Dual Relationships in ABA: Ethics and Boundaries

A dual relationship is when you hold more than one role with a client. You might be their behavior analyst and also their friend. Or their analyst and their translator, or their party guest. Two roles can pull in two different directions.

This matters for every BCBA, RBT, and parent in ABA. Dual relationships are not always banned. But they raise the risk of blurred lines and hurt trust. The goal is to spot them early and manage them with care. Some are worth avoiding. Some just need clear thought.

What a dual relationship looks like in practice#

The cleanest way to understand this is a real story. Matt Harrington describes a bilingual BCBA who also became the family's translator. That second role slowly took over the case. He notes how easy it is to end up in the pediatrician's office when you are the one translating for the family.

The family started to plan doctor visits around her schedule. She was needed for language, not just for ABA. That is two jobs at once, and they did not mix well.

Now that was a whole messy dual relationship situation, but anytime that BCBA needed to try to set those boundaries, that was something that came up and it became a very messy case in terms of relationships when the BCBA was eventually transitioned off. From the talk. Matt Harrington

The lesson is not that she did wrong by helping. The lesson is that the second role made boundaries hard to hold. When she finally set limits, the whole case got tense.

The hard calls are not always obvious#

Kelly Brzak runs a poll on tricky boundary cases. She asks the room to vote yes or no on real situations. These are the moments that make BCBAs pause.

Yes or no to attending a client's birthday party. From the talk. Kelly Brzak

She pushes further into gray areas too. What about following a parent online just to see their life? One of her poll questions asks if you would befriend parents on social media to see their vacation pictures.

There is no single right answer to these. The point of the poll is to make you think. Each choice has a cost, and you have to weigh it.

Sometimes saying no does more harm#

Matt Harrington adds a twist that surprises people. Turning down every invite is not automatically the ethical move. Refusing can damage the trust the whole plan rests on.

The what happens if you say no, if that pulls the client farther away from therapeutic process, to me, that's more unethical than going to the party while keeping your ethics in mind. From the talk. Matt Harrington

So the test is not "avoid all contact." The test is the effect on the client and the work. You still keep your ethics in mind the whole time. But you weigh harm on both sides, not just one.

Why an outside role can add value#

Dual relationships are risky. But their opposite, a clean single role, has real power. Lisa Trevlyan makes this case for grief support work. An outside professional brings something insiders cannot.

The mental health professional won't have a dual relationship with that client... it's not complicated by those additional points of contact they have between that client and themselves. From the talk. Lisa Trevlyan

The outsider is not tangled in the family system. That distance is a feature, not a flaw. It lets them stay objective when everyone else is close to the loss. Trevlyan adds that the outside professional is not personally touched by the loss. Some existing care team members are.

Keep teaching separate from treating#

Dual relationships also show up in newer work, like online courses. Mellanie Page warns BCBAs who sell courses to watch this line. A course is not the same as one-on-one treatment.

Courses teach concepts, frameworks, and strategies, and they're not designed to be individualized treatment. From the talk. Mellanie Page

When those two blur, real trouble starts. You can end up treating people you never assessed. Page names the danger plainly. The real worry is liability and blurred lines, like slipping into treating someone by accident.

Matt Harrington's supervision talk digs deeper into these boundary calls in Supervision Articles Deep Dive.

What the research says#

The ethics literature treats dual relationships as a known risk area. Normand and Donohue focus on behavior analysts who run research with their own clients. They flag dual relationships and conflicts of interest as special concerns in practice settings. Their guidance points to informed consent and ethical review panels as safeguards (Normand & Donohue, 2022).

The same risk shows up when supports are thin. Kingsdorf and Pančocha describe ABA practitioners in the Czech Republic. Many work in homes with little oversight and form close partnerships with parents. The authors note these partnerships may turn into dual relationships (Kingsdorf & Pančocha, 2021). Structured training helped these practitioners build clearer professional habits.

A simple way to weigh the risk#

You do not need a perfect rule for every case. You need a habit of asking good questions. Start by naming both roles you would hold. Then ask which one could crowd out the other.

Next, think about the effect on the client. Would the second role help the work or cloud it? Would it make honest feedback harder to give? Would it make a future boundary painful to set?

Write your thinking down when the case is close. Talk it through with a supervisor before you act. That record shows you weighed the risk with care. It also protects the client, the family, and you.

FAQ#

Are dual relationships against the ethics code?

Behavior analysts are told to avoid dual relationships that could harm the client. But not every dual relationship is banned outright. Some are unavoidable in small towns or tight communities. The rule is to spot them, weigh the risk, and manage them with care.

What is the most common dual relationship in ABA?

Becoming a friend to the family is one of the most common. Adding a second job, like translator or tutor, is another. Social media follows and social events also come up a lot. Each one mixes personal and professional roles.

How do I set a boundary without hurting the relationship?

Start by naming your role and its limits early and warmly. Explain why the limit protects the client, not just you. When you must say no, offer a helpful path instead. Keeping the client engaged in treatment is part of the ethics, too.