Speaking of Service...

My friend and colleague Judy McGehee MA, LMFT (www.mcgeheepartners.org) along with Ted Aaselund LMFT have been providing clinical supervision (completing hours for graduation and/or eventual licensure) for a great group of interns and trainees at Judy's office in Glendora, California.  They have been providing sometimes up to 40 hours of services to local schools with these Masters level folk to students and families who might not get these services at all otherwise.

I have been truly humbled by the work of these people, and lucky to get to participate in part of the supervision.  We have been discussing the obvious concerns about professional standards, law and ethics concerns, types of interventions, philosophy, differential diagnosis, addiction, depression, abuse and etc.  What has been so remarkable though is the intensity of the losses and difficulties these students and families have had, but equally, the grace and commitment of the interns and Judy insuring that these folk get taken care of.

It appears now that eventually, on top of the individual services that are being provided to the educational institutions, students, and families, there may be an opportunity for a multi-family group therapy at low cost for these individuals.  This is such a great service, but sadly, there is no funding available for this to happen (space may be made available at a school).  Of course I can't discuss the details but, there have been some huge losses for these families that they are getting little support for treating from a public standpoint, the responsibility of both the service and the internship being largely on the shoulders of Judy and the interns, a little on Ted and I (as we didn't take this on from the beginning).  The families served aren't just getting low-level services- they are getting truly insightful, wise, professional services thanks to the good heartedness of the people involved.

Providing clinical supervision is such an important part of what I'm lucky enough to get to do.  It means much to me that I'm in a place where I'm not just empowered to help people, but that I am empowered to help people, who can further be of service to others.  What I do, I hope, matters a great deal, and the opportunity to share some of that with other people who might further use some of that to help yet other people is amazing.