When using boost::shared_ptr, you can have your classes derive from boost::enable_shared_from_this, which then allows you to have a method that returns the shared pointer associated with the object. For example, one can have a class like this:

class MyClass : public boost::enable_shared_from_this
{
public:
boost::shared_ptr<MyClass> getSharedThis() const

}

Note that the ref counter is updated with the creation of the new pointer.

In Qt, one could have this method always present in QObject.

Other implementations are possible, such as having:
QSharedPointer<MyClass> sPtr = qSharedFromPointer(ptr);

Etc...

Thanks for considering, as right now I am stuck using a combination of QPointer and boost::shared_ptr to get things working.