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Clinical Supervision Handbook
another clinical team. Jacob did not believe the new social worker
understood the family’s distress or perspective because he
thought he could better identify with their Eastern European background.
When management learned that Jacob was seeing this
family, it was decided that he had overstepped his boundaries
and should have referred the family to the new clinical team. He
was disciplined and asked by his manager to attend clinical
supervision.
Jacob came to clinical supervision not really knowing what to
expect. He recognized that he had overstepped a boundary; however,
he was upset with being disciplined and thought his manager
had treated him unfairly. He also did not want talk to anyone
about the situation because he did not believe that he would be
supported if he sought out clinical supervision. A contract was
developed to reflect the expectation to discuss boundary crossing
and ways that Jacob could approach management for more support
if needed. Also, Jacob was asked if there were any other areas
of skill that he would like to develop in clinical supervision. He
mentioned that given the increased workload in documentation,
he would like some guidance around documentation.
A meeting was set with Jacob, the clinical supervisor and the
manager to discuss the goals of clinical supervision (boundaries,
asking for more support and documentation). It was negotiated
that the individual sessions occur once a week for one month as
this appeared to be adequate time to discuss these topics. After
one month, the clinical supervisor—with Jacob’s input—would
complete a report of Jacob’s progress. If more time were
required, this would need to be renegotiated.
In clinical supervision, Jacob discussed his current clinical cases,
the clinical supervisor brought thoughtful articles and information
for Jacob to consider and documentation was reviewed. After
one month, Jacob felt more confident in his work and better able
to ask for assistance in the future.
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