The Boundary Compass
In this session you will be exploring what personal boundaries are and why they are an important part of healthy relationships and self-care. The material can be used as a prevention session, but it can also be used with YP who are already experiencing issues around boundaries in their relationships or friendships or are vulnerable to exploitation.
An important way for any of us to take care of ourselves is to set strong and healthy boundaries around us which help to protect our physical and emotional safety. It is like a line around us which separates us as a person from other people and helps us define what is and isn’t acceptable to us individually.
It can be helpful to think of personal boundaries in the same way that people think of boundaries to a property. The boundary line of a property protects the physical space within. In the same way personal boundaries protect the core of the person and help us maintain our sense of self.
It’s important to learn boundary setting during adolescence because it is a time of identity formation. If a YP allows their peers, family members, or other adults to make them feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, disrespected, or unworthy, it is important to teach them how to set boundaries that will help them feel better about themselves and more confident of who they are.
A healthy relationship is one where we can express what our boundaries are, and where this is listened to and respected. YP need to know that they have the right to say no to things which make them feel uncomfortable and that they are not responsible for how that may make someone feel.
- To know when and how to set a boundary
- For the YP to be able to identify when a boundary needs setting
- For the YP to think about specific boundaries they want to set in their own lives
- For the YP to practise articulating those boundaries
This and the subsequent exercise build further on the concept of boundaries to help the YP to think about how they will go about setting boundaries for themselves. They will learn first to identify when they need to set boundaries and then how to do this respectfully. These are important skills for relationships and ensuring good self-esteem and mental health. Boundary setting is a skill that many adults struggle with and so it is worth investing time in practising this.
Given this amount of content in the module as a whole and depending on the YP’s ability to concentrate, you may wish to split this module into 2 sessions and undertake the Boundary Compass and Practising Boundaries in a separate session with the YP.
