Personal Supervision Style - Book Report/Review Example

Personal Supervision Style Introduction During my senior year in high school I became interested in counseling as a viable future profession from an elective course in which the teacher focused much on Psychodynamic approaches. As I continued my studies in psychology as an undergrad at Rutgers College, I began to really appreciate and develop much more insight about how my personality and behaviors were rooted in my conflicts. As a I began to address the different conflicts that I had at various important stages in my childhood with an on-campus student counselor whom I worked closely in collaboration with, I began understand myself much more and make improvements in my life in terms of my social and emotional well-being. My therapist helped to guide me through self-actualizing and growing more as person with his genuine empathy, warmth, and ability to completely present as I was trying to work through some really difficult trauma from my childhood upbringing. He helped me to overcome a lot of my unresolved past issues and build personal strength to help others. I have enjoyed my career as a high school counselor for the last couple of years assisting adolescents with their struggles and as I begin to embark on a new endeavor in clinical supervision, I will employ a combination of a psychodynamic and person- centered theories which I plan to label as a psychoemphatic-collaborative approach.  This may initially seem to be a contradictory approach because the humanistic person centered theory evolved to be a much simpler and warmer than that carried out by psychodynamic psychologist. However, I believe that there is in fact a balanced way that pivotal facets of both approaches that can prove to be quite useful and effective in helping supervisees to reach their potential as therapists for their respective clients. I highly value the person-centered approach to supervision because it will put emphasis on the supervisee coming to form an appropriate understanding of themselves and their own style of counseling within a collaborative relationship. Rather being a sagacious teacher that in imparting expertise and knowledge to the supervisee, the goal of supervision should be to help the supervisee to eventually stand on their feet as an autonomous effective counselor for their clients. But at the same time, we must try to be aware of our unconscious thoughts as psychodynamic supervisor stress and be in tune with this is where you talk about psychodynamics more and justify its merits from the textbook.  It is also possible to integrate a solution-focused approach into my personal counseling technique because I value this approach for its interactive nature and the possibility to focus on future goals and perspectives rather than sticking to previous negative experience. This approach could balance psychodynamic approach to a certain extent and help the supervisee overcome existing difficulties in present life. Solution-focused therapist helps a supervisee to form meaningful goals and move in the direction to their accomplishment. In the process of interaction a client and a therapist analyze present client`s steps and decisions that influence this goal achievement focusing on the progress. The main accent is made on the positive traits, resources, and coping strategies of the client (Bernard & Goodyear, 27, 2013). Personal Style and Technique My approach would be called psychoemphatic-collaborative approach because it will make accent on empathy as on the essential condition of person-centered psychotherapy but will also utilize different methods and strategies of psychodynamic therapy with elements of solution-focused therapy. This will help to balance all these approaches and create unique technique applicable to a supervisee. Person-centered therapy will serve as a core of psychodynamic-collaborative approach because it concentrates on person`s uniqueness and the necessity to take responsibility for one`s life and actions. During this therapy a counselor positions himself as an advisor and a nonjudgmental helper rather than wiser and more experienced authority. According to Goodyear and Bernard the main aim of the therapy is to increase awareness of the supervisee as a person and a specialist. It is also important to detect the problems and the obstacles of personal practice of the supervisee during supervision (26, 2013). Carl Rogers, the creator of this approach claimed that it is hardly possible to distinguish between a therapy and supervision. Sometimes when a supervisee starts discussing his problems with a client he comes to better understanding of his own troubles, fears, and anxiety (Bernard & Goodyear, 26, 2013). That is what appeals to me in this approach because in the case of supervisee –supervisor interaction it is very important not to be over authoritarian and all-knowing. It will help a supervisee to feel free and behave more as equal professional and will not provoke thoughts about competition. As person-centered approach is all about the client who serves as a driving force of the progress it will also make it possible for the supervisee to feel knowledgeable and adept. In person – centered approach Carl Rogers, its creator, distinguished important conditions of achieving effective results, and most of these conditions are reachable by default in supervisee-supervisor relationships because these are the professionals that understand the essence of the therapy: There must be trust in a supervisee`s personal motivation and possibility to evolve; There is a necessity to establish real contact when two people are capable of interacting and influencing each other; The supervisor must have genuine respect