Reflective Reflection On Supervision

During supervision, my supervisor immediately pointed out that the issues that I was having with this client was not anything personal. She explained how detrimental it can be to compare relationships and the different dynamics that influence a relationship. Southern (2007) illuminated how impactful it can be to work through countertransference and intersubjectivity during supervision and how imperative it is that the supervisor provide meaningful support and education for their supervisee. My supervisors approach was very non-judgmental, which is what I needed at the time. It helped provide a space where I could be more open and honest about the way that I was feeling. As I continued to process my feelings about the client with my supervisor,

These techniques have not been as effective with her because it was very difficult to cater to her erratic behavior, impulsive reactions, and inconsistent attendance. Her borderline personality tendencies were very subtle at the beginning of our work together, but they continued to increase substantially as the months have progressed. Last week the client and I had our final session when I reminded her that I had 8 weeks left at my field placement and wanted to update our treatment goal. She became very angry, stormed out, and refused to continue services. When I followed up with her a few days later, she reported that she made an appointment at the clinic where she receives psychiatric services to receive therapy services. She was so angry that she took her son out of his counseling services from our children’s program. Unfortunately, due to a mix of her borderline tendencies, transference, and high sensitivity to rejection, she could no longer tolerate continuing services anymore. The transference, counter transference, and projective identification could have been worked on in session and could have improved her fears and insecurities, but I did not get a chance to work through that with her. If the client does have some form of a personality disorder, it needed to be diagnosed and properly treated during therapy to provide a positive therapeutic outcome. Unfortunately, my field placement was unable to provide that for her and it effected the counseling services that she was