to you

Identify 5-10 strengths of this family. Be ready to share your thoughts with the group

How does this situation pertain to you as a home visitor?

Home Visiting Field Practice

• Can vary according to the rules of your own home visiting program.

• Runs the gamut, from focusing on play and reading only, to intervening regarding multiple family needs.

• Home Visiting is a service delivery approach, not a program in itself.

Who typically visits families?

• Other family members• Friends• Neighbors• Repair people• Early Intervention services• Home health care providers• How does a Home Visitor fit in?

What are “Professional Boundaries?”

• Important line between a professional relationship and a friendship or other personal relationship.

• Boundaries give the Home Visitor a pathway to being objective and to make good decisions when working with families.

What Creates a Struggle with Finding Your Boundaries?

• Working with families can bring up strong feelings.

• Acting on just feelings can lead to decisions that could be harmful to families.

• Building a trusting relationship with a family can feel similar to a friendship.

• You might strongly identify with a family.

Exercise

• Find a partner who you don’t know.• Tell the partner about an instance where you

had a problem maintaining boundaries during a home visit.

• You will report back to the larger group about what your partner has told you.

• Be attuned to cultural issues.• This means you have to be an active listener!

Ethics

• It is our ethnical responsibility to maintain appropriate boundaries.

• Ethics = a system of principles and perceptions about right and wrong, and the resulting philosophy that is practiced within a group, culture, or profession.

• The helping professions have to be particularly mindful about professional ethics, especially those who work in homes.

Home Visiting is a Professional Relationship

• Always be mindful of the services and assistance that you are supposed to provide.

• There are legal and ethical implications in what you do – this is different than a friendship.

• What else is there about the Home Visitor’s role that is different than a friendship?

Friend vs. Home Visitor: Availability

• A friend might take phone calls at any time of day or any day of the week, but a Home Visitor might have specific hours to receive phone calls.

• A friend might welcome a family into her own home or stop by a friend’s home to chat, but a Home Visitor has specified appointments.

Friend vs. Home Visitor: Concrete Aid

• Friends sometimes share belongings, but a Home Visitor might make referrals for help.

• Friends sometimes lend or give money, but a Home Visitor should make referrals for help.

• Friends might do errands for each other, but a Home Visitor must always stay within the boundaries of her job.

Friend vs. Home Visitor: Emotional and Social Support

• Friends seek emotional support from each other in a two-way relationship, sharing both worries and successes.

• In the home visiting relationship, the Home Visitor should never seek emotional support or social support, or any sort of practical help, from the families being served.

Friend vs. Home Visitor: Emotional and Social Support

• Friends become “like family” to one another, but the families that you visit should never become involved in your own life.

• On the other hand, Home Visitors can get involved in their program families’ lives, but ONLY to the extent that the program allows. This will vary by program.

Friend vs. Home Visitor: Emotional and Social Support

• Families might invite you to birthday parties, or other family events.

• Your response to these invitations should be guided by your program rules and your supervisor.

• Always ask yourself: “Am I thinking about what is best to support this family’s strengths, or am I reacting a certain way to support my own needs?”

Exercise

• Brainstorm and write down at least 5 rules that pertain to the ethical boundaries in your home visiting program.

• List “hard” boundaries that you should never cross.

• List “soft” boundaries where you might be flexible.

Exercise: What Do You Do?

• When a parent invites you to a birthday party?• When a parent asks you for taxi fare?• When a parent calls you at night or on the

weekend?• When a parent asks for your help regarding

her conflict with her husband?• When a parent asks you to babysit?

Exercise: What Do You Do?

• When you are tempted to help a program parent find work?

• When you are consistently reluctant to visit a particular family?

• When you consistently have a feeling of wanting to “rescue” a family?

• When a parent offers you food?

Exercise: What Do You Do?

• When you can’t stop thinking about a family during non-work time?

• When a parent makes you angry?• When a parent keeps asking for services that

are not part of your program?• When a parent responds in a confrontational or

angry way that you didn’t anticipate?• When you don’t understand something about a

family’s culture?

Supervision

• Supervision is a key component for all home visiting programs.

• Your supervisor should be helping you to work out your strongest feelings and there should be regular meetings to help you do so.

• Your supervisor should consistently support home visiting staff by reminding everyone about establishing and maintaining boundaries.

Self-Reflection

• Supervisors should consistently help you self-reflect about feelings, about the role of culture, and about what is “pushing your buttons.”

• Supervisors should ask you questions to help you self-reflect, and all Home Visitors should have the opportunity to help each other self-reflect.

Self-Reflection

• How do you form a relationship?• What is your definition of relationship?• Who do you have a relationship with when

home visiting?• How do you wish to present yourself?• How do your program families view you?

Trust

• What are techniques you use to develop trust with program families?

• Do you have to use different techniques with different families?

• Why do some families have difficulty trusting?

Tug of War

• You will experience the “tug of war” between building a trusting relationship with families and establishing/maintaining boundaries.

• The more you practice, the less the struggle will become.

Personal Safety Tips

1. Be aware of the neighborhood2. Pre-screening of home environment3. Parking & walking to & from home4. Work issued cell phone5. Having someone know your schedule

Personal Safety Tips

6. Build relationship with local police5. Other family members in home6. Pets7. Mace/pepper spray8. Locating exits

Personal Safety Tips

9. Sensing danger & leaving the situation10. Bringing a second staff if necessary11. Suspicion of or witnessing abuse or D&A12. TRUST YOUR GUT!!

Thank You!

Cathy ZiegenfussFamily Connection of EastonParent-Child Home Program

ziegenfuc@eastonsd.org610-250-2542 x20018