“Holding space for you so you can hold space for others.”

Helping therapists see beyond the individual

As an AAMFT-approved supervisor, I provide clinical supervision to therapists through a systemic and relational lens. This role extends beyond deciding what intervention to use; I help therapists understand how clients, relationships, families, larger systems, and the therapeutic relationship influence one another. This approach is helpful because it enables therapists to understand symptoms and distress within the context of relationships rather than viewing the individual as the sole source of the problem.

I encourage therapists to get curious about more than what’s happening inside the client. What’s happening between people? What patterns are unfolding in their relationships? What larger systems are influencing their experience? And what might we, as therapists, be bringing into the space?

This approach aligns with ethical practices:

• Encouraging multiple perspectives can help therapists avoid prematurely defining one person as “the problem” and instead consider interactional patterns, power dynamics, culture, family systems, and contextual stressors.

• A systemic lens invites consideration of how culture, identity, family structure, community, social systems, and lived experiences shape both the client's concerns and the therapeutic process.

• Systemic supervision includes attention to the therapist's use of self, assumptions, emotional responses, and potential biases that may influence treatment.

• By examining the multiple systems involved in treatment, supervisors can help therapists identify competing roles, relational pressures, boundary concerns, and ethical dilemmas.

• A systemic perspective encourages therapists to understand clients within the context of their own values, relationships, and goals rather than imposing the therapist's preferred definition of healthy functioning.