Clinical Supervision Handbook - CAMH Knowledge Exchange ..
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Ongoing <strong>Clinical</strong> <strong>Supervision</strong><br />
Another example highlights the concept of empathy and its role in developing therapeutic<br />
relationships.<br />
CASE EXAMPLE: A CLINICIAN IN<br />
INDIVIDUAL CLINICAL SUPERVISION<br />
A clinician was providing care to an outpatient, a young woman<br />
who was recovering from a first episode of psychosis. All<br />
attempts to engage her in a dialogue about the illness and discuss<br />
the need for ongoing medication had failed. The client<br />
would “shut down” and repeat very defensively that she was fine<br />
and she didn’t need to talk about this.<br />
When the clinician met with her clinical supervisor, she shared<br />
her frustrations about the client not being receptive to her health<br />
teaching and education about her illness. The clinical supervisor<br />
acknowledged her frustration and explored her feelings, further<br />
revealing the clinician’s concerns about this client becoming ill<br />
again if she did not develop insight into her illness. Together, they<br />
stepped back and tried to look at the situation from the client’s<br />
perspective. The clinical supervisor asked the clinician to tell her<br />
more about this young client. The clinician described a young<br />
woman who had just experienced a first episode of psychosis.<br />
She had been functioning well prior to the illness, attending<br />
university and had lots of friends. She had to take time off university<br />
to recover from her illness, and felt cut off from her friends. The<br />
clinician and clinical supervisor talked about how the client now<br />
had to come to terms with having suffered a highly stigmatizing<br />
illness that had significantly interrupted her life. They talked<br />
about the implications of her illness, which included an uncertain<br />
future. Together they arrived at a more meaningful understanding<br />
of what might be going on inside this young woman.<br />
The next time the clinician met with her client the following interaction<br />
unfolded:<br />
Clinician: “I’ve been thinking about our meetings and have realized<br />
that I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of medication in<br />
59
Change language