Stellar Supervision Series: Supporting Supervisee Boundaries with Clients

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Stellar Supervision Series is a video series featuring clinical supervisors who provide empowered leadership ideas that shape the field of mental health. Erica’s video interview on supporting supervisees with client boundaries can be found here.

Hi Erica! We are so glad to have you in this series! Tell our viewers who you are and what you do! Why do you offer Supervision? 

My name is Erica Johnson, and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Addiction Counselor, Approved Clinical Supervisor, EMDR Certified, and an EMDRIA Approved Consultant. I specialize in complex and attachment trauma, substance use, and depression. I work with adult individuals in my teletherapy practice and provide supervision and consultation to professionals. I love providing supervision as I love teaching others while also helping them to grow and develop as individuals and professionals. I think it’s important to give back to others, and I want to help newer Clinicians in the field feel more confident in their skills and working with Clients. I also want to empower Clinicians to think and work ethically so they are providing good clinical care to clients.

You speak about the importance of supervisee boundaries with clients. Why is this important to you?

Boundaries are important to me because I had to learn the hard way of why they are necessary especially when working in the mental health field. Working harder than my clients put a lot of stress on my body that negatively impacted my ability to function at my best for myself, my family and friends, co-workers, and other clients on my case load. Being a mental health therapist can be very tiring and overwhelming and having healthy boundaries can help us manage and prevent burnout and compassion fatigue. It allows us to be able to be the best version of ourselves for ourselves, others, and especially our clients.

What does this challenge look like in supervision?

I think we all have maybe struggled with the rescuing complex and wanting to help clients as much as we can, and I especially see that struggle with Clinicians who are newer to the field as there’s maybe this unrealistic and unhealthy expectation that they can change or save their clients. I think it’s important that as supervisors we help our supervisees define what it means to be a therapist and how we can show up for our clients because not having healthy boundaries with clients can cause more harm to them.

What ideas do you have for supervisors or supervisees to practice healthy boundaries with clients? Skills or questions to ask?

I always ask my supervisees, “what is your role and responsibility” in any given situation and their values, beliefs, and understanding of what it means to be a mental health therapist. Good reminders to have, especially if you work with adults, is that your clients are adults and they have made it this far in life without you and will continue to be able to survive on their own if they choose to end or disengage in therapy or if you stop being a therapist. I think it’s also important to remind ourselves that we are modeling healthy behaviors for clients when we set and maintain healthy and consistent boundaries, especially for clients who were not shown what healthy boundaries can look like.

Where can people find you to work with you? (social, website etc)

My website is www.journeytojoycounseling.org and email address is erica@journeytojoycounseling.org