Creating a “nest” of emotional safety: reflective supervision in a child–parent psychotherapy case

This article will provide a brief history and discussion of reflective supervision followed by a case study demonstrating the importance of reflective supervision in the context of child–parent psychotherapy (CPP; A.F. Lieberman, C. Ghosh Ippen, & P. Van Horn, ; A.F. Lieberman & P. Van Horn, , 2008). Given that CPP leverages the caregiver–child relationship as the mechanism for change in young children who have been impacted by stressors and traumas, primary objectives of CPP include assisting caregivers as they understand the meaning of their child's distress and improving the caregiver–child relationship to make it a safe and supportive space in which the child can heal. As this case will demonstrate, when a clinician is emotionally triggered by a family's negative intergenerational patterns of relating, reflective supervision supports a parallel process in which the psychotherapist feels understood and contained by the supervisor so that she or he is able to support the caregiver's efforts to understand and contain the child. RESUMEN La supervisión reflexiva es considerada un clave componente de práctica para que cualquier especialista de salud mental infantil trabaje eficazmente con niños pequeños y sus familias. Este artículo presentará una breve historia y discusión de la supervisión reflexiva seguida de un caso de estudio para demostrar la importancia de la supervisión reflexiva dentro del contexto de la sicoterapia niño‐progenitor (CPP; Lieb...
Source: Infant Mental Health Journal - Category: Child Development Authors: Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research