96 Supervision Vignettes for Examining Clinical Practice Mother’s Death About 20 minutes into a supervision session, your supervisee stops and, with tears in his eyes, says, “As you know, my mother died two weeks ago, and I am having a | difficult time with her loss. I am struggling at home, at work, and with my clients, I know you can’t be my therapist, but can you provide me with 30 minutes of counseling? I think it would be very helpful in getting me past some of my sadness and the distraction it is causing me.” 1. What are some of the possible responses to your supervisee? . Our codes of ethics are quite clear that supervisors cannot supervise and counsel the same person, Are you feeling a conflict in this situation? Discuss. 3. Discuss the legal and ethical concems raised by this vignette and the following comment. 4. What unintended consequences of engaging in therapy with this supervise do you perceive? Comment: The facts in this situation indicate this is a one-time event, time limited, and there is awareness on the part of both parties as to what is being requested. In such situations, the supervisor may elect to engage in counseling on a one-time basis. This | would be a rare exception, and boundaries would have to be clearly delineated. The one- :| time-only restriction may not be violated.ee Supervision Vignettes for Examining Clinical Practice 93 Silver Spoon ‘Your supervisce is working in community mental health. His clients are mostly street people, many of whom have been in prison. In addition, many have multiple mental health diagnoses, health problems, little or no income, and an absence of social support. ‘Your supervisce’s office is the street, and occasionally he does interviews in shelters and group homes. Your overall impression of him is that he is a very bright and talented young therapist ‘The supervisee has provided you with the following background. His mother is a successful surgeon, and his father is a corporate lawyer. He grew up in an upper middle class community, was sent to private schools, and graduated from an Ivy League college. During his master’s degree training, his internship was at a college counseling center. He described his growing up as privileged, and he did not want for anything. Furthermore, he said he wanted to work in the counseling field and with this street population because he thought he could make a difference. This is your supervisee’s first job, and you have been assigned to supervise him. His first few weeks were filled with enthusiasm and an eagemess to learn. Lately you have been observing comments such as, “I love working with these people, but I’m not sure they like me.” “My clients take a lot from me and....” “My clients don’t seem to be making changes no matter how hard I try.” 1. What are the cultural implications you observe in this situation? 2. How would you approach your supervisee to assist him as he begins to struggle? 3. How do the cultural facts of this case relate to you and your cultural background? 4, In what ways does your cultural background influence how you would respond to this supervise?