client or trainee
Melissa Monahan
melissa_erin_monahan at hotmail.com
Mon Sep 11 13:35:18 CDT 2006
This dialogue is so important…
As a student of Drama Therapy, as well as a Psychodrama trainee, I can
appreciate the fine and delicate line that MUST be drawn between the
therapist/trainer and client/trainee.
As a creative therapeutic novice, I had chosen to extend my trainer’s role
to include that of individual therapist. At that time, she was more than
happy to expand her professional repertoire and make a monetary deal. This
maneuver, however, eventually proved disastrous, as the boundaries became
increasingly vague.
For example:
*Her asking permission to eat salad during a one-on-one session.
*Delegating duties, that included phone calling and drumming up business for
her group/workshops.
*Assuming I’d drive her home following a back-to-back individual session and
training evening.
*Explicitly suggesting, during one-on-one psychodramatic work that, one day,
we’d have an office together and she would send me child clients because,
after all, sometimes being a solo practitioner gets “lonely.”
While I acknowledge that reality is subjective, I do believe that some of
the boundary issues stemmed from my trainer/therapist’s insecure and egoic
need to be regarded as someone with a “gift” for psychodrama, or “one of the
best psychodramatists around” and “a role model of honesty for my clients.”
Conversely, I am a newcomer, and instinctively welcomed any/all guidance as
well as professional mentoring.
After emerging from a profound crisis, I realized how informal and skewed
the relationship was; how compromised MY therapeutic process had become (and
at some pricey hourly rates). While such nuances certainly don’t CAUSE one’s
crisis, they‘re not of much HELP either.
Eventually, I suggested she continue to be my psychodrama trainer, but
divulged my decision to work one-on-one with someone else.
This was, naturally, met with bewildered criticism and, then, an ultimatum
to either work with her in individual therapy or leave her psychodrama
group. While I understand her motivations were---always---well-intentioned,
that kind of strong-arming hammered the proverbial nail into the
psychodramtic coffin, and I chose to abort the relationship.
>From this experience, I learned so much about the boundaries necessary to
distinguish a client from trainee, and I thank my former therapist/trainer
for that.
~Melissa Erin Monahan
New York City
>From: Carole Oliver <caroleolivernj at optonline.net>
>Reply-To: list at grouptalkweb.org
>To: list at grouptalkweb.org
>Subject: Re: client or trainee
>Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:41:18 -0700
>
>Peter, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses as clinicians. Working
>on one's boundaries issues are important, however, it is also equally
>important to know your self enough to set strong boundaries with some
>pretty explicit rules, no dual relationships. Kudos to you to be able to
>maintain all those dual roles, I know I wouldn't want so therefore probably
>would not be good at it----- Original Message -----
> From: Peter Parkinson
> To: list at grouptalkweb.org ; grace at graceworks.co.nz
> Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 12:22 PM
> Subject: RE: client or trainee
>
>
> I practiced psychodrama for 15 years in a community of 800 people. About
>500 of these were utilizing psychodrama for their development. As a result
>my boundaries and that of my staff had to be both clear and powerful. It
>was inevitable I would share the role of Director, doctor, colleague,
>committee member, fellow sportsperson etc. with one individual. There was
>no way of escaping this scenario, in fact it was the norm rather than the
>exception. Every psycho-dramatist goes through the progression of
>client/group member, auxiliary, trainee and then colleague. Professionalism
>and personal development is about clarity of boundaries, and I believe that
>is not good enough to be saying "my boundaries are not very good' and
>thereby justifying evading the issue. Life is for living fully, and therapy
>does not end at the consulting room door. Boundaries and fine tuning them
>is our work, let's get on with it. A person s not a "trainee" or a
>''client', they, like all of us, at times, assume these roles, the role of
>client lasts about an hour, then its time for a change of role on both
>sides.
>
>
>
> At times I would be in the main street of this country town and someone
>would assume, erroneously, that I was in the role of their doctor and ask
>me about a lab result. At that particular moment I was embedded in the role
>of the window shopper, and I would respond that they would not want me to
>be thinking of them as a disease or an illness every time that I saw them.
