Professional Boundaries

Your first client of the day is 15 minutes late again this is the third time in her last five visits she's been late. What do you do? Do you run fifteen minutes late all day ,or do you give your clients a 45 minutes session instead of the hour she booked ?

This client is violating one of your professional boundaries. Your professional boundaries are the limits you set for your practice for example, your policies when clients cancel appointments, what you do when you have to cancel appointments, and even the kinds of training you offer.

Your professional boundaries also protect your clients. For example, if you see a client in a restaurant, do you ignore her, wave hello from afar, or go speak to her? Although you may think, there's nothing wrong with being friendly, your client may have a different opinion. She may be at a business lunch, where her boss just spent 10 minutes disparaging personal fitness trainers. Or , for reasons of her own, your client simply may not want her casual acquaintances to know she has a personal fitness trainer.

At your first session with a client, share your professional boundaries for example, your policy about lateness. Communicating before the fact is the best way to prevent unpleasant problems. Later in this lesson, we will look at a specific procedure for resolving ethical dilemmas , however, keep in mind that being discreet is never a mistake.