Dennis Miehls

The Interface of Racial Identity Development with Identity Complexity in Clinical Social Work Student Practitioners

This paper examines the influence that ones racial identity development plays in the overall professional identity development of clinical social work student practitioners. The author discusses race, as a construct, in a post-modern world. Utilizing Saaris (1993, 2000) discussion of identity complexity, the paper demonstrates how the ability to dialogue about issues of race, in a complex and multi-faceted way, is reflective of evolution in ones racial identity development. To further ones identity development, the importance of a dialogical mode of interaction (Bahktin, 1986, 1993) is emphasized.

MSW Students' Views of Supervision: Factors Contributing to Satisfactory Field Experiences

This article summarizes the results of a qualitative study that examined the experiences of Masters in Social Work (MSW) students during their field internships. The authors conducted focus groups in which students were asked to describe those factors which contributed to successful and/or problematic supervisory experiences. Students expressed that clear expectations of supervision, mutual goal setting of the supervision, the students ability to advocate for herself, and the ability to use the supervisor as a mentor were all factors that contributed to successful supervision. Other factors that led to confusion in supervision are noted and, last, implications for field supervision are noted.

The Developmental Model of Supervision as Reflected in the Experiences of Field Supervisors and Graduate Students

Schools of social work invest an enormous amount of time and money training new field instructors to ensure their ability to help students integrate the knowledge, skill, and values of the profession. Some schools, like the one described here, frame their training in the context of a developmental model of supervision. Such models presume that student professional development follows a series of sequential, hierarchical stages from less to more competent and that supervision interventions differ at each stage of development. There is, however, limited empirical support to suggest how supervisors (field instructors) use these models while training MSW students. Using a mixed method design, this study demonstrates that the sampled supervisors assumed different roles and varied their approach to supervision and the type of feedback provided on process recordings, in accordance with developmental models, when working with first- and second-year MSW students. These findings have implications for training field supervisors and for field instruction in general.

Introduction to Neurobiology and Clinical Work

The purpose of this article is to familiarize the readers of this Special Issue of Smith College Studies in Social Work with fundamental theoretical concepts that are elaborated and deepened in the following articles in the journal. We informed our authors that we would provide the introductory framework to neurobiology so as to give them the flexibility to focus with more specificity on their respective topic areas. The dizzying pace of development and advancing literature in a number of converging fields makes the study of neurobiology and clinical work an exciting and daunting task. We recognize that literature from the broad fields of attachment theory, infant research, trauma theory, cognitive neuroscience, relational theory, relational analytic trauma theory, and nonlinear dynamic systems theory (to name a few) are converging in a synergistic and interesting manner. These theories underscore that human beings are resilient and that change is possible across the life cycle, even if individuals have experienced unfortunate traumatic beginnings. We use the term neurobiology to discuss current research findings on brain structure and function(s). We agree with Louis Cozolino (2006) when he suggested that there is no such thing as a “single brain” and that an individual’s brain and mind functions, which effect a multitude of intrapsychic and interpersonal factors, are fundamentally shaped in interaction with other people. There are many implications to this statement—this article illuminates some of these implications, especially as they inform clinical work based on the understanding that the treatment relationship is a central component of change in brain functioning that leads to therapeutic change with a diverse range of clients. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we outline some “brain basics” that give the reader foundational knowledge of neurobiology. Second, we briefly discuss the importance of “relationship” as the foundation for change in brain function.

An Educator's Guide to the Development of Advanced Practice Competencies in Clinical Social Work.

The 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards identified 10 core competencies that all social work graduates should master. MSW programs found themselves with a need to identify knowledge, values, and skill statements that reflected what concentration-year students were expected to know and be able to do. In 2009 a group of educators convened at the Council on Social Work Education in Alexandria, VA to develop a model of advanced practice in clinical social work. This article describes the work groups process; identifies and describes the resulting advanced clinical knowledge, values, and skills statements; discusses the key debates and issues that arose during the development of the statements; and concludes with the implications for social work education and practice.