>To this comment I usually got a laugh of awareness and a spontaneous
>agreement to see me or a staff member about the requirement IN THE SURGERY.
>And not on he street.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Peter Parkinson from New Zealand
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: list-bounces at grouptalkweb.org
>[mailto:list-bounces at grouptalkweb.org] On Behalf Of Carole Oliver
> Sent: Monday, 11 September 2006 6:35 a.m.
> To: grace at graceworks.co.nz; list at grouptalkweb.org
> Subject: Re: client or trainee
>
>
>
> grace, I agree that the psychodrama community is small and we know many
>people, first as clients and then maybe in a psychodrama/training group.
>The roles can get murky. I think it requires a therapist who can be very
>strong with boundaries. I am a pretty friendly accessible therapist and so
>I find it harder to keep very strong boundaries between training,
>supervision, group[p member, client.
>
> It is difficult to sort it all out. As for me, I wont see a person in
>individual and be their trainer. If they are in my group which is a
>therapy/psychodrama group, they can log hours but if they are indivual
>clients, I wont do just a training group or supervision group with them.
>Does that make sense?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: Grace
>
> To: list at grouptalkweb.org
>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 3:14 PM
>
> Subject: RE: client or trainee
>
>
>
> Kia ora Peter,
>
> Yes, I like your view of your work as education or adult education (we
>sometimes refer to what we do as psycho-education), although I do believe
>it is deep learning that we facilitate in the group of people we work with
>people, so I have a new descriptor to use. Thank you!
>
>
>
> I have also been pondering on the reality of dual relationships
>especially living in a small country where the degrees of separation are
>few. It's pretty difficult here in Aotearoa/NZ to meet people in either
>work or social situations who don't have an acquaintance in common. I
>think Moreno gives us a great tool in Role Theory, enabling us to become
>conscious, to identify and warm up deliberately to the roles necessary to
>respond adequately in situations where dual relationships such as Client /
>Trainee exist. One such role might be something like a 'responsible
>professional' who is able to bring a wealth of technical and ethical
>expertise into practice when making decisions, when in doubt consulting
>with supervisors and networks. I really like that this approach engages
>the professional in the 'deep learning process' also, giving us the
>opportunity to continue growing our ability to be creative and spontaneous
>rather than referring to entrenched and conserved rules that squash
>vitality and imply that there an end to what is really an infinite process.
> This is NOT the easy road however! And we won't always get it right-
>can we live with that?
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Grace
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: list-bounces at grouptalkweb.org
>[mailto:list-bounces at grouptalkweb.org] On Behalf Of Peter Howie
> Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2006 2:10 p.m.
> To: Adam Blatner; list at grouptalkweb.org
> Subject: Re: client or trainee
>
>
>
> Dear Adam,
>
> Sorry Adam but I can't help myself.
>
> "So there's a cultural lag-- a need to recognize this sub-field, but
>still the main field of psychodrama is based on the conventional model of
>psychotherapy-- and training certification is also geared to this, albeit
>loosely. "
>
> I came across this quote as I was perusing some early ANZPA thesis.
>
> "I have always tried to show that my approach was meant as much more
>than a psychotherapeutic method--my ideas have emphasized that creativity
>and spontaneity affect the very roots of vitality and spiritual
>development, and thus affect our involvements in every sphere of our lives.
>Furthermore, I have always wanted to have people attend to the processes of
>health, as well as to the problems of illness; thus I am glad that Dr
>Blatenr has noted the applications of psychodrama in the home, school and
>world of business" J L Moreno, M.D., 1973 in Forward to "Acting In" by Adam
>Blatner.
>
> Part of our discussion involves, at an underlying level, how the
>conserves of the psychotherapeutic communities/world (Psychology,
>Psychoiatry, Counselling etc) have dominated some of this discussion. It
>may not be so much about the dilemmas that arise from boundary issues with
>clients/patients/trainees but more about how this work is conceptualised.
>Personally and professionally I think viewing most of our work as that of
>education or adult education works for me. Deep learning is deep therapy.
>Still working on this idea.
>
> Cheers
>
> Peter Howie
> Brisbanew, Australia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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