Participant supervision is a unique application of live supervision in which a supervisor and supervisee see clients conjointly. Although minimally discussed in the family therapy literature, it has notable advantages, chief among them being a shared clinical experience that increases attunement to supervisee skill and development, the modeling of skillful intervention, and a higher degree of collegiality. However, it is not without its challenges, including supervisee vulnerability and anxiety, diffusion of responsibility, and limited time for case discussion. This article highlights the experience of one supervisor and three doctoral-level supervisees engaging in participant supervision over the course of a 2-year period. Using illustrative examples, we discuss our experience of the advantages and challenges of participant supervision, and provide recommendations for establishing a collaborative relational context within which supervisory benefits can be maximized.
Effective mental health practice in a medical context is a collaborative "both/and" relationship between therapists, patients, and health care team collaborators. The biomedical model that is most often used in health care is an important piece of a patient's healing, and narrative therapy brings an excellent patient and family centered addition to this framework. Using this model, behavioral health therapists can help patients understand how their experiences of illness may be shaped by larger social discourses and how they may then choose which of these messages about illness fit for them and which do not. Narrative therapy additionally facilitates the goals of medical family therapy (agency and communion) through engaging patients as experts in their own illness experience and facilitating a sense of control over the different ways that they choose to draw on support and cope with their illness-related challenges. In this article, we discuss the benefits of using narrative therapy in brief behavioral health encounters within medical settings and include implications for behavioral health practitioners interested in using this modality to better meet the needs of patients and families.
Background A collaborative health-care relationship is considered critical in managing chronic illness like diabetes. Poorly controlled diabetes can greatly diminish one's quality of life and lead to severe complications or even death.
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