5.1 Setting boundaries

Part of the boundary-setting process is a recognition of the need for flexibility about when, and how, you support learners with mental health challenges. Setting boundaries can be difficult because you want the best for your learners and sometimes those with poor mental health are facing demanding challenges. Setting clear boundaries allows both you and your learners to establish realistic expectations and ensures that neither of you take on too much (Wyrick, 2022)

You can set boundaries by communicating your availability when you first meet or contact your learners. Whatever your teaching environment, it is good practice to send an email prior to contacting them to let them know the nature of your initial communication (such as an individual tutorial or telephone conversation) and what you will be discussing. Boundaries include letting your learners know the kind of support you can and cannot offer, e.g. support with assignments and curriculum content, but not for financial difficulties, which would need referral to other support services. Setting these kinds of boundaries is useful for learners, enabling them to know what support they can access and when, and also helps you to maintain your own work–life balance. Establishing boundaries also helps you be clear about when to involve colleagues for additional support or referrals.

Setting boundaries may involve some negotiation between you and your learners to clarify the boundaries and ensure that you both maintain them. Stepping back is also important, realising that you are not able to help learners with everything and you need to strike a balance between providing support and hindering the learner’s ability to work independently (Wyrick, 2022). In some situations, such as when you feel the learner needs more support than you can offer, it may be appropriate to use other services in your organisation. In other situations, such as if a learner is contacting you with a series of minor questions, you might instead just signpost them to where they can find the answers for themselves or post the questions on a discussion forum. This will help reduce the number of times the learner contacts you unnecessarily and help build their independent learning. However much you want to support your learners, remember that you are there to support their academic needs, so you need a disciplined focus on this, as well as helping them develop a more independent study life away from you.