Overview
While I have my own philosophy of change as it relates to working with relational systems, I respect students’ autonomy in developing their own theory of therapy. I align with the common factor principle of allegiance: the benefit of a therapist’s commitment to and belief in their model of therapy. In other words, I believe therapists are best able to create therapeutic change if they are utilizing an approach that is a good “fit” for them. Therefore, I strive to provide a supervisory context that allows trainees to explore approaches to therapy in order to find this fit.
In addition, as the Clinical Training Director I see it as my job to develop high-quality training sites in a variety of settings in order to meet the diverse professional development goals of students in the program. By developing relationships with new and varied sites, students are afforded the opportunity to work with diverse client populations and treatment issues. This, as well, allows students to develop their own theory of therapy.