Emotion-Focused Therapy Supervision

In Emotion-Focused Therapy Supervision, Dr. Leslie Greenberg demonstrates and discusses how to train and teach therapists using this approach to clinical supervision.

Emotion-focused therapy is a process-oriented experiential therapy in which the therapist assists the client to become aware of and access emotion. Supervision in this approach is based on the same fundamental principles as the therapy, with a focus on developing the supervisory relationship and on specific supervisory tasks. Supervision thus involves developing a supervisory alliance and identification of a focus, supervision task markers, what the supervisor's interventions will be at these markers and the supervisee processes they facilitate.

In this program, Dr. Greenberg and his supervisee engage in a supervisory session, and host Dr. Hanna Levenson interviews them about their work together, exploring this model through a discussion of highlights from the demonstration session.

An emotion-focused therapy (EFT) supervisor's main focus is on enhancing the supervisee's process facilitation skills. EFT supervision consists of three components: A focus on the supervisory alliance, a focus on supervisee's interpersonal skills, and a focus on technical skills.

EFT is a process-oriented experiential therapy in which therapists help people become aware of and access emotion. Therapists are viewed as experts, not on the contents of client's conscious or unconscious experience, but on how to facilitate next steps in the clients' experiential process. Clients are viewed as being experts on their own experience whereas the expertise the therapist offers to clients is knowing what to do to facilitate taking a therapeutically-productive next process step.

The expertise the therapist offers is thus an expertise on how to facilitate deeper experience, productive emotional processing, and the creation of new meaning. The supervisor thus first and foremost acts as a trainer, teaching skills of process facilitation. Given the role of the supervisor as trainer, the type of supervision will be geared to the supervisee's level of skill and training.

EFT supervision is based on the same fundamental principles as EFT therapy, that is, on relationship and task. Supervision thus involves developing a safe relationship, a supervisory alliance including the identification of a focus (supervisee's presentation of a dilemma or difficulty), plus the task aspects of identification of supervision task markers (opportunities for supervisory interventions), the supervisor's interventions at these markers, and identification of the resolution of the supervisee's presented difficulty.

As well as engaging in training, the supervisor is a consultant who serves as a resource, encouraging trainees to trust their own feelings and ideas about work with the client. In this aspect, the supervisor adopts a collaborative attitude as opposed to that of being an expert. Engagement and equality are viewed as important and the supervisor balances modeling with encouraging the supervisees to trust themselves. At times, the supervisor acts as a process facilitator of the supervisee's own in-session experience of the client.

Modeling of the skills being taught to convey emotion-focused attitude (showing respect, empathy, genuineness, collaborative problem-solving.) is also important and can be done through this work on the supervisee's own experience.

Leslie Greenberg, PhD, is distinguished research professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada, and was director of the York University Psychotherapy Research Clinic. He has authored the major texts on emotion-focused approaches to treatment, and his upcoming book  is Changing Emotion with Emotion.

Dr. Greenberg is a past president of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), and he is a recipient of the SPR Distinguished Research Career Award and APA's Carl Rogers Award. He conducts a private practice for individuals and couples and offers training in emotion-focused approaches.

• Greenberg, L., & Paivio, S. (1997). Working with emotion in psychotherapy.  New York: Guilford Press.
• Greenberg, L., Rice, L., & Elliott, R. (1993). Facilitating emotional change: The moment-by-moment process. New York: Guilford Press.
• Horvath, A., & Greenberg, L. (Eds.). (1994). The working alliance: Theory, research and practice.  New York: John Wiley.

APA Videos

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Supervision
  Cory F. Newman
• Competency-Based Supervision
  Carol A. Falender and Edward P. Shafranske
• Critical Events in Psychotherapy Supervision
  Nicholas Ladany
• Existential–Humanistic Psychotherapy Supervision
  Kirk J. Schneider
• Feminist Therapy Supervision
  Laura S. Brown
• The Integrative Developmental Model of Supervision
  Brian McNeill
• Relational Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Supervision
  Joan E. Sarnat
• Systems Approach to Psychotherapy Supervision
  Elizabeth L. Holloway

APA Books

• Emotion-Focused Therapy for Depression
  Leslie S. Greenberg, and Jeanne C. Watson
• Learning Emotion-Focused Therapy: The Process-Experiential Approach to Change
  Robert Elliott, Jeanne C. Watson, Rhonda N. Goldman, and Leslie S. Greenberg
• Supervision Essentials for a Systems Approach to Supervision
  Elizabeth L. Holloway
• Supervision Essentials for Emotion-Focused Therapy
  Leslie S. Greenberg and Liliana R. Tomescu
• Supervision Essentials for Psychodynamic Psychotherapies
  Joan E. Sarnat
• Supervision Essentials for the Feminist Psychotherapy Model of Supervision
  Laura S. Brown
• Supervision Essentials for the Integrative Developmental Model
  Brian W. McNeill and Cal D. Stoltenberg
• Working With Narrative in Emotion-Focused Therapy: Changing Stories, Healing Lives
  Lynne E. Angus and Leslie S. Greenberg

• Supervision Essentials for Emotion-Focused Therapy
  

  This book introduces a model of supervision that is founded on the same fundamental principles as emotion-focused therapy therapy: a safe supervisory alliance and relationship, an agreed-upon focus for each supervision session, and the identification of appropriate task markers.