Discover how to improve your personal and therapeutic relationships by setting boundaries that serve you.

• Do you ever feel that friends or clients frequently take advantage of you?
• Do you feel uncomfortable around some clients but can’t quite figure out why?
• Do you find that you dread working with certain clients because they drain your energy?
• Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you think a client is attracted to you, but you’re not entirely sure and don’t know what to do about it?

Relationships, both personal and professional, are incredibly nuanced and driven by a complex, dynamic interplay of psychological needs and wants. In this book, you’ll go on a fascinating journey to explore the factors that drive your personal behavior in relationships. Once you understand the psychological needs and wants that influence your actions and those of the people around you, you’ll be ready to apply your skills to set better boundaries with clients. 

Once you’ve completed this textbook, you will have the knowledge and skills to:

• Recognize your personal boundaries, notice when they are crossed, and respond effectively to boundary violations.
• Manage circumstances that would typically leave you feeling that someone has taken advantage of you. 
• Deal confidently with situations that might normally feel uncomfortable. 
• Articulate your need in a way that people understand and respect.
• Evolve your personal boundaries to improve your relationships with friends, family, work colleagues, and other health care professionals.
• Set strong and appropriate professional boundaries to maintain healthy therapeutic relationships with clients.
• Know how to resolve ambiguous or problematic client situations. 
• Establish and maintain boundaries through effective relating styles, attention to body language, active listening, and assertive communication.
• Successfully manage the difficult client situations that you'll inevitably encounter during your career while maintaining the highest level of professional ethics.
• Enjoy your work more as your boundary-setting skills become second nature, and managing relationships, both personal and professional, takes less effort and causes less stress.

You Get a Textbook Like No Textbook You’ve Seen Before

This is no ordinary digital textbook with page after page of boring text. Boundaries: The Foundation of Ethical Massage Practice boasts:

• 109 images and illustrations
• 24 engaging videos running at over 7 hours
• 12 “listen along” audio tracks
• 12 gamified activities to test your application of the knowledge
• 4 lesson quizzes that give you instant feedback on your understanding of the content.
• A clear instructional design plan that boosts participant comprehension and reinforces important material.
• All on an interactive learning platform that ensures content is engaging, organized, and fun.

If you are a massage professional and need continuing education hours, scroll down to check out our online CE courses related to this textbook. 

TEXTBOOK INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION 

LESSON 1: PERSONAL SPACE AND PERSONAL BOUNDARIES

• Introduction, learning objectives, terminology
• Physical Space
• Sexual Space
• Sensory Space
• Psychological Space
• Emotional Space
• Privacy
• Autonomy
• Ownership
• Let's Talk Boundaries Interviews 
• Apply It!
• Quiz

LESSON 2: BOUNDARIES - CORE CONCEPTS

• Introduction, learning objectives, terminology
• Therapeutic Relationships
• Boundary Development
• Boundary Types and Forms
• Boundary Crossings
• Boundary Violations
• Apply It!
• Quiz

LESSON 3: ESSENTIAL BOUNDARY SKILLS

• Introduction, learning objectives, terminology
• Understand Relating Styles
• Attention to Body Language
• Active Listening
• Establish and Maintain Boundaries
• Respect Other’s Boundaries
• Apply It!
• Quiz

LESSON 4: HEALTHY PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES

• Introduction, learning objectives, terminology
• Professionalism
• Physical Boundaries
• Sexual Boundaries
• Sensory Boundaries
• Psychological Boundaries
• Emotional Boundaries
• Privacy Boundaries
• Autonomy Boundaries
• Ownership Boundaries
• Dual Relationships
• Apply It!
• Quiz

SUMMARY, RESOURCES, AND FINAL EXAMINATION 

• Zero Tolerance for Sexual Behavior Policy Document
• Informed Consent Document
• Final Examination

• Lesson & Topic Structure: The thoughtful instructional design of this textbook organizes contents into carefully sequenced learning chunks. Participants can finish topics in short study sessions (average 20 minutes). This sense of making regular progress improves learning motivation.
• Text Translation: So long as you use Chrome as your browser, participants with English as a second language can instantly translate the text into your native language so that you never miss a concept.
• Visually Appealing: Concepts come alive with striking imagery and appealing graphic design. Printed textbooks are limited by page number and keep visuals to a minimum. In the digital world, more is more when it comes to visual aids.
• Video Content: Video content covers the key concepts in the text using vivid images, graphic elements, voice-over, and strong instructional design. Boundaries: The Foundation of Ethical Massage Practice includes 22 video presentations.
• Listen Along Audio: The listen-along feature is included with topics that don’t feature a video presentation. You can listen to these topics while you commute, exercise, or relax.
• Standard Textbook Features: Standard textbook features like introductions, learning objectives, summaries, references, and resources get a digital upgrade with subtle animations and click-to-view options that invite you to engage with content you might otherwise skip over.
• Research Informed: Each textbook is written by massage professionals and carefully researched for accuracy and relevance. We make regular updates to content and can address content issues immediately (something printed textbooks can’t do).
• Easy Navigation: Clever web navigation puts an entire textbook a click away and provides an ongoing outline to help you mentally frame the content you are learning.
• Check It Off Progress: Oh, the motivating power of a checkmark! You’ll get a dose of satisfaction when you mark topics and lessons complete and see the progress bar advance.
• Learning Games: Learning games are fun and strengthen concept comprehension, memory recall, and critical-thinking skills. Games give instance feedback so we never reinforce incorrect information. This textbook includes 13 learning games.
• Let’s Talk Boundaries Interviews: Video interviews with massage professionals connect us to unique voices and our massage community. This textbook features three Let’s Talk interviews with Allison Denney (the Massage Rebel), Diane Matkowski (the Massage Mentor), and Joshua Reyes.  
• Downloadable Resources: Downloads for this textbook include the Zero Tolerance for Sexual Behavior policy document and the Informed Consent document.
• Take Notes App: You can take notes, organize, save, and print notes from the handy app within the textbook.
• Quizzes: Each lesson concludes with a 10-question, multiple-choice quiz from a test bank of 20 questions. Quizzes give instant feedback so that you never reinforce incorrect information. When you reset quizzes, the program exchanges some questions, and shuffles response options for drill and practice study.
• Story & Scenario: The regular use of stories and client-therapist scenarios place important concepts in a real-world context and improve critical thinking skills.
• Interactive Content: The textbooks at Massage Mastery Online take advantage of design-forward web animations that increase participant attention, learning, and engagement.
• On-The-Go Learning: Learning must fit into the margins of adult lives to be practical. This content is designed for on-the-go learning using a computer, tablet, or phone.
• Environmentally Friendly: No trees were harmed in the making of this textbook! Learn and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time.
• Final Textbook Examination: This final exam is composed of 30 multiple-choice questions from a 60-question test bank. Please note that there is no CE attached to this textbook examination. See course options related to this textbook for CE.