In summary
- Boundaries as professional responsibility – Clear boundaries protect clients, sustain psychologists’ wellbeing, and are now reinforced in the updated Code of Conduct.
- Set expectations early – Discuss boundaries at the start of therapy to avoid ruptures later, and make explicit that therapy is a unique, professional relationship.
- Out-of-hours contact – Establish clear policies around texts, emails and calls; provide emergency alternatives rather than extending availability.
- Social media and public presence – Keep personal and professional accounts separate, maintain strong privacy controls, and avoid influencer-style activity that risks breaching regulations.
- Attendance and cancellations – Frame policies as attendance agreements that support therapeutic progress, rather than as penalties.
- Gift-giving – Accept small, one-off tokens if appropriate, but redirect ongoing or culturally-influenced gifts to protect professional boundaries.
- Personal disclosures – Share minimal personal information only when clearly in the client’s best interest; avoid shifting focus from the client to the psychologist.
- Self-care as a boundary – Regular, non-negotiable self-care practices are essential to prevent burnout and maintain safe, ethical practice.
- APS members can access the APS practice guidelines on boundaries and multiple relationships
Associate Professor Kaye Frankcom FAPS, an experienced psychologist, outlines five common instances where psychologists may be exposed to a breach of professional boundaries, and offers advice about how to approach them.
As part of the new Code of Conduct coming into effect for psychology professionals from 1 December, expectations around maintaining effective and appropriate boundaries with clients, along with managing multiple relationships and conflicts of interest, have been strengthened.
For experienced psychologist and author Kaye Frankcom FAPS, these changes mark a welcome step forward.
“The professional competencies [outline] the benchmark against which we should be measuring ourselves in terms of conduct, performance and also health – not just ill-health, but also self-care and our responsibilities to ourselves, to the profession, to our clients and to the community."
Part of that responsibility is setting and managing clear boundaries in the therapeutic relationship.
Setting the tone early and anticipating challenges
Frankcom says it can often be challenging for clients who are new to therapy to understand boundaries, as their main touch points with psychologists, up until this point, have been through what they see on TV and in films.
In these examples, fictional psychologists aren't always modeling best-practice boundaries, such as being at the beck and call of their clients day and night.
“People often watch shows with a therapist in them. I’ve said to clients, ‘Let’s talk about what you think of the therapist.’ And then usually what I say is, ‘Yes, I quite like that show too, but I want to be very clear that I’m not that person, and I don’t operate the way they do on TV.'"
Dispelling these myths early is important, says Francom. That's why boundary discussions should happen early and directly.
“Once the person starts [breaching an agreed boundary], it’s very hard to stop it. It is predictable that you may then experience a rupture in the relationship when the psychologist tries to reinstate professional boundaries.
"Now, ruptures in therapeutic relationships are to be expected, but don’t set it up so a rupture happens because you didn’t proactively prevent it."
She adds that boundary clarity also protects against client over-reliance.
“If people start to incorporate us into their community and see us as being part of their life, rather than seeing therapy as a particular – artificial – relationship, then that’s a risk”.
She stresses the importance of naming therapy as a distinct type of relationship.
“I often say to people, you live a life outside of this room. This is a relationship [in an artificial setting] in the sense that I’m here because that is my role with you. It’s not like your neighbour; it’s not like your friend; it’s not like your work colleague.”
By setting clear expectations for duration and outcomes, Frankcom says dependency can be reduced.
“I’m very keen on talking about things like routine outcome measurement. I will sometimes say to clients, 'We have finished a piece of work together now. It doesn’t mean you can’t come back, but it does mean you can have time away from therapy and see if you can manage on your own.
"That improves self-efficacy, rather than feeling dependent on me like I’m your confidant or special friend.'"
For Frankcom, preparing for an ending is not about closing the door. It is about supporting the client to stand more firmly on their own because therapy is not an open-ended relationship.
“The goal is that clients transfer that positive connection with the psychologist into their lives outside of therapy. My role is to help them relate better to people outside therapy."
Below, Frankcom outlines five common areas where boundaries can be breached, and offers advice on how to manage or prepare for these scenarios.
1. Out of hours contact
Boundary issues often arise around requests for extra contact outside of sessions. Frankcom stresses the importance of anticipating these situations and setting parameters early, rather than leaving them to chance.
“First of all, you need to have a policy in advance. What is your position on texting? Do you text through a practice management system? Are you using emails? Are they encrypted? And what about after-hours calls? I would say, usually it’s not advisable, and people should be making contact with the emergency services if there’s an issue. But you need to have policies on these and discuss them with your client at an early point in your work together."
She adds that even practical systems such as SMS appointment reminders can create expectations of availability if boundaries are not clearly explained.
“If I send out an SMS reminder, they can text back. You’ve got to say to people something like, ‘You can reply to a text reminder, but I don’t look at texts after six o’clock at night, and not until 8.30 the next morning.’”
For this reason, she includes emergency numbers on all her correspondence for those in need of urgent support.
By explaining these boundaries upfront, clients understand both the limits of the psychologist’s role and the safeguards available to them, she says.
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Associate Professor Kaye Frankcom FAPS
2. Social media and public profiles
In today’s digital environment, Frankcom says psychologists also need to anticipate client curiosity online.
“Most of your clients have probably Googled you. They’ve looked at your website. They may have looked you up on social media and looked at reviews. If you don’t have separate social media accounts for your business, then you should."
