"I love you, man!"

I found the Argentine habit of kissing everyone you meet brought up some interesting questions regarding professional boundaries in dealing with clients and sexual harassment laws in the US.

At El Bohío, the clinicians do greet their clients with the standard "beso" and now that I understand the tradition a bit more fully, it would be rude not to greet them this way, most likely undermining treatment, by not offering them this basic acknowledgment of respect/approval/support. Of course, I imagine it can become a bit sticky when working with the mentally ill--on a hygiene/disease level--so far, that hasn't been much of an issue with our three clients.

However, last week, the boundaries became muddled for me again, when one of the clients was going through a particularly rough time. He had several very emotional talks with the therapists throughout the week, but the interesting piece was that at the end of each, they finished with long embraces, and the therapists saying "te quiero mucho, te quiero," which in this case is probably approximate to "I care about you, take care of yourself," but more literally translates to "I love you so much. I love you."

Disturbing to my American sensibilities, but totally appropriate, given the clients' appreciative reaction.