Play in Supervision

LGBTQ* Responsive Sand Tray: Creative Arts and Counseling

“…Moreover, it is crucial that supervisors have appropriate training and experience with ST, understand that the limits of confidentiality apply to produced artwork, and supervise the use of ST by supervisees (Carnes-Holt et al, 2014;Garrett, 2013;Stark & Frels, 2014;Stark et al, 2015). While researchers have indicated the benefits of ST (Markos et al, 2008;McCurdy & Owen, 2008), further research on ST in supervision is needed to understand the effectiveness and utility of ST as a creative arts intervention. As most research on ST to date is qualitative, and descriptive in nature, there is a need to begin examining ST processes and outcomes using quantitative measures as well.…”

“…While ST has been implicated in its ability to tap into both conscious and unconscious creative processes (Anekstein et al, 2014;Paone et al, 2015), research has supported the ways in which ST utilizes visual, kinesthetic, and expressive communication (Stark et al, 2015), arguably all aspects of creative expression. Supervisees have described their experiences with ST in supervision as positive (Markos, Coker, & Jones, 2008;McCurdy & Owen, 2008) and for these reasons , Goodrich and Luke identified the particular utility of expressive, experiential, and creative approaches in supervision of counselors working with LGBTQ* clients. Because ST can be utilized within a variety of theoretical approaches, such as Person Centered, Jungian, Adlerian, Gestalt, Developmental, and Psychodynamic (Isom et al, 2015;McCurdy & Owen, 2008;Perryman et al, 2016), supervisors have a range of ways in which they can incorporate ST into extant supervision models (Anekstein et al, 2014;Carnes-Holt et al, 2014;Stark, Frels, & Garza, 2011).…”

“…Given the high rates of discrimination and mental health concerns of LGBTQ* persons (Cochran et al, 2017;Thorne et al, 2018), it is concerning that counselor education has continued to overlook supervision as a means to increase LGBTQ* related multicultural competence and has instead primarily relied upon didactic training methods in isolated content courses of short duration to educate counselors on the needs of clients who may identify as LGBTQ* (Jennings, 2014;Luke, Goodrich, & Scarborough, 2011). As such , this article builds upon the use of ST in supervision (Anekstein et al, 2014;Markos et al, 2008;Paone et al, 2015;Stark et al, 2011), as ST offers a critical opportunity to redress the gaps in counselor education (Stark & Frels, 2014). Creative arts interventions in general, and ST in particular, have been lauded as offering supervisors a complementary right-brain and kinesthetic means (Stark & Frels, 2014) to creatively and experientially work with supervisees to match their developmental needs (Mullen et al, 2007).…”

“…Similar to how Guiffrida (2015) described constructivist approaches to supervision as offering a means for supervisor and supervisee to co-construct the supervisory processes and meanings, what follows includes a description of the types of materials needed for ST in supervision (Garrett, 2013) and how the supervisor can broach supervisees to engage in this creative approach related to their work with LGBTQ* clients Luke & Goodrich, 2015a). This model will be followed by a description of how supervisors can co-construct the use of ST as a creative and expressive supervisory intervention (Carnes-Holt et al, 2014;Graham et al, 2014) to demonstrate ways in which the supervisee might use ST with LGBTQ* clients (Anekstein et al, 2014;Markos et al, 2008;Paone et al, 2015). Finally, there will be a discussion of how supervisors can facilitate supervisees' transfer of the creative and experiential learning into their clinical practices, including post-supervisory extensions (Guiffrida, 2015) that hold particular salience for counselors working with clients who identify as LGBTQ* .…”

Group Supervision Using Sandtray: A Protocol with Counselors-in-Training

“…For instance, it might be helpful to intentionally broach race, ethnicity, and culture issues during the initial orientation sessions to promote a trusting and growth-fostering supervision relationship with the facilitator (Jones et al, 2019). While several studies evidenced positive outcomes associated with sandtray in supervision related to the supervisory working alliance (Markos et al, 2008) and multicultural development (Paone et al, 2015), facilitators should not assume that cultural factors will naturally emerge simply because supervisees are engaging in the supervision experience, especially if the relationships between and among supervisees and facilitators are new (Jones et al, 2019).…”