She notes that while many people use platforms such as Instagram for personal sharing, psychologists should be cautious. Strong privacy settings are important, but they are not foolproof.
“People can still potentially find you and read stuff. The main thing is that you’re making strong efforts to demonstrate that distinction."
Frankcom is particularly wary of the trend towards building personal brands as influencers in the mental health space.
“If you’re a registered psychologist, you can’t just say whatever you like. You can’t have testimonials. You can’t promise to deliver certain outcomes for clients.
"There are people who’ve given up their registrations so as to be influencers, but if they start saying they’re registered psychologists [when they're not], they will have people coming down on them like a ton of bricks."
AHPRA actively monitors online activity, she says, and psychologists should not assume they can bypass regulations.
“It’s seen as being a risk to the confidence of the community in registered health care professionals including psychologists.
"It’s a risk to trust, to accountability and to our professional recognition through Medicare, NDIS and other funders.”
3. Handling cancellations
Practicalities such as cancellations, lateness and fees are a critical aspect of boundary-setting. Frankcom encourages psychologists to reframe how they approach these conversations.
“Think about it not so much as a cancellation policy, but as an attendance policy,” she says.
In her view, an attendance policy shifts the conversation away from penalties towards therapeutic benefit.
“Psychology is a recovery-oriented personal development service. To make progress, we need to agree on how often [clients] attend. We develop a plan together and agree on interventions, and the frequency of sessions to achieve the best result.
"I can put everything in place, but if we’re not aligned on the importance of showing up and maintaining that connection, then the therapy won’t move forward.”
She adds that exploring how clients feel about these boundaries is part of the therapeutic process.
“Sometimes you have to say to people, 'How are you with boundaries? If I told you there’s a cancellation fee and the policy looks like this, what would you feel about that? How could I help to keep you accountable for coming for therapy?”
While some clients resist, others accept it matter-of-factly, she adds.
“Attendance is a therapeutic alliance process. When you give somebody a cancellation fee, sometimes they won’t come back. But I also have people say, ‘I’m sorry, I have to cancel. I know there’s a cancellation fee.' They get it.
“Now you might waive it, that's up to you, but the point is that the client doesn’t think this is a rupture in our relationship. They know it's just their psychologist setting boundaries.”
"We are not super people. We are human and self-care is vital." – Associate Professor Kaye Frankcom FAPS
4. Navigating gifts from clients
Gift-giving is a common but delicate issue in therapeutic work, says Frankcom.
Small tokens of appreciation can sometimes be appropriate. She recalls one example fondly.
“The best card I ever got said, ‘Thanks very much for all your help this year. I hope I never have to see you again.’ I kept it for years. They knew I loved it so much, and it just said to me, 'My job is done.'”
She adds that repeated gifts, however, can start to blur boundaries.
“Sometimes they might see me as a family member. If every time they come in, they bring something like food, I usually say to them, ‘Look, I know this gift is your way of acknowledging our relationship and to show your gratitude. It's not needed from my side. I would prefer you to give it to the admin staff, they work very hard, they probably would appreciate it.’"
That's a kind way to send a clear message, she says.
5. Requests for personal disclosures
Personal questions are another area where psychologists can often be caught off guard, says Frankcom.
“Be ready for somebody to say to you, ‘Have you got children? Have you got a husband? Are you gay?’”
Frankcom shares personal details only sparingly.
“In 35 years of doing therapy, I’d say a handful of times have I told people [personal details]."
One temptation, she admits, has been when working with chronic pain clients, because of her own lived experience supporting a partner through serious health issues. But she sees disclosure in those circumstances as risky.
“It’s really tempting when somebody’s [telling you a familiar story] to say, ‘Well, my husband…’ But if you’re going to go there, you need to think about your reason for disclosing. Is it truly in the best interests of the client?
"I think it actually derails things by turning the conversation focus to your experiences rather than those of the client, and you can cause a rupture inadvertently."
Instead, she recommends sticking to short, factual responses when disclosure is unavoidable – for example, if clients notice a wedding ring or ask about children.
“I might say, ‘Yes, I do have adult children, and they don’t live with me anymore.’ That’ll be it. Or, ‘No, I don’t.’ People generally take that as enough. I also don’t have photos of my family in my clinic room. I never have."
Even if you do have children, grandchildren or a partner, Frankcom says it's fine to say that you don't, as this often shuts the conversation down and allows you to get the conversation focussed back onto the client.
Protecting the practitioner
Finally, Frankcom highlights that boundaries are not only about managing the client relationship – they are also about protecting the psychologist’s own wellbeing. Self-care, she says, must be treated as a professional competency rather than a personal luxury.
“You need to have self-care regimes in place that you do not alter. Even when you least feel like doing it, you should. Do you go out walking with a friend twice a week? Do you go to yoga? Do you sit back and read a book at three o’clock in the afternoon on a Thursday and just have a break? Whatever it is, it has to be something you stick to.
"We are not super people. We are human and self-care is vital."
Frankcom is pleased that the strengthened Code of Conduct now makes this responsibility explicit. Compassion fatigue and burnout are real risks in the profession, and psychologists must take proactive steps to sustain their practice.
“What clients deserve is to feel safe, that I’m here for them, not for myself, and that I don’t change with the wind. That’s what boundaries are about."
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