Synthesis Sunday: This Book ALWAYS Takes So Much Time...Because I LOVE Everything About What They Say!

I did some reading this week, but I didn't get very far in my reading because the book I started this week, Clinical Supervision: A competency-based approach, by Carol A. Falender and Edward P. Shafranske, is so full of ideas, concepts, notions, and challenges that I get overwhelmed by thoughts and have to stop to synthesize things. So, I got to page four.

That's right. Page four before I felt the need to stop and unpack the concepts presented at the very start of this book! This is going to take a bit more time than I thought originally, but I have gone down this reading rabbit hole before. I know that this book gives me so much to think about that I never remember when I get things started.

Time to unpack what I read and what I am thinking about at the moment.

Some background to this, of course. I will be presenting on one of my favorite topics - competency-based clinical training - at a conference later this month, so I am getting myself organized. I selected two books to read during this season for my Synthesis Sunday series, and both books are centered around clinical training. I have no set plan for what I will read when, but I enjoy this topic. This week's reading - two whole pages - sent me into a bit of a tizzy already. TWO PAGES!! I love this book SO much!

On page 3, the authors write, "...clinical supervision serves two essential and interrelated functions: to ensure the integrity of clinical services provided to the client and to develop competence in the supervisee."

This is the first place where I felt the need to think a bit more deeply about what this means to me. To start, I completely agree that clinical supervision has to have these two focal points, and I really like that the client needs are first in this statement. My first thought tangent happened in this way...

Hmm. I like that the client needs are more important than the supervisee. Isn't that what EVERY clinician has at the forefront of every interaction? Or is it? Is that part of what is frustrating me about the current state of my professional organization? In all of our arguments and radical changes, are we keeping our clients in the center? Or are we pushing ourselves into the center of everything? As therapists, we HAVE to keep the clients in the center. Without clients, we have no profession!

The focus of the quotation from the book is that clinical supervision is always first and foremost centered on client service. The client has to be the focus of all clinical interactions. If my clients are not getting the type of service that they need and pay for, then I have an ethical responsibility to correct the situation. If my supervisee is unable to provide my clients with therapy, then I need to intervene and protect my clients. Secondary to client care is the supervisee. I feel like I do this pretty well in my life as a supervisor, but it is good to be reminded by others.

The next element of my reading established three "interrelated pillars" of effective supervision. (We are still on page 3, by the way!) The three pillars are "the supervisory relationship, inquiry, and educational praxis." 

I have an idea in my mind for some art here...

Here are the quotations for these three pillars...(we made it to page 4 here!!)

"Supervisory relationship provides the foundation for the development of an alliance in which the individual and shared responsibilities in the supervision of clinical practice will be fulfilled."

Here are the words that pop out at me. Alliance - interesting word choice here. I know that this is what I try to establish with interns, but I have never used that word before. I think I might start. Individual and shared responsibilities - hmm. What can I share with an intern? What does the intern have to do for themselves? What can I take responsibility to share with each intern? What does the intern have to do that I cannot do for them? Here is one of my goblins - What should I not do for my interns?

"Inquiry refers to all the processes that facilitate critical understanding of the therapeutic process as well as foster in the supervisee greater awareness of his or her professional and personal contributions to it."

Critical understanding. Oof. This has been something that has challenged me recently. I'm not sure that this has been something I have been good at lately. I don't know why for sure, but I think there are a number of factors, including less experienced interns due to pandemic, some unfamiliarity with critical thinking processing, and my own pandemic fatigue...perhaps. This might be something to think about more deeply for future posts. I think I will write this down on my idea board...

"Educational praxis provides multiple learning strategies, including instruction, observation, and role playing, tailored to enhance the supervisee's knowledge and to develop his or her technical skills." 

Here's what I love about teaching, coaching, mentoring, and supervising. I love figuring out how each intern learns and then adapting how I share information with them. I've had learners who have to put their hands on things. I've had learners who need sounds to cue specific thoughts and responses. I've had learners who draw and paint their ideas and complete their processing through manners that I have never tried for me.

The part I love the most about being an internship supervisor is that I get to tailor my interactions with my interns to them. I cannot imagine having more than two learners in a classroom. This is one of the reasons that I am not a professor. I like working more closely with people than the classroom offers.

That brings me to the end of the reading that I finished this week. Two whole pages. One blog post idea about learning styles and critical thinking and how I measure these things. Thanks for reading.

Falender, C. A., & Shafranske, E. P. (2009). Clinical supervision: A competency-based approach. American Psychological Association: Washington, D. C.