Saturday, March 21, 2009

Supervision Exercise

This week in supervision, I asked the group to write a letter and/or draw a picture to one of the patients they were having a hard time with. I got this idea of the "unsent letter" from the book, Creative Supervision by Mooli Lahad. Some of the ideas from her book seemed a little out there or involved for my supervision group, but this free writing exercise was a big hit. It helped the therapists have an outlet for their countertransference. It helped them be more aware of it, so they are able to deal with their responses to these difficult patients better. One therapist wrote what she learned from the patient, another wrote phrases that she could actually use with the patient. You could even do this on your own to vent or gain insight. Just be sure not to put the patient's real name on it or leave it in an unsecured area! We'll definitely do this exercise again...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Feeling Embarrassed Directive

This week, I asked my Empathy group members to create an image about a time they felt embarrassed or humiliated. At first, some patients couldn't think of anything embarrassing that happened to them. We talked about how we sometimes repress those memories because the associated feelings can be painful to think about. I told them they should choose a memory that they felt comfortable talking about, as one patient said he didn't want to share some really embarrassing moments from his past. The patients were able to talk about their situations and feelings and relate their feelings to how their victims may have felt or still feel.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Group Drawing

This week in my Empathy group, I had the members create a group drawing. Each person had 2 minutes to add to the drawing and then it went around again and each person had a minute more to add to it. This was a good exercise about boundaries, and I also noticed that each person generally drew their own thing, not taking into consideration what the others had drawn. Each patient seemed pretty self-absorbed in his own thoughts, ideas, or issues. I pointed out that when this happens, he may have less empathy for others because he is so focused on himself. I then had them do another group drawing with the instruction to try to be a little more aware of what the other group members drew and what was going on for them. The second drawing was more cohesive and supportive than the first disjointed, disconnected one.