towards a supervisee and his personal needs and requirements; A supervisor must guarantee a non-judgmental, positive acceptance of a supervisee; in such conditions a supervisee has all the chances to open to the therapist with his fears, doubts, and anxiety (Bernard & Goodyear, 26, 2013). As my personal approach has empathy as a core in supervision, there is a necessity to pay special attention to this aspect. Empathy serves as the most effective tool for managing with supervisee`s problems. According to Rogers, being emphatic means “entering the private perceptual world of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it. It involves being sensitive, moment to moment, to the changing meant feelings which flow in the other person, to the fear of rage or tenderness or confusion or whatever that he/she is experiencing” (Rogers, 64, 1980). I regard it as the most vital characteristics of psychoemphatic-collaborative approach. It is determined by the fact that therapists that come to supervision are overwhelmed and exhausted by feelings of the other and they need to understand that their own sensations and emotions are as well important and understood. Empathy must be regarded as continuous process and must be changed according to person`s needs and general requirements. Therefore, taking this narration-based method as a basis of psychoemphatic –collaborative approach a supervisor creates favorable conditions for a supervisee to express his genuine emotions, thoughts, fears, and doubts. It also makes it possible to a supervisee to correct his mistakes during session. So creating conditions with the help of trust and empathy, a supervisor pushes a supervisee to deeper self-exploration. However, it is important to keep in mind that a supervisee is a human being himself and there is a need in normalization of supervisee`s welfare that is why sometimes it is important to utilize methods from psychodynamic approach. It is inevitable for any human being to have his own defensive processes, unconscious conflicts, and disruptive enactments. Every person has to accept the fact that he/she has certain blind spots which require time and processing. Even taking into account experience and preliminary training, specialists still face the problem of transference - countertransference which they do not notice. In this case psychodynamic techniques utilized by more experienced supervisor can be helpful. Freud was and remains the most influential figure in psychoanalysis that is why his personality can even been regarded as an archetype of a supervisor. There were two views on supervision according to psychoanalytic and psychodynamic perspectives. Budapest school considered that supervision must be a continuation of a supervisee`s personal analysis with accent on inevitable transference in personal relationships with a client and countertransference I supervisee-supervisor relationships (Bernard & Goodyear, 24, 2013). From psychodynamic perspective supervision is viewed as a constant process of teaching, learning and, what is more important, interaction between a supervisee, a supervisor, and a patient. Supervision is also aimed to make a supervisee understand how to deal with relational conflicts that appear between a supervisee and a supervisor so that the first could apply it to his practice. According to Bernard & Goodyear, psychodynamic supervision has become more supervisee-centered on the contrast to patient-centered which it was at the beginning (24, 2013) So the supervisor who is applying psychodynamic theory to his supervision follows supervisee`s progress and dynamics Solution-focused approach on its part allows a supervisee concentrate on what he needs to gain in future rather than sticking to the past and pointing to the client`s mistakes. According to this approach: The supervisee already comprehends what he needs; There is no ultimate right way to observe things; It is essential to concentrate on what can be changes and achieved; The client has to be curious. One of the most effective methods in solution-focused therapy is questions that help to connect present experience and situation with future goals. Miracle questions, coping questions, scaling questions, and exception seeking questions will help inexperienced supervisees to solve their problems with clients. Sometimes there is a need to present the situation as it has already been solved and direct attention of the supervisee on the positive emotions from achieved success with problematic issue solving. Scaling question also help a supervisee assess his/her progress, seriousness of the existing problems, and progress (Bernard & Goodyear, 32, 2013). There are 7 steps which a supervisor can follow to achieve successful results in solution-focused therapy: 1. Problem statement and positive start; 2. Setting achievable goals; 3. Distinguishing limitations for both specialists; 4. Discussing hypothetical situations and regarding present supervisee`s worries; 5. Discussing the peculiarities of interaction between a supervisee and a supervisor; 6. Making first necessary steps in future supervisee`s counseling; 7. Following up supervisee`s progress (Bernard & Goodyear, 32, 2013). The reason why I am trying to integrate solution-focused therapy is because as a high school guidance counselor who has helped numerous high school students in the last three years of my career, I often took solutions based on this approach. It permitted to help my students get resolutions to their issues as fast as possible because of time constraints within the short working school day. I used a lot of questions and compliments with my high school clients. I would often invite my high school student clients to envision their preferred future by describing what their life will be like when the problem is either gone or being coped with so satisfactorily that it no longer constitutes a problem. The therapist and client then pay particular attention to any behaviors on the client's part that contributes to moving in the direction of the client's goal, whether these are small increments or larger changes. To support this approach, detailed questions are asked about how the client managed to achieve or maintain the current level of progress, any recent positive changes and how the client developed new and existing strengths, resources, and positive traits; and especially, about any exceptions to client-perceived problems.  