Neuroscience Insights That Inform Clinical Supervision

This article makes links between neuroscience literature that helps to inform a clinical supervision relationship. There has been a beginning, but limited, application of neuroscience to clinical supervision; this article offers vignettes of supervisory dyads that illustrate how understanding right-hemisphere communications between the supervisor and supervisee can further a more complex understanding of the clinical processes that are being discussed in supervision. The article draws from supervision theory that has been conceptualized using relational theory and trauma theory. The article encourages supervisor and supervisee to pay heed to their bodily reactions when discussing clinical material. Individuals expose their right-hemisphere reactions to the content of the therapy and/or supervisory sessions through a variety of well-known behavioral manifestations, including facial expression, tone, and prosody of the voice; bodily manifestations of anxiety or “tightness” in the chest or stomach; and averted eye glance, to name a few. The vignettes describe supervisory dyads that deconstruct supervisee reactions in the face of working with neo-natal intensive care infants, suicidality, and trauma.

Surrender as a Developmental Achievement in Couple Systems

This article explores the concept of surrender in couple relationships. It proposes that the ability to allow oneself to “surrender” to ones partner is a developmental achievement that enhances intimacy between partners. Rather than conceptualizing the act of surrender as an indication of submissive behavior and/or the abuse of power dynamics in the relationship, it is argued that surrender can be growth promoting for individuals in the context of their relationship. The article expands the conceptualization of Emmanuel Ghents (1990) classic paper that differentiated the concepts of masochism, submission, and surrender. The concepts of the paper are illustrated in a summary of clinical work with a heterosexual couple.

Cacophony, polyphony or fugue: Exploring sociocultural concepts with social work students

Abstract This paper documents some dialogue among the authors that emerged as each taught Master of Social Work students a course in sociocultural concepts. The instructors taught this required course from a common syllabus and the discussion reflects the authors’ experiences in the delivery of the course material. At the time these dialogues took place, the instructors had recently changed the course format. Rather than teaching sociocultural concepts in isolation (eg. a class on sexism, a class on ageism, etc.), the instructors crafted the course content around central themes. Postmodern theories underscore much of the course content, and are synthesized both in this course and across the curriculum with feminist, psychodynamic, and cross‐cultural practice theories. The paper begins by summarizing key post‐modern theories that frame the course. Then, the authors respond to formulated questions that address multiple forms of identity development, ambiguity, and competing student ideologies that are manifest in classroom dynamics. Finally, the authors discuss their respective pedagogical and theoretical views and discuss their classroom experiences.

A Review of “Infant research & neuroscience at work in psychotherapy: Expanding the clinical repertoire”

Judith Rustin, a highly accomplished and seasoned psychoanalyst-clinician, has made a valuable contribution to the ever-expanding and rapidly growing literature that demonstrates how infant research, neurobiological theory, attachment theory, and intersubjective theory (to name a few) influence contemporary psychotherapeutic practice. Her text offers a clear and readily accessible summary of current literature that is gaining increasing legitimacy in the psychoanalytic community. She suggests that the book has three purposes: (1) to summarize and synthesize basic concepts from infant research and neuroscience for clinicians who are unfamiliar with this content; (2) with case examples, to demonstrate how to integrate select concepts from this literature into mainstream psychotherapy; and (3) to invite clinicians to integrate concepts of the book into their own clinical work. She has ably accomplished her three goals. The text contains six chapters, and each chapter intends to expose the reader to essential components of theory that are more thoroughly explored by other authors in related fields. The author is clear that she has purposefully chosen content that she thinks offers a beginning explanation of complex theory to those readers who are less familiar with this literature. A major strength of this text is the author’s utilization of extensive clinical material. She demonstrates an excellent capacity to enliven the theory in her lengthy case descriptions. I was able to glean a real sense of the author’s clinical work and the examples leave no doubt that her integration of theory into practice has altered her approach to clinical work. Her patients benefit from this shift in Rustin’s practice; the case examples clearly demonstrate considerable change in oftentimes difficult and highly defended and resistant clients. Her skills as a clinician are abundantly evident and the author notes to the reader how her thinking and practice has shifted as a result of her openness to working in the “implicit” realm in psychotherapy. Chapter 1 (“Contributions from Infant Research: Selfand Mutual Regulation”) is framed in the idea that psychotherapy dyads are formed with two individuals with their own separate subjectivities and yet the therapeutic dyad forms a unit of engagement. The author gives a broad grasp of brain