63rd Annual Conference

Thursday, February 23

Afternoon Workshops

2:45-6:00 P.M.

Workshop 23 

Helping Each Other Across the Bridge: How Group Supervisor Can Bridge Differences Among Therapists, and Between Therapists and Their Clients

Chairs:  

Mary Pender Greene, LCSW, CGP, Chief of Social Work Services, Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, New York, New York

Lucinda Hotchkiss, Ph.D., CGP, Supervising Psychologist, Jewish

Board of Family and Children’s Services, Pride of Judea Division,Douglaston, New York

Before crossing a bridge, one needs to know where one is starting (one's identity) and where one is going (based on the therapist's and client's differences/values).  This workshop--integrating psychodynamic, systems and social-justice perspectives--explores how the group supervisor enlivens supervision by exploring differences among supervisees and between the therapist and client.

Experiential-sharing of work experiences-didactic-demonstration

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Identify what relevant aspects of personal identity (world view, experience level, age, temperament, geographic base, socio-economic status, class, sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, religion) and professional identity (therapeutic orientation, view of human nature, goals of treatment, type of therapeutic milieu, types of therapy used) he/she brings to the therapy and supervisory situations.

2. Implement the Difference-Focused method of group supervision that explores differences among the group supervisees, and between them and their clients, in an attempt to enrich the participants and the clients' treatment.

3. Assess the impact of societal systems on clients' lives and sense of self, informed by an awareness of systemic issues that give certain people access to resources and others not.

4. Apply a method of group supervision that integrates the information in 1-3 above to help bridge gaps among the group supervisees, and between them and their clients.  These gaps often stifle relationships and limit communication and understanding.  Participants will learn how the group supervisor, by using the countertransference issues and parallel process in the room, can help supervisees dialogue authentically about how they view their work.

Course References:

1. Altfeld, D. (1999). An Experiential Group Model for Psychotherapy Supervision. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 49, 237-254.

2. Bernard, H. (1999). Introduction to Special Issue on Group Supervision of Group Psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 49, 153-157.

3. Toporek, R., Ortega-Villalobos, L,. & Pope-Davis, D. (2004). Critical Incidents

in Multicultural Supervision: Exploring supervisees' and supervisors' experiences. Multicultural Counseling and Development, 32, 66-83.