The Use of Metaphor in Clinical Supervision

Abstract

UThe authors completed a critical review of the literature on the use of metaphor and the efficacy of metaphoric activities in clinical supervision. The authors conclude that these activities might assist students in understanding the process of becoming a counselor and facilitate students' case conceptualization skills. Cautions to consider when implementing metaphoric activities, limitations of research that has investigated the effectiveness of using metaphors in supervision, and suggestions for future research in this area are presented.Metaphor, the Greek word meaning transfer, appears throughout the ages in stories designed to elicit growth or change, including biblical parables, myths, legends, and fairy tales (Campbell, 1988). One reason for the broad appeal of metaphor as a means of eliciting growth and change is that it allows new knowledge and ideas to be conveyed using frames of reference that are familiar to the learner (Langer, 1948). By relating a seemingly new idea to something the learner already knows, metaphors give familiarity to the unfamiliar, thus making new information seem less overwhelming and more easily understood (Campbell, 1988). Metaphors also allow people to ascribe affect to language by evoking past emotions (Campbell, 1988). Additionally, Langer (1948) asserted that the metaphoric process of thinking about and describing one thing in terms of another actually helps people create their own new ideas.Because of the utility of metaphor in conveying thoughts and feelings and eliciting growth and change, it is not surprising that metaphor has been used by counselors for decades as a therapeutic tool (Barker, 1985; Barnat, 1977; Gordon, 1978;Martin, Cummings, & Hallberg, 1992) Recently, the use of metaphor has also been extended to the practice of clinical supervision, a critical component to the training and lifelong development of successful counselors (Bernard & Goodyear, 1998). In their review of the supervision literature, Bernard and Goodyear recognized the potential of metaphor tofacilitate supervisee development; however, they also noted that many supervisors are not accustomed to introducing metaphors or metaphoric activities into the supervision session. Bernard and Goodyear suggested that supervisors who are unfamiliar with using metaphors could harness the power of metaphor by using metaphors and metaphoric activities that other supervisors have developed. The purpose of this article is to provide clinical supervisors with a description of the various metaphoric activities that can be used to enhance supervisee development. Additionally, we review research on the efficacy of using metaphors in supervision in order to (a) outline strengths and limitations of these techniques and (b) offer directions for future research in this area.•Literature Review A review of the supervision literature revealed several professional references in which metaphoric activities were suggested as a means for enhancing the supervision experience. These activities can be separated into one of ...

Psikolojik Danışman Adaylarının Yapılandırılmış Akran Grup Süpervizyonu Sürecindeki Metafor Kullanımına İlişkin Görüşleri

“…According to the domains and categories, the participants reported that they gained new perspectives through the use of metaphors in the structured peer group supervision process, and they had a progress in their counseling cognitive skills such case conceptualization, therapeutic skills, and intervention skills. These findings are consistent with the previous research findings (Guiffrida et al, 2007;Robert & Kelly, 2010;Young & Borders, 1999). The previous studies indicated that the use of metaphors during the supervision process provides much contribution in terms of understanding clients and developing hypotheses, forming and developing counseling goals, forming alternative treatment methods, and understanding the relationship between client and counselor.…”

“…In the supervision literature, there are many metaphoric activities which formulated to be used in supervision process such as metaphoric stories and drawings, sand tray, Greek mythology etc. (Guiffrida et al, 2007). These metaphoric activities were intentionally used in supervision by supervisors.…”

Art-Based Supervision Techniques

“…In addition, with the intentional use of metaphors, supervisors and students become more aware of client-generated metaphorical narratives, facilitating client case conceptualization, therapeutic relationship, and intervention strategies (Robert & Kelly, 2010). However, effective use of metaphor in supervision is likely dependent upon a supervisee's ability to think both abstractly and creatively as well as the supervisor's level of skill and comfort with developing appropriate ways of incorporating these techniques (Guiffrida et al, 2007). Jackson, Muro, Lee, and DeOrnellas (2008) advocated for using mandalas (drawings within circles, considered to be healing) in counseling supervision as a way to increase supervisees' self-awareness and to broaden understanding of complicated cases.…”

“…Most of the literature about using art-based methods in supervision claims that artmaking in the supervision context leads to supervisees' increased self-awareness(Deaver & McAuliffe, 2009;Guiffrida et al, 2007;Harter, 2007;Jackson et al, 2008;Newsome et al, 2005). For example, all of the participants in Deaver and McAuliffe's study found that visual journaling facilitated insight about themselves and their clients.Guiffrida and collea- gues (2007) asserted that drawing activities in the context of supervision facilitated ''supervisee self-understanding and awareness'' (p. 393).…”

“…In addition to typical techniques such as use of audiotapes and videotapes, reviewing process notes, and live observation (Bernard & Goodyear, 2004), some of these approaches include Socratic dialogue (Griffith & Frieden, 2000;Overholser, 2004), conversation analysis and discourse analysis (Strong, 2003), journal writing (Griffith & Frieden, 2000;Sutton, Townend, & Wright, 2007;Wright, 2005), and the use of supervisee artmaking in supervision (Guiffrida, Jordan, Saiz, & Barnes, 2007;Newsome, Henderson, & Veach, 2005). In this article, we introduce the topic of art-based techniques in supervision by couching it within a constructivist educational and supervision framework.…”