Workers in social professions must always focus on maintaining the only relationship that connects them to their clients. One should not begin any more relationships whether work related, social or commercial with a client. In other words, the worker-client relationship should be the only relationship binding a social worker with his or her client. Having more than one relationship with a client is known as dual relationship, and it is professionally wrong. Even though not all dual relationships are unethical, professionals are advised to avoid them since they can lead to fall outs. Therefore, to avoid dual relationships in social working professions, a worker should set boundaries that limit him or her in engaging in any other form of relationship with a client. In the assignment scenario, Ms. Cheney who is a case manager in an outpatient clinic is involved in a dual relationship with one of her clients. According to the scenario, the work relationship that binds them is something to do with marital advice but however, their relationship becomes more than that leading to a fall out. Thus, the scenario events imply that worker-client boundaries are necessary in social professions.

Dual relationships might affect both the counselor and the client negatively. To begin with, a counselor might misuse their authority to take advantage of a client’s weakness (Eketone, 2021). This is known as client’s exploitation and it might have severe consequences to the client. Furthermore, a dual relationship can sometimes turn out being stronger than the actual counselor-client relationship. In such cases, both parties might end up forgetting the original objective of their relationship which will affect the client since it will slow their counseling process. Besides in friendly or sexual relationships, misunderstandings and conflicts do happen. If therapists and their clients get involved in such relationships, they might end up in a conflict hence affecting the treatment.

On the therapist’s side, dual relationships can affect their performance in work. Further, in case of relationship fall outs the clients might file complaints suing their counselors for failure to perform their jobs well. For instance, in the assignment scenario, after Ms. Cheney’s and Rosalind fall out, Rosalind files a complaint with the regulatory agency about their relationship. However, in some cases dual relationships are unavoidable e.g. when the client is a friend, family member or an employee. It is therefore advisable that therapists should set very strong limiting boundaries between their work and social relationships.

Dual relations could both have social and emotional impacts to the parties involved. Firstly, dual relationships can impact both the client and the counselor socially through incidences of clashes and mix-ups. In case of conflict occurrence, their social relationships will certainly be compromised. Also, most people who seek therapist guidance are emotionally complicated dealing with issues such as break-ups, family problems, death losses, etc (Wong et al, 2020). Thus, more relationship fall outs would worsen their emotional statuses. Additionally, dual relationships could affect a client’s treatment procedure. As discussed, a stronger bond can develop between a client and their therapists affecting the original relationship made for treatment purpose and when this occurs, the both parties will focus more on the strongest relationship forgetting the treatment goal. Likewise, dual relationship could compromise the treatment process if the therapist and the client disagree about the “extra relationship” matters. For instance in the assignment scenario, after Ms. Cheney and Rosalind’s disagreement, the treatment procedure got terminated.

When clients feel violated by their counselors or therapists, they have the right to file for complaints. In the assignment scenario’s case, Ms. Rosalind filed a complaint against her therapist, Ms. Cheney. In my state, counselor-client cases are judged in accordance to their weight. Cases such as assault, and client exploitation and violation are taken more seriously than less serious or petty crimes. If Ms Rosalind filed her complaint in my state, I think that the court would have pardoned Ms. Cheney. I think so because certainly, I do not feel that Ms. Cheney committed any serious crime. Besides, favoring the same gentleman with your client is not client violation, or exploitation. 

To minimize the likelihood of such a relationship arising in my practice, I would firstly ensure that I set a “me-client” boundary to act as a limiting factor that would prevent any occurrence of dual relationships with my clients. Also, in case there were existing relationships such as friendship and family ties, the set boundary limit would help in ensuring that I do not mix work relationship with other relationships. Furthermore, to minimize the likelihood of such a relationship, I would warrant to only sticking in the clients line of treatment. Most of dual relationship cases occur when a therapist and a client socialize outside the treatment zone. Upholding professional ethics and values helps professionals to maintain the required work respect and morals. Therefore, in my practice, I would make sure to uphold the professional principles, ethics and values. By doing so, the chances of making the right decisions will be high thus good performance. Lastly, I would respect my clients. Respect means not taking advantage of their weakness and exploiting them through non-beneficial relationships.