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Section 3
Models for Boundaries, Self-Disclosure, and Protecting the Supervisee

Question 3 | Test | Table of Contents | Printable Page

Model for Self-Disclosure
Should Everything Be Shared With the Client?

Setting the Boundary
What are your feelings on the amount of information your supervisee should share with their client regarding therapy strategies? I feel it is the supervisor’s responsibility to help the supervisee choose the extent of this boundary. For example, how do you decide whether the supervisee should keep their deliberations private from the client, or whether they should be presented so that the client may consider the ideas and procedures. Clearly, I am speaking in generalities, and how much of what should be shared varies from client to client.

For example, Jessica, age 40, was recently divorced. She insisted on knowing the rationale for the therapy approach regarding a particular intervention. Jessica had read many self-help books and was more insightful than other clients. In this case, I suggested that the supervisee empower the client by explaining the rationale for the therapy approach. However, you will probably agree, ordinarily a supervisee’s strategies and premises are not shared with the client unless the supervisee believes that such an approach would facilitate change, as with Jessica.

Meeting a Client as a Supervisor
Also in the realm of sharing with clients, the supervisor must decide whether to meet a supervisee’s client who wishes to meet the person behind the mirror. Again, it is a question of whether to share the "machinery" of therapy with the client. My opinion is, it is empowering to many clients to grant their request.

Supervisee Self-Disclosure with Clients
Regarding self-disclosure, suppose the client asks the supervisee, "Are you married?" What do you feel the supervisee’s answer should be? I have found a traditionally trained supervisor would advise the supervisee to ask "I wonder why you are asking me that?" Are you of the school of thought, like I, that believes that clients have the right to know if their therapist is married, has children, etc? If the supervisee feels there is a hidden agenda behind such a question, he or she might reply, "Yes, I am married. Why do you ask?" In this way the supervisee can be human and also deal with different aspects of the question.

Model for Protecting the Supervisee

Violence in the Therapy Room
Have you ever had a supervisee who had difficulty in a therapy session due to a personal reaction, such as anxiety? As you are aware, supervisees need to be able to tolerate a certain level of stress and remain impartial in order to help their clients. However, if a supervisee is threatened with actual danger and not just anxiety, he or she needs to be protected by the supervisor. I once observed in the therapy room a mother with her daughter, while the supervisee was standing behind a chair. When I asked a colleague why the supervisee was standing, I was told that she had been physically threatened by the daughter and was afraid. I called the supervisee out of the room and told her that she shouldn’t have to be afraid of a client, and that she to tell mother and daughter that if she was threatened again, their therapy would end. The mother and daughter accepted this, and the therapy continued successfully without further incident. How would you have handled this situation?

Model for Supervisees Dealing with Anxiety

I supervised a young therapist, Allison, age 24, who was so anxious it was interfering with her ability to work with her clients. She was so afraid of making mistakes she was overcompensating and her clients were losing respect for her. I came up with 4 possible options to help Allison deal with her anxiety.
1. I initially made interpretations to her about the possible reasons behind her anxiety. However, this seemed to make her feel even less adequate.
2. Second, I suggested she could try personal therapy to recover from her anxiety. However, this would not have directly helped the clients she was working with, and would have moved focus from helping the client to helping the supervisee.
3. Third, I helped her prepare her interviews ahead of time. However, this didn’t seem to make her less nervous either.
4. Lastly, I assured her she was competent and was doing well in the interviews. However, she continued to express her fear of making mistakes.

Do you have an anxious supervisee that you could try helping with these direct methods? Which one do you think might be most effective?

QUESTION 3

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