Clinical Supervision – Contexual, Legal, and Ethical Issues
In this case study, my supervisee and I discussed how the fact that both of us were middle aged (albeit a 15-year age difference), middle class, white women brought up issues of trust and difficulties in establishing rapport between the supervisee and the poor and ethnically different clients at her placements. We also had the opportunity to notice differences in the expectations of the therapist in Asian and Hispanic cultures, and that the expectation of a more hierarchical role was at odds with the supervisee’s preferred postmodern stance.
The supervisee was visibly upset with the father of one of her clients who was not supportive of his daughter’s lesbianism. The supervisee disclosed that she had had bisexual experiences in the past, and that her anger was counter transference and that she needed to explore her own unfinished business in this area.
The fact that my supervisee was younger may have had an impact on the supervision as she appeared to have a beginner’s chip on her shoulder at times that was perhaps hiding fear and insecurity. I know that back when I was doing my internship, I often thought older therapists were dinosaurs and didn’t know as much as those of us with the up-to-date knowledge. Of course I lost this rather quickly out in the real world, but with my supervisee I often felt I was getting my just reward for my previous arrogance.
I taught my supervisee that therapy with the court ordered, such as her clients on probation, is a three-legged stool: the client and the therapist are triangulated with the legal system. Her documentation had to meet the facility’s standard and I helped her formulate her treatment plans and documentation, then reviewed her work.
During our time together the supervisee took coursework about assessing for risk so we were able to review that for her patients presenting with depression, substance abuse, anxiety and so forth.
A patient at the Free Clinic was suing her former employer for sexual harassment, so we discussed the potential that the patient might be using the treatment for legal purposes to show damage, rather than using it therapeutically. I taught the supervisee how to chart with an eye to a possible subpoena of records, reviewed all her documentation, then signed the charts as her licensed supervisor.
Catherine Auman, MFT is a CAMFT Certified Supervisor and psychotherapist with over 25 years experience based in Los Angeles, Calfornia. She has advanced training in both traditional and alternative methodologies based on ancient traditions and wisdom teachings. Visit her online at http://www.catherineauman.com
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Tags: anxiety, clinic, depression, therapist, therapists, Therapy