Background: While I was acting as a critical companion to a practitioner, he disclosed a very personal past history to me. I discussed this with my own supervisor who advised me that I needed to set clear boundaries around my facilitation work. This two part reflection, using both creative work and theoretical literature, is a direct response to that advice.

Aim: Part 1 – To explore how setting boundaries could impact on the development of an effective critical companionship relationship.

Conclusions: To enable a safe and supportive learning environment, the relationship between a critical companion and practitioner needs to be mutually negotiated, open, honest, non-hierarchical and person-centred.

Implications for practice:

• Facilitators need specific guidance on both developing relationships and setting appropriate boundaries within their work
• All those working in any facilitative capacity should ensure that they have their own support mechanisms in place

This article by Caroline Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.