Supervision & Case Consultations

People come to us when they feel low and vulnerable.

Asking for help and making a step to trust an unknown process with a stranger requires courage and openness.

You know this, and you would never want to give any less of what is expected of you.

We are hired to help. We, the helpers, take this very seriously.

Yet this work is isolating.

In private practice, you do not have the benefit of a treatment team, colleagues with whom you can discuss how you feel after a session, your doubts and your certainties.

You know how isolation affects your clients. They become overly focused on their “faults” what they can’t change about themselves. With isolation emotions and thoughts take on an exaggerated form that can become obsessive and myopic.

The stories you heard and are left with must stay with you. You must protect your clients’ confidentiality.

You can’t discuss any of this with friends and family.

When we work in isolation, we “stay in our heads,” where the stories, colored in by our own natural feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt and even grandiosity, limit our ability to see clearly.

Working with people is about analyzing and building relationships – our clients come to us because often there are problems in their relationships.

You are left with the task of helping provide answers and insights about relating, and ironically you must do all this within the confines of your office and your own mind.

Fast Food Therapy

The many CEU courses offered help you stay abreast of new found methods of treatment, “evidence-based techniques,” giving your clients “tools,” or “strategies” to get results “fast.”

All this is well and good, but we are in a society that loves labels.

If we can name it, have a course for it, have a book about it, have a certification about it, then we are set – we can help our clients get better.

There really is no “getting better” fast lane.

As you keep working with people, you begin to understand that regardless of the latest certification and how smart you sound when you give advice, that’s not at the core of what your clients need.

It is frustrating to have attended a CEU course, where we are told the success stories, then we try it out with our clients, and we see very little progress.

You see your client attempting to please you with these new “tools” and yet you and they know it is not working.

A Place to Hone your Skills and Support your Discovery

Supervision is a place where you can discuss all of this and gain a different perspective on a case or cases you are working with.

It allows you to stay with this process, as you think about your clients, about their worries, their anxieties and their strengths, and as you explore your style of helping, your strengths and what challenges you.

Experience You Can Trust

Throughout my career and years of training, I was lucky to have had wonderful teachers, mentors and supervisors for training and case consultations. When I was working in hospital based or outpatient clinics, the treatment team and my supervisors provided much needed education and support.

When in private practice, I often opted to be in supervision and noticed that my own development as a therapist was accelerated.

I am licensed in NY and in MD to provide supervision to Master level counselors and social workers who need supervision hours to meet their own licensing requirements. And I am available in-person or via a confidential and HIPPA approved teleconferencing system

The work we do is rewarding and humbling.

Mental health is on a continuum. We can be helpful when the relationship we have with our clients also brings out who we are.

Yet, they are “center stage,” and it is our role to know how we position ourselves at any time so we can provide a space for change and growth.

I am there to witness your relationship with your clients as it unfolds. Because you are allowing me to be part of this process, I can expand the containing function of their experience and your experience with them.

Helping You Do What You Do Best

Consultations help you get out of the isolation of being in your own head and be in a relationship with me to maximize your therapeutic role with your clients.

You will learn to trust what you know and be ok about not knowing, because much of this work is about the unknown, the uncharted and our willingness to navigate with courage, curiosity and vigor.

Call (443) 333-9647 today to set up a time to talk over the phone or in person. We can discuss a challenging case in depth or help you with more than one case, as needs be.