Championing a balanced therapist-client dynamic over traditional hierarchies, this text details a relational psychodynamic approach to clinical supervision. Clear guidance and real-life session analyses help supervisees and supervisors manage power dynamics and emotional responses ethically.
Relational psychodynamic psychotherapy arose in reaction to hierarchical, doctor-patient aspects of Freudian psychoanalysis. It emphasizes instead the partnership between therapist and client, and focuses on the power dynamics involved in this inherently unequal relationship. In this book, Joan E. Sarnat describes a model of clinical supervision that is based upon this therapeutic approach. While some clinicians treat the supervisory relationship as entirely distinct from the supervised therapy, Sarnat presents a straightforward and ethical framework within which a supervisor uses his or her clinical skills to work in the supervisory relationship, helping supervisees navigate their emotional responses to clients. Clear, concise chapters cover the theoretical and empirical basis for a relational model of supervision, and offer specific recommendations for addressing typical problems encountered by beginning, intermediate, and advanced supervisees. The book also includes revealing transcripts and analyses of the author's supervisory sessions with real trainees, including those documented in the author's companion DVD.