I don’t want to talk about it: Increasing the complexity of group supervision and clinical class discussions -- Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness

By all measures, counseling is complex work and teaching the processes of counseling with students and supervisees around sensitive topics in a group setting can add a new level of relational complexity. This chapter presents an experiential exercise designed to be used in the first meeting, with either a clinical practice course or a supervision group, that will lay the foundation for safety in order to enhance the sharing and open discussion of the sensitive and often difficult topics that clinicians face when working with clients. Early establishment of safety among group members is of vital importance in order for members to feel comfortable and open enough to explore sensitive issues (McDermut, Miller, & Brown, 2001; Yallom & Leszcz, 2005). This is especially true in clinical groups with clinicians who are new to the field and are being exposed to difficult topics with clients. The exercise presented is one that builds upon the group work and research of Irving Yallom (Yallom & Leszcz, 2005) and is specifically tailored for clinical students and supervisee groups by adding components designed to create space, safety, and empower the voices of group members early in the group to aid the discussion of traditionally difficult subjects.

I don’t want to talk about it: Increasing the complexity of group supervision and clinical class discussions -- Clinical Supervision Activities for Increasing Competence and Self-Awareness Chapter