Boundaries I Set As A Social Worker

Happy Social Work Month!

This month is a time for appreciation and awareness for social workers and what it is we actually do. A theme that comes up a lot during Social Work Month and Social Work Week is the impact of working in such a high-stress field and navigating what sometimes feels like impossibly high caseloads. So I’m going to share some boundaries I try to maintain in my practice to stave off the burnout. I’m not perfect, and these boundaries are hard work, but the effort to implement and maintain them are what truly counts.

Business Hours

I’ll be honest with you - I struggle with this boundary. I’ve said it before, but I’m a firm believer that thinking about your clients after hours, or responding to messages, or wanting to put in some extra hours all come from a place of passion and dedication. Those traits are part of what helps you be such a good social worker - but it can’t come at the cost of your personal health and wellness. Without some boundaries between your work and home lives, the two become enmeshed and you place yourself at a much higher risk of burnout.

My firm boundaries are that any client interaction or related work happens during standard business hours, Monday-Friday 9-5. At first I felt guilty about this, but then I asked myself - do I expect my doctor to answer me on a Saturday morning? My teacher? My accountant? Nope. I see them as professionals who are enjoying their hard-earned time off.

So why am I holding myself to a different standard? Keeping boundaries with my time is not selfish, it is what helps me maintain my mental health, which in turn is actually what keeps me able to provide high quality services. So, unless it is an emergency, I now keep to strict business hours with my clients.

I also try to apply business hours to communication with my colleagues and collaboration opportunities. This is often trickier, as I have good relationships with these peers, but I found that the more we would discuss clients or work after hours, the more my time and energy is spent on work. At that point, I may as well be in the office, because my Social Worker brain is in full gear. No self-care or personal boundaries are happening at that point. Instead of enjoying my TV show, I’m treatment-planning or drafting a report in my head. So, unless it is about something purely personal, I try to avoid discussing clients, cases, or practice business after I get in my car for the day. 

Limiting My Load

I’m going to preface this by acknowledging that if you do not work in private practice, this is a more challenging boundary. Public agencies and institutions are faced with impossibly high caseloads and limited resources. If you work in an agency, know that I see your struggle and absolutely commend you for the work that you are doing!

That being said, there are still some ways to implement boundaries with your caseload and responsibilities. You can advocate for yourself and colleagues when you are given unrealistic expectations. You can ask for help from supervisors or peers when you start to find yourself feeling overwhelmed. It is also important that you are not volunteering for, or agreeing to do, additional tasks outside of your role if you are already dealing with high demands on your professional time. Many social workers love what we do and are highly dedicated, but this can often be taken advantage of and lead to higher and higher demands, which in turn increases our likelihood of burnout. 

If you do work in private practice, it can still be challenging to implement boundaries with our caseloads. Working in private practice is expensive and the bills don’t pay themselves, so there is a financial pressure to fill our calendars. There also is the desire to work with and support as many people as we can. That’s why we became social workers, right? Professional commitment, enjoying direct client work, client demand, and financial factors all contribute to our caseloads.

But one thing that often doesn’t get considered is (you guessed it!) our mental health. There is an important balancing act between the amount of clients we need to see and the amount of clients we can reasonably see. It is important that you speak with your accountant, supervisor or peer supports, and check in with yourself to determine this healthy number. Once you have that number, you must stick to it! This is easier said than done, I know, but it is essential. 

Social Media

Social media has become an incredibly useful tool for social workers. It can be used to stay informed, promote social change, create communities, and network with other professionals around the world. It can also be personally beneficial as a way to stay connected with our friends and family. At minimum, it’s often an amusing distraction.

However, social media has also been shown to have negative effects when used in unhealthy ways. Having both personal and professional social media accounts, spanning multiple platforms, it can be easy to get sucked in. “Doom scrolling” is a common phenomenon that is a commonly reported cause of spending 5+ hours a day on our screens. 

So a boundary I set for myself is to limit my time on social media. This has been particularly important right now in 2022, as each day there are more and more negative headlines and media to be consumed. I’ve talked before about how it is important to stay informed, but this must be balanced with self-care. For me, an integral part of this self-care is simply avoiding starting and ending my day online. I have a rule where my first and last hour of my day cannot be spent on social media, because chances are I will either start my day anxiously or angrily reading/watching/scrolling or comparing myself to others. That doesn’t set me up for a positive or productive mindset - so I avoid it, and it has made a huge impact on how I feel.

Break During Breaks

If you are able to keep your work confined to your work day, this is a major step. However, I encourage you to take the next step towards creating a healthy balance: taking your breaks. This doesn’t mean eating your lunch while writing your case notes or waiting on hold with a referral agency. This means between sessions or meetings, doing something for you.

I was guilty of cramming admin work into the 10-minute gaps between client sessions, and it was awful. Anytime I do this, I enter the next session feeling rushed and often have to consciously struggle to switch mental gears. It usually means a lower quality of work across the board.

So now, instead, I use that time to refill my water (or replace my cold coffee), read a few pages of a book or article, get up and stretch, or have a quick chat with a colleague (if I’m WFH this also is a great opportunity to get some puppy cuddles). 

Professional Expertise

The most recent boundary I have begun setting is with my professional expertise. When you become a social worker you often become the Fix It Friend. People come to you with their problems. Chances are, this has always been the case, and a genuine desire to help people is what contributed to you pursuing a social work career. However, this can rapidly become problematic for a few different reasons. 

You spend the majority of your days helping connect people to resources, holding space, and facilitating. This is a huge commitment of our time, energy, emotions, and mental resources. So if you’re going home and spending too much time holding space for loved ones (or even acquaintances), you are now further depleting those resources during the time you are supposed to be replenishing them. This puts you at an increased risk for burnout. It can also start blurring the lines and boundaries between friendship and a client-professional dynamic - something you generally want to avoid with personal relationships.

They say you can never “therapize” your loved ones for a reason. Trust me, this does not ever work.

It is also potentially dangerous if you are registered and regulated by a provincial College. The day you become a licensed, practicing professional is the day that you need to start worrying about professional liability. You must be very careful with the support and recommendations you give others, lest this be construed as inappropriate or potentially harmful “advice”. 

This boundary for me takes the form of knowing when I am able to provide support for others in my life, and knowing when I need to take some space. I am always honoured when someone comes to me asking questions or looking for support, and if I am able I gratefully help where I can. It is also being careful and open about what I can and cannot help with, whether that be in that moment or long-term.