Clinical Supervisors' Ethical and Professional Identity Behaviors Essay Example

Introduction

While mental health problems are prevalent in many societies, they often come with stereotypes especially in the developing world where the mentally ill are associated with crime and social evils. Nonetheless, in the developed states, psychological disorders are a concern, and there is supporting infrastructure (medical and social) to help such individuals cope with their situations. Treating mental problems entails the use of a variety of techniques among them counselling and pharmacological based interventions. Counsellors are instrumental in addressing the mentally ill as they help them make conscious, unconscious and pent up thoughts that often lead to imbalances in the three parts of the brain. In fact, according to the Freudian theory, the brain is composed of the Id, Ego and Superego which are tasked with delaying gratification and shaping personalities and conflicts between the three lead to mental problems.

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As earlier mentioned, counsellors play an important role in ensuring that mental problems do not occur either in persistent, relapsing, remitting or in single episodes. However, the success of mental health providers lies in a good working relationship with their supervisors as they provide oversight and guidance. Moreover, the supervisors help the counsellor to experience unconditional positive regard as he or she can understand and accept the challenges in clinical supervision. Need to do so is even more significant when the issues in the therapy are similar to those that arise during control. As the supervisor, am able, and the positivity has been transferred to the client as the counsellor passes the positive reinforcement to the client. Moreover, the use of empathy in the parallel process has allowed me to understand further and appreciate the supervisees concerns

Interventions May Be Used To Ensure That the Clinical Supervision Relationship Is Healthy and Beneficial

Feedback Provision

Feedback is not only a tool for learning but is also a media for the effective exchange of feelings, thoughts, ideas and emotions from one individual to another or a group and vice versa. Moreover, feedback is always there, in fact, in a typical organisational setup, it occurs through training evaluations, performance appraisals employee surveys. The importance of feedback in clinical supervision lies in that it is an indicator of active listening by the supervisor as he or she can pay attention to the counsellor before providing feedback. In so doing, the supervisor motivates the supervisee to perform better as they have a sense of entitlement, feel valued and their efforts to help patients are appreciated. Moreover, the feedback provided is instrumental in formulating decisions that might influence the outcome of the therapeutic session. For example in the case of a client with a history of drug abuse, the clinical supervisor can propose a blend of opioid treatment with solution-focused interventions.

Motivation

Motivation plays a vital role in influencing behaviour, actions and thoughts and it can either be intrinsically or extrinsically induced. It is a psychological process that results from the interaction of both conscious and unconscious factors such as rewards, expectations and the value of the incentive being given. In a clinical setup, motivation, whether positive or negative, is instrumental in building a healthy relationship between the supervisor and supervisee. The carrot and stick motivation approach would, for example, be useful in a clinical set up as it blends negative and positive motivations, and its efficacy has gotten approval over time. The negative reward through punishment serves as a deterrent to complacency or the lack of willingness by the supervisee to ensure that the patient fully recovers while the good motives add to the self-induced urge to do specific action thoughts and reactions.

Effective Communication

According to Neshuku, & Justus, (2016) communication informs the purpose of clinical supervision, it is even more important in the parallel processes where there is the need for meaningful, productive, professional and focused conversations between the supervisor and supervisee. Moreover, communication ought to be formalised and skilled especially from the clinical supervisor to have clarity and direction of purpose. Through conversation, the clinical supervisor can inform on suitable practices and approaches based on the interaction between the client and supervisee. Besides that, communication is central to the building of social relationships between the parties in supervision. Also, the awareness of the potential barriers to communication and mitigation measures to counter them helps in the parallel process.

Compliance To The Code Of Conduct

Clinical supervisors are required to uphold the professional code of ethics especially as they operate in collaborative environments in the course of addressing complex social problems that affect communities, in this regard, maintaining professionalism is the best approach. In fact, according to Cruikshanks, & Burns,(2017), counsellors have problems in developing a professional identity especially when their supervisors lack the professional personality; it is difficult for the supervisee to maintain professionalism as he or she can be deemed to be in contradiction with the establishment set by the supervisor. Also, compliance with the ethical code of conduct is essential by both parties to prevent wrongdoing an action is only rendered right if all would wish to be a universal law.

References

Cruikshanks, D. R., & Burns, S. T. (2017). Clinical supervisors' ethical and professional identity behaviors with postgraduate supervisees seeking independent licensure. Cogent Psychology, 4(1), 1373422.

Neshuku, H., & Justus, A. H. (2016). Implementation and evaluation of an educational programme to support registered nurses during clinical supervision of student nurses in medical and surgical wards in a training health facility, Namibia. International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies, 5(1), 5.