Diane is providing clinical supervision for Leslie, a counselor with a provisional license who is accruing hours toward licensure under Diane’s supervision. One of Leslie’s goals, based on previous feedback, is to be intentional about pacing counseling sessions, with her tendency being to pace sessions too quickly. Diane has reviewed a counseling session in which Leslie is working with an adult male with depressive symptoms, and seems to have fallen into her old pattern as evidenced by her rapid speech, several interruptions of the client, and failing to use silence therapeutically.

In preparing for supervision, Diane could go in a number of different directions. She uses the Discrimination Model to make a decision about how to structure supervision. For each of the scenarios below, you will be asked to identify a role or foci from within the Discrimination Model.

Diane: Leslie, I know that one of your goals is to avoid rushing clients. Would it be ok if we talked about that?

Leslie: Sure, I was wondering about that myself. When I listened to the tape, I noticed that I was interrupting him a lot.

Diane: I noticed that, too, and wonder how this client might feel about this?

Leslie: I’m not really sure.

Diane: At some points when I was listening to the tape, I found myself wondering if he feels like you aren’t always hearing him.

Leslie: I think that is probably true.

Diane: So, how could you better demonstrate that you are really tuned in to him?

Leslie: I could slow done and not talk until he is quiet.

Diane: I agree. In particular, I want you to focus on increasing your wait-time, the time between when he finishes talking and you begin to speak. There is research suggesting that by slowing down his or her responses, a counselor may help a client process more deeply. So, I encourage you to consciously resist the impulse to interrupt him in the next session. As you learned in your skills class, sometimes we need to interrupt clients with intention, but in this case I just want you to consciously wait until he finishes talking, pause, and then respond. I think this might also help you to listen to him more fully and wait until he is finished to form your thoughts about how to respond. What do you think about such an approach?