When the Therapist Starts to Slide: Recognising and Repairing Boundary Drift Before It Becomes a Breach
By Dr Kris RAO
About This Webinar
Boundary breaches rarely begin with dramatic or unethical behaviour. More often, they develop slowly — through subtle emotional shifts, countertransference pressures, and small deviations in the therapeutic frame that feel harmless in the moment but accumulate over time. These early signs of boundary drift are easy to miss, especially in trauma, dissociation, personality disorder, crisis, and high-dependency presentations.
In this webinar, we will explore how therapists “start to slide” — clinically, ethically, and emotionally — and how to identify these early micro-shifts before they turn into enactments or ethical breaches. We will examine the relational, countertransference, trauma-based, and other factors that pressure boundaries, and outline practical strategies for recovery and repair.
This webinar is designed for experienced clinicians who want a deeper, more nuanced understanding of boundaries, beyond rule-based ethics — moving toward a relational, reflective, and clinically sophisticated approach.
THE ETHICS EDGE SERIES
Prevent ethical drift
Learn to recognise boundary drift before it becomes an ethical breach
ETHICS EDGE SERIES
Learn to Recognise Boundary Drift Early
Self-paced module: 3 lessons · 1.5 hours video · slides · quiz · 90 day access · instant 1.5-hour CPD certificate.
ETHICS EDGE SERIES
Learn to Recognise Boundary Drift Early
Explore how therapists start to slide—and how to recover the frame
About Dr Kris RAO
Kris is a psychotherapist & a psychoanalyst primarily providing long term therapy for complex trauma disorders. He is also a clinical supervisor for the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapy (ANZAP) training program. He has a Master of Science in Medicine (Psychotherapy) and a Doctorate in Psychoanalysis. Kris teaches ethics & psychodynamic psychotherapy as adjunct faculty at universities and higher education institutions across Australia and New Zealand.