Taking Stock of Professional Development

Later life, as gerontological researcher William Randall writes, is a time for looking inward and outward as well as forward and backward. And as much as I don’t always like to acknowledge it, I am in later life. Having mysteriously and involuntarily arrived at that juncture, I find myself simultaneously shedding and accumulating; material possessions in the case of the former, and wisdom in the case of the latter. I am indeed looking forward, perhaps not yet as enthusiastically as I would like, but certainly looking backward to assess what about who I am both personally and professionally I would like to carry with me on this next leg.


I’ll save the “personal” for a future essay and will focus here on the professional — specifically, my evolution as a psychotherapist. Having recently retired from my full-time position as a clinical educator, I am still in the classroom, and as I wrote in a previous blog, still training future therapists. And a significant portion of that classroom work has revolved around the use of clinical training videos that we (Psychotherapy.net) produce. As a caveat, I want you to know that I used these videos long before I signed on as the Editor six years ago.

Over the years as a psychotherapist, I have had face-to-face clinical supervision, read my share of clinical books, have “performed” in front of the one-way mirror, consulted with peers on case management, and even written for the therapy audience. But it has always been clinical videos that have not only rounded out but deepened my clinical skills. So, I thought it might be useful to share some of my favorites, those on whose production I have been involved, and those whose entry into our vast collection predated my arrival on the shores of Psychotherapy.net.

Watching Experts Work with Clients

I will shamelessly (mis)appropriate the famous movie line by saying, “You had me at Irvin Yalom.” Aside from the incredible trove of his clinical writings, Yalom has shared his many individual and group therapy skills in front of the camera. His insightful work and clinical acumen have been for me and my trainees — although I suspect for many others — what the likes of Carl Rogers’ work has been for current and past generations of clinicians.

I have done a fair amount of clinical interviewing and assessment over the years in a wide range of venues with a broad range of clients: prisons, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, private practice, and in the forensic arena. As we would likely all agree, good interviewing requires both art and skill, and I have thoroughly enjoyed and learned from the diagnostic interviews of Jason Buckles, who has deepened my understanding of the kind of questions that must be asked to differentiate among many and often overlapping and conflicting diagnoses — substance abuse, personality disorder, and mood disturbance to name a few.

Good assessment, however, requires not only diagnostic facility, but a foundation in interpersonal and interviewing skills that transcend specific pathologies. And to enhance my own interviewing skills, I often turned to the work of John and Rita Sommers Flannagan, who have reminded me how to incorporate mental status, biopsychosocial, and clinical questioning into the interview process. I have also continuously relied on John’s work around suicide assessment and intervention with clients ranging in age, ethnicity, and life circumstance.

As my own clinical practice has evolved over the years, I have been exposed to — or perhaps I should say, I have exposed myself to — clients whose circumstances, culture, and values have differed widely from my own. I have embraced the personal and professional awakening that comes with looking beyond my own relatively small sphere of experience so that I could appreciate the lives of others whose paths have been so different from my own.

Watching Sue Johnson wield her velvet EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) sword to cut through the resistance and defenses of couples has given me the confidence to work with couples. But our EFT Masterclass, a four-volume series in which EFT is demonstrated by a team of EFT experts, has been especially enlightening. It has helped build my confidence and courage to venture into challenging couples counseling arenas like pornography addiction, grief and loss, and sexual issues.

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Certainly, I could go on extolling the virtues of our clinical training videos, but what has been useful to me as a clinician may not be so for you. You may not be drawn to the work of these particular clinicians. But certainly, there are enough training videos in our collection to satisfy all tastes. And there are many ways to learn. You may learn best by reading or doing. Some of you may hold to the belief that 10,000 hours of doing makes for expertise. But if you have the space and desire to invite the masters along on your clinical journey and enjoy watching them at work, grab a front-row seat and tune in.

 

Questions for Thought and Discussion

How do you resonate with the premise of this essay?

What training videos have you found useful in your own professional development?

What challenges have you experienced in using clinical training videos?   

File under: The Art of Psychotherapy, Therapy Training