A relationship that encourages or supports change during an intervention is called a professional helping relationship and is one of the most important aspects of successful intervention. Relationship between beneficiaries and experts in residential care is important because of the relevance of the goals and tasks of the treatment process, as well as to create a realistic basis for the beneficiary to accept the goals and tasks of the treatment as his own choice. Because of the importance of the relationship and the lack of research in this area, the aim of this master thesis is to analyze the elements of professional helping relationship between beneficiaries and experts, which may be risk or protective factor for running away from residential care. A qualitative research approach was used, and with that purpose 15 semi- structured interviews were conducted with juveniles aged between 14 and 18 who, at least once, ran from residential care during the night or for a longer period without the permission of the experts in the last year. When processing the data, a thematic framework analysis was used, from which six categories emerged (Perception of relationship with an expert as a predominantly professional and correct, Authenticity as a desirable personal characteristic of expert as well as the ability to develop and maintain relationship as a desirable professional characteristic of expert for development of quality relationships, Environmental factors and beneficiary's behaviour that contributes the development of relationship with the expert, Obstacles for creating a quality relationship, Abuse and neglect as a risk factor for running away and Professionally assisting conversation as a protective factor for running away), which describe in detail the relationship between beneficiaries and experts. Results indicate that the relationship between beneficiaries and experts can be both risk and protective factor for running away from residential care. Risks for running away relate to verbal, physical and emotional violence of experts, non- solving problems by experts and the „apparent“presence of experts, while protective factors refers to showing care for beneficiaries, talking method as a way of solving problems and sharing personal experiences with beneficiaries.