Antioch New England Professor of Clinical Psychology Dr. Lorraine Mangione chaired the Massachusetts Psychological Association (MPA) Training Committee’s Conference on Clinical Supervision. Held on June 8, 2022, in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the conference was entitled Competency-Based Approaches and Social Justice Contexts. As Director of Practica and past Chair of the MPA’s Training Committee, Mangione spearheaded the conference along with a committee of faculty and supervisors from major training sites in the greater Boston area.
“Supervision is an extremely critical competency area and role for many doctoral level psychologists, and there are not a lot of opportunities for clinical supervisors to engage in advanced learning about supervision,” said Mangione. “Yet the field has grown, changed, and deepened over the last several years and all supervisors need ‘updating’ and opportunities for moving beyond ‘adequate’ supervision.”
The committee was able to get a special grant from APA’s Board of Educational Affairs to help with the costs and put on the in-person, sold-out conference. Attention to research and skills around best practices in supervision, and a focus on diversity and social justice, as well as audience participation and involvement, all contributed to make this an outstanding conference.
Fourth-year PsyD student Abigail Bliss participated as a panel member where she alluded to infant development and attachment theory. She highlighted the importance of the supervisory relationship and alliance and encouraged supervisors to recognize their power and leverage it in ways that will empower their supervisees’ development.
“I so enjoyed being one part of this panel,” said Bliss. “As I consolidated many of my most meaningful reflections on supervision, I witnessed and was exposed to the salient, and different perspectives of three other students and two moderators, all who were new to me. Our collaboration was generative and harmonious, and our moderators led warmly and with clarity.”
During the panel Bliss reflected on the vulnerability that many supervisees feel, and how a strong supervisory alliance can encourage greater levels of disclosure, less withholding of information, and fewer experiences of shame. She concluded by considering how the benefits of a strong supervisory alliance are manifold and ripple in all directions—as the supervisee flourishes, clients will receive the best treatment possible.
Keynote speakers for the event were Edward Shafranske, PhD, ABPP: Beyond the Usual: Best Practices in Clinical Supervision, and Treniece Lewis Harris, PhD: Contemporary Clinical Supervision: Reflections on Cultural Humility, Intersectionality & Social Justice.
“People just seemed so ecstatic to be meeting in person and talking about such intensely relevant topics, as well as just being together in this collegial and casual way that we have all missed so much,” added Mangione. “The Conference Committee, MPA staff, and MPA Training Committee members set the stage, the excellent presenters gave us so much to consider, hear, play with, absorb, question, and wonder about, and those who attended offered themselves, their questions and insights, their feelings and perspectives, their enthusiasm and excitement.”
