Supervision Essentials for Existential–Humanistic Therapy

by Orah T. Krug, Kirk J. Schneider

This concise guide applies the principles of Existential-Humanistic therapy to the practice of clinical supervision. With the skillful use of case examples—including transcripts and analyses of real sessions with a real clinical trainee—the authors utilize the key ingredients of the E-H therapeutic approach, including empathy, acceptance, and genuineness, to model how trainees can create safe, collaborative, and supportive relationships with clients.

E-H supervisors help trainees learn to enter their clients’ self-constructed worlds, using their own personal contexts to develop responsiveness to clients, while also cultivating the “presence” that enables genuine encounters and real therapeutic change.

184 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2016

Reviews

[JY Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly a sorely needed book. There are some essential principles that are quintessentially EH and are very helpful, but ultimately I found it hard to genuinely enjoy and grow from. I love the constant reminders to embody and refrain from teaching and instructing, not unlike the therapist. I found the example transcripts of the supervision process one of the most illuminating and helpful. But that is as far as it goes. Other than that, it becomes one of the more repetitive sounding reads, with its main redeeming feature being its short and digestible length. Perhaps I am more used to van Duerzen's more comprehensive style that bridges existential-phenomenological concepts with practice, which reveals exciting concepts of the human experience at every turn. This is unfortunately a lot more repetitive, 'conceptual', and drier than I would have liked, as there are no more than a handful of significant ponts to supervision.

Ultimately I would have want to see more of this in action with commentary. Wish the authors continue to refine their writing styles and keep delivering.