Supervision Requirements

[Lara Barnes]

For those of you not present at the October OAMFT Board meeting I
discussed having a running discussion on academic and post graduate
issues. The idea behind this is to really foster communication between
new students and grads, established professionals and lifers. My
question for this first installment is presented below and is drawn
directly from a question posed in an article from the fall newsletter
(ready to hit your mailbox this week).

Considering the difficulty in finding LMFT or AAMFT approved
supervisors, should we encourage new MFTs to get supervision from
other disciplines? Does this help us, or hurt us as a field?

[Shelley Hanson]

I think that it is a wonderful question. Supervision from other
fields could potentially broaden a scope/lens for the MFT intern who,
for example, may not know some of the social backstory that a social
worker may be privy tothrough their education and profession. As
mfts, however, the supervision model is to further equip the beginning
professional within their scope of practice and this leads me toward
the benefits of systems training and the model of supervision that is
set forth by AAMFT. When I considered whether to be a state approved
supervisor OR a state approved supervisor and an AAMFT Approved
Supervisor, I was originally daunted by the work for the latter (as
reflected in an article in the Spring newsletter of this year). The
training to maintain a systems approach throughout the supervisory
relationship is what sold me as I believe it strengthens the very
element that this field has to offer: how to conceptualize the system
and seek ways to enhance insight and functioning for the well being of
all persons.

So my thoughts on this lead toward strengthening the uniqueness that
mfts have to offer vs perhaps risking diluting the concepts that make
us the unique field that we are and what we offer society. That is my
"current thinking." :-) It leads me to ask also, What would the mft
field look like if we shifted away from systems training??