Specializing in
Supervision in Action™
Family Therapy in Action™
Family Therapy Training & Supervision
I offer family therapy training and family therapy supervision in Northern NJ.
If you are an experienced family therapist, I offer family therapy supervision both in person in Northern NJ and online via Zoom. I also lead an Advanced Supervision Group for those with experience in family therapy.
If you are less experienced/less knowledgeable I offer a course in family therapy training: Foundation in Family Therapy for 29 CEU's.
Family Therapy Training & Supervision
My Philosophy
I believe in the ability of family therapy to transform the lives of our clients. I also believe in the ability of good supervision to transform the clinician from good to excellent. Those who want to help others through therapy need to develop the best skills they can. Although the development of "skills" may seem like an end in itself, it is really the development of self knowledge that is most important. We all have limitations and need to stretch ourselves so that we have the potential to help a wider range of people with a wider range of problems. My approach is supportive, building on the strengths of the therapist, but also challenging in order to stimulate new kinds of thinking and approaches to therapy. Good supervision leads to personal growth as well as professional growth.
Supervision in a group gives therapists an opportunity for experiential learning. Experiential learning is a powerful way to learn because one is able to experience via seeing, hearing, and doing. (See research by David Kolb and others which show therapists are particularly receptive to experiential learning.)
In family therapy supervision I use role play and other experiential techniques to facilitate learning. Trainees also have the opportunity to use the genogram effectively or to learn how to use the "social atom." Additionally, trainees can present videotaped sessions for discussion (with a signed released from your client).
Family therapy supervision helps therapists learn how to work systemically with individual clients. A systemic approach is an ecological approach which allows the clinician to understand clients in the context of their lives. For example, is the client recently widowed, a new parent, or the parent of a drug abusing son or daughter? A systemic approach develops the clinician's ability to anticipate the challenges and consequences of change. For example, will the depressed wife's husband become angry if she starts to go out more?
More experienced therapists will learn how to make better assessments, sharper interventions and strengthen their therapeutic voice. They will also learn how to work with individuals when family members are not available, using techniques from psychodrama.
Additionally, supervisees will learn how to develop effective interventions in the "here and now." Many clinicians struggle to find ways to intervene in client interactions in the moment. Supervision using experiential techniques help therapists learn and execute interventions that are process-focused and that can be observed and evaluated in the therapist's office.
Supervision is also offered for MSW graduates. Participants should have a graduate degree and a job in which they see clients.