Using Creativity in Clinical Supervision
Effective clinical supervision is a combination of hearable direction about clinical practice, gentle-direct leadership, clinical “Know-How,” evidence-based skills, complex psychodynamics, and the willingness to work with others on their developmental processes. There are risks involved. I have provided clinical supervision and consultation to other clinicians for 43 years without a legal or ethical issue. I do not think you should allow your creative spirit to run wild; there are many very serious ethical and legal implications in supervision. These are not benign; most states hold clinical supervisors 100% accountable for the actions of their supervisees, whether those actions were known and recommended by the supervisor or not.
Here we will look at the work of Leonardo DaVinci, the genius in 
art, science, engineering, and humanities. He saw art as science and science as art – most clinicians recognize these combinations in their own clinical work. I will simply note a list of documented attitudes, values and behaviors that DaVinci mastered. Here is the list. Courage may be needed to move off your comfort-path.
- Practice intense curiosity and deep awareness about the specific details of your work. As you do this apply a sense of wonder about your observations and different possible perspectives you encounter. Multiple realities of perspectives do exist. There may not be one absolutely correct response.
- Observe! Observe! Observe! Notice how your supervisees do their work, and how their idiosyncratic personalities and attitudes influence that work and your supervision. Be certain to pay close attention to the facts of reality, but better to procrastinate a bit before making big decisions. Be sure you have all the correct facts. You may need to test your hypothesis.
- Use your personal imagination more, and visualize the situations that cause you the greatest concerns. Remember: Do No Harm! In some situations it may actually be ok to use day dreaming and helpful fantasy for new perspectives for problem solving.
- Be sure to keep written lists of all the things you need to do. Also, write in your own “supervision development journal” about new things you learn and lessons you wish you already knew. Review selected parts of that journal with your own supervisor.
- It pays to be a little obsessive when dealing with supervisees and the welfare of their clients. Your growth also depends upon being a bit obsessive with learning new clinical processes and evidence-based interventions. However, remain creative and highly responsible in your role. Document everything you do in your role.
- For more see Isaacson, W. (2017). Leonardo DaVinci…New York: Simon & Schuster.
Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC
From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton Sangha
Author of Mindful Happiness
realities the issues of rampant self-referencing and entitlement seen in so many people today – “Me/Mine Mind” (my terms). As we make our way through samsara, we condition/reinforce ourselves to the desire/attachment for sense pleasures; we understand that such states are temporary, and that we cannot hold onto them. Thus we are soon back in dissatisfaction as a norm. We crave too much; we crave too often. We lack mindful abilities and skills to be content and satisfied with what we have right now. This does not imply that you not work at personal improvement; it does imply that to do so in an authentic manner, requires great mindfulness, self-understanding, and patience.
thoughts, emotions and behaviors associated with the first arrow. Second, is life purpose. Why are we here? We are here to live, to be, to learn, to experience, to cope, to love, to be spirit, and to find our deeper personal meanings. Impermanence is third. Nothing stays exactly the same; everything is in a state of change. Bad experiences do not last forever, and good experiences do not last forever – in fact because we desire them they may be more short-lived. Ultimate reality is next. All the problems we face (troubled love, the lack of it, finances, jobs, family relations, loneliness, illness, etc.) test our resolve and skills. To use the true ways of reality or the way things are (impermanence, emptiness, dependent origination, and no-self) in our service is to become more resilient to our suffering. These teachings and ways of being require much practice and understanding. It is not that you will not suffer; it is hoped that you will not react so harshly to your suffering and see it as simply one form of our temporary reality. Gratitude is the next doorway. Do your best to have gratitude and contentment with what you do have now – whatever the immediate personal experience is. We humans often take for granted many positive aspects of our lives, until we lose one of them. Have gratitude as your norm. Next to last, be in your true self. Yes, you will have negative emotions and suffering. And yes you will have joy and happiness. The highest form of happiness is to learn not to suffer so much even when you are suffering. Live in full honesty with who/what you are. Also seek to find meaningful pathways to lasting happiness, which is most often not attached to possessions. Love yourself more, and love others as well. Lastly, be and act in compassionate ways to yourself and to others. This is the most true pathway to lasting happiness. Be kind, and act to put the interests of others ahead of your own self-interests. 
its underground riches. Nothing new here! It is only a matter of time before shots are fired and people die! Some say that the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline may have already violated earlier treaty obligations with The Sioux. That has NEVER prevented the dominant white culture from acting for its own financial interests in the past – nothing new here. It may be environmental racism that The Army Corp of Engineers moved the pipeline route away from Bismarck (fear of possible water contamination for mainly white folks) so it now crosses land and water of First Nations People. The marginalization and disrespect continue. Perhaps this is urban slum politics in the great rural areas of the Dakotas. Such fears regarding Bismarck simply emphasize that the technology being used is NOT completely safe and dependable. This is the FALSE PROMISE OF TECHNOLOGY. Like so many of our technological advances (the internet for example), the primacy of safety and security have been over-shadowed by the desire for free flow of commerce and thus greater 
profits. The core issue is that such oil extraction and use continues to threaten mother earth’s health AND OUR FUTURE AS HUMANS. Oil profiteers, using private and public security forces with armored military vehicles and attach dogs, are determined to force the Sioux off the land – perhaps off their own land. Praise to Amy Goodman for reportedly filming brutal dog attacks and releasing the video into the internet network. It is reported that many national unions (except the national AFL-CIO) have already stated their support for the Standing Rock Sioux in their fight against corporate greed (America’s #1 problem) and cultural repression (also a #1 problem – “black lives matter”). Perhaps we will witness annihilation once again (and again and again). Is this “the great American dream?” No!
wrong, this may be that time. President Obama, as the Commander and Chief (notice the word, “chief”), this is a good time to act on the behalf of oppressed people, even if it includes acting against corporate profiteering interests.
outcomes. Yes, we all do matter; however, we all as individuals do not make up the whole of teaching and leaning. Apparently ALL OF US must be winners! For the rising costs and the nation’s future, WE better pay attention to both opinions and demands and find a viable consensus to IMPROVE what we now do. This post will present some very basic information on the call for more integration and softening of learning system so as to allow better self-development, stronger belonging, personalized outcomes,compassion, and deeper meaning in education.
show the new integrations are working, we CANNOT now that they are working. Efficacy is beyond personal