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Clinical Supervision Handbook
and trying to engage her around non-illness related topics—getting
to know her as a person, her hopes, her dreams, her interests,
her past and so on.
For the next four weeks, the nurse did this. When the clinical
supervisor met with the nurse again she described the process
and outcome. The client chose the coffee shop and they made a
point of going there to “chat” at least once a week. The nurse
refrained from discussing the client’s illness during these outings,
and instead explored topics of interest to her client—they talked
about what her life was like before she became ill, how she liked
to dress and wear her hair; and her dream to work as a hair stylist.
These outings to the coffee shop became important to the client
and she looked forward to them. The nurse noticed that over the
course of the next four weeks, her client became much less defensive
with her on the unit, and more relaxed. She started to pay
more attention to her dress and her appearance. Eventually she
was receptive to the nurse addressing her illness issues again.
When the client was discharged from the hospital she gave the
nurse a coffee mug. The clinical supervisor and nurse discussed the
significance of this, an affirmation that these trips to the
coffee shop had been meaningful to the client and had contributed
significantly to them working together therapeutically to
achieve a positive outcome.
This clinical situation highlighted for the nurse the limits of her
role and resulted in her understanding more clearly that she
could not “control” the client. By taking a holistic approach to the
client, getting to know her beyond the illness, she communicated
respect for her client as a person, understanding and a hopefulness
that facilitated the therapeutic relationship and contributed
to the client’s recovery. This example demonstrates how concepts
such as holistic care, empathy and recovery are woven into the
supervisory process. For the nurse, these concepts are brought to
life and more deeply understood as they are experienced in the
context of a real therapeutic relationship.
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