Quality and supervision in marriage and family therapy internships

Marriage Family Therapy Intern

Marriage and Family Therapy

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY INTERN

Brucker et al. (2005) present an analysis of seven training sites that offer MFT internship opportunities to students. In their analysis, Brucker et al. (2005) discuss the quality of supervision, the environment and context of the training site, the opportunities available to MFT interns for interacting with professionals, supervisors and clients so that they may obtain maximum guidance and practical exposure, as well as the opportunity to pursue education, teaching and research along with their internship. Their study reveals that a number of quality institutions do offer MFT internship opportunities to students by offering direct involvement in the practical environment and sound coaching from the supervisors. Interns are expected to shadow the supervisors and learn from personal application of theory. They should also learn to be self-reliant and schedule their own appointments and other research and teaching engagements. MFT inters also work with professionals from diverse fields such as social work, nursing, law, psychology, and so on.

Barretti & Beitin (2009) discuss an interesting training site for medical and family therapy interns to learn about the practical field and gain confidence and skill. They discuss the scope for MFT internship in an offender reentry facility. Internship at the facility is fruitful because it offers the opportunity to work in an interesting setting and enables the MFT interns to play a significant role in the rehabilitation of the inmates by helping them improve the quality of interpersonal communication and empathy with their intimate spouses and family members. While benefiting from supervision by senior practitioners in a secure environment, there is the risk that MFT interns might come in with negative stereotypes and poor preparation for their own safety. For this, an orientation session is provided to the MFT interns to train them in dealing with the inmates and deflecting invitations and manipulations to engage in self-disclosure. MFT interns get the opportunity to conduct individual, couple and family level sessions with the inmates and their family members. The opportunity to effectively improve the lives of the inmates is the most significant positive outcome of MFT interns at such sites.

Ratanasiripong & Ghafoor (2009) also offer some useful guidelines and lessons from the practical experience of designing and administrating an MFT internship program for students. According to them, the most significant opportunity that the internship program offers is that students or interns are able to put into practices the skills and theories they have learned during their academic coursework. This helps to improve their understanding and they gain confidence. A second benefit of MFT internship programs is that the interns work under the guidance of supervisors who can offer useful feedback that helps interns to develop their conceptual and interpersonal skills. During their internship program, Ratanasiripong & Ghafoor used live supervision through a one-way mirror. Interns were given the opportunity to conduct counseling sessions with individuals, couples and families. These sessions were audiotaped and used by the supervisors to offer feedback. Bug-in-the-year devices and in-cameras were also used to monitor the performance of the interns. Interns also benefited from lectures, case studies and group discussions. At the end of the course, students were evaluated on the basis of a report and through an oral examination.

Bradley et al. (2010) have studied the demographic and professional characteristics of MFT therapists in the United States and Canada to develop a profile that is most likely to be encountered in a practical setting. Their profile shows that a marriage and family therapy professional is most likely to be a non-Hispanic Caucasian female in her fifties. The therapist is likely to have more than ten years of professional experience after completing her professional education and getting a Masters' degree. The therapist is most likely to spend a great part of her day in counseling individuals as well as couples. Group and family counseling is likely to be less common. Working in the field of marriage and family therapy, the therapist is likely to adopt a theoretical framework that emphasizes systemic change instead of simple behavioral modifications.

Personal Intent towards Research Application

I intend to apply the lessons from the reviewed literature during my work as an MFT intern. The most relevant lessons from the study relate to the media through which an MFT intern is expected to gain practical lessons. Therefore, I intend to apply a wide range of methods such as shadowing the supervisor, engaging in group consultation, and attending symposia, lectures and grand rounds on a variety of topics related to my field of study. I also intend to learn much by practically participating in the counseling sessions with my clients. I intend to apply lessons from theory to help my clients solve problems of interpersonal communication, emotion regulation and empathy. I intend to introduce techniques such as mindfulness training to my clients where it may be appropriate to help them affect second-order change on a systemic level rather than focusing on symptomatic problems. I also intend to incorporate yoga and meditation into my therapy after consulting it with my supervisor. I also intend to pursue teaching along with my MFT internship so that I may inform the MFT pedagogy with the practical lessons learnt. This would help to enhance the pedagogy so that concepts may be operationalized to reflect the practical reality. This would help to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the field of marriage and family therapy.