This approach also conflicts with my integration of traditional psychodynamic approaches starting with Freud, practitioners assumed that it was necessary to make an extensive analysis of the history and cause of their clients' problems before attempting to develop any sort of solution. Solution-focused therapists see the therapeutic change process quite differently. Sometimes solutions of the problems seem to be easier than the problems. Organizing supervision it is important to understand whether it will be individual or group supervision as each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Personal consultation guarantees sincere and genuine contact and the greatest degree of connection. And I would not prefer to use group supervision to personal supervision despite the fact that group work is often more dynamic and does not involve a triangle a client- a supervisee (psychotherapist) - a supervisor. Group supervision provides a supervisee with an opportunity to observe numerous problematic cases, form and analyze relationships with peers, and become a direct as well as indirect learner (Bernard & Goodyear, 66, 2013). Limitations of Psychodynamic and Person Centered Approaches  One of the most serious limitations of psychodynamic approach is the time required for achieving any success in therapy. This type of therapy is not capable of alleviating immediate acute symptoms in patients since solid amount of practice is needed to establish meaningful and sincere contact between a therapist and a patient. Moreover, psychodynamic approach to treatment as well as to supervision is over deterministic as according to it human behavior is explained by problems in childhood development. Such approach suggests that people do not have free choice and that they are determined to act according to the success of their psychosexual development in childhood. Person – centered approach gives a patient or a supervisee certain freedom to make decisions and to rely on his powers in managing with challenges. Client or in this case a supervisee becomes the leader in the process, however, in many cases he still needs someone more experienced helper to draw his attention to certain blind spots or mistakes. Moreover, in many cases supervisees do not know how to behave in this or that situation with a client and that is when the advice of a therapist would be needed. Legal, Ethical, Professional Concerns Ethical principles are generally common to all the psychotherapists around the world and are based on general humanistic moral values. They incorporate the following obligatory conditions of the interaction: Respect for Autonomy. A person has genuine right to choose and demand informed consent Beneficence. Positive effect from treatment must be optimized with possible risks Nonmaleficence. This principle corresponds to Hippocratic Oath. Justice. Adhering to the process and to the requirements of the practice. Fair attitude to all the clients is also necessary (Bernard & Goodyear, 271, 2013). It is also necessary to inform supervisees regarding methods, mutual responsibilities, limitations, and expectations from the supervision. This information is usually provided in Informed Consent which must be signed by the participants of the process. It is possible to speak of malpractice from the legal perspective when therapist`s negligence or improper conduct have led to the patient`s harm and injury which can be evident. Moreover, another legal aspect of therapist`s and supervisor`s work is to warn and protect a potential victim if it was established that a client was dangerous. Only in this case it is possible to disclose personal information to the third parties (Bernard & Goodyear, 273, 2013). Conclusions There are numerous approaches that can give fruitful results during supervision, and it is mostly a matter of experience and expertise of a supervisor to determine which one to choose in each concrete case. However, since supervision differs greatly from simple counseling it is more effective to combine several techniques and methods. Psychodynamic theory, person-centered theory and solution-focused approach were merged to create one coherent approach which was called psychoemphatic –collaborative approach. Person-centered approach as a talk-therapy will allow a supervisee feel free to speak and express fears and anxieties without doubts regarding professional competence. However, empathy will serve as a core of this approach and will create an atmosphere of trust and genuine interest. Psychodynamic theory with its accent on subconscious problem rooted from childhood and such techniques as free associations can give opportunity to point and correct supervisee`s transference and counter-transference. While questions used in solution-based approach can directs specialists` attention to solving existing problems ad focusing on future achievements. References Bernard, J., & Goodyear, R. (2013). Fundamentals of Clinical Supervision. London: Pearson Rogers, C. (1980). A way of being. Boston: Houghton Miffin Read More