Consultation
Areas of Expertise
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I offer both individual and group consultation for social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, dance/movement therapists, art therapists, and psychologists. Usually, an individual consultation is for 50 minutes, typically in my office in Ravenswood. There are some people who meet with me for weekly consultation, while others meet bi-weekly or monthly. Regardless of the frequency of our meetings, my goal is to work collaboratively, listening carefully to the questions, themes, or topics identified for consultation. Sometimes, consultation centers around clinical work with specific clients, while other times, the topic or content of a consultation is theme-based. And still at other times, a consultation session might focus on the mechanics of building a successful clinical practice.
In addition, I offer consultation to therapists who work together either co-facilitating groups, co-facilitating training, or co-facilitating family sessions. I also offer consultation sessions for two or more therapists sharing a case; perhaps one therapist sees an individual in a family system while another therapist sees the couple and/or another therapist sees the family. Sometimes coordinating services across providers can be challenging at best, and almost impossible at worst. In being an outside consultant who is not connected with a case, I can sometimes provide structure, support, and a safe space for all providers to share concerns and ensure people are not working at cross-purposes. There are, of course, circumstances when the goals of different people in a shared system are in conflict. In such situations, my goal is to foster a sense of compassion across providers, grounded in the belief that the greater degree of compassion among providers, the greater the degree of compassion among and across the clients who are part of the client system. There are times throughout the year when I offer consultation groups based on a particular theme and/or topic. Typically, these groups are short term, meeting 3-6 months, and have closed membership; that once an identified number of therapists have expressed interest in the group, these are the folks who start and end the group. Such structure fosters relationship building within the group, and enhances trust and safety---important ingredients in an environment whose purpose is to invite growth, which almost always includes some level of discomfort. Sometimes an organization will engage me to provide consultation to a group of their staff. These consultation session might occur in my office, but they are more likely to occur on site at the agency requesting the service. Like other consultation I provide, agency-based consultation might be case-oriented where a client or client system is shared and, in collaboration with other therapists attending the consultation, thoughts are shared about how the presenting therapist might proceed. In other instances, agency-based consultation might be theme based, where common issues staff experience are used as a springboard for conversation. A unique factor in the agency-based consultation I provide is the extent to which I try to integrate an agency’s clinical philosophy---if there is one stated---as part of the consultation. In this way, I can ensure that the conversation is consistent with the values and approach of the organization and/or program within the organization. There are times when I am able to offer continuing education units for the consultation I provide. Please ask me about this if it is something you are interested in |