The experience of strengths based practice and reflexive practice with supervision at the family enrichment centre of Sudbury, Ontario

Abstract

My Master of Social Work practicum took place in a non-­‐profit social service agency with the City of Greater Sudbury called The Family Enrichment Centre. This agency specialized in providing therapeutic mental health services to a cross section of people within the Greater City of Sudbury and surrounding communities.I had two primary goals. The first was to learn different treatment modalities in my clinical work with individuals that fit within the Strengths Perspective. The second was to utilize clinical supervision in its various forms to further develop a reflexive clinical orientation. I was able to build upon my existing experience with treatment modalities I had previously used and to practice some new treatment modalities by using the clinical structures and resources built into the agency. These clinical structures and resources included common intake, assessment and recording tools as well as training opportunities and information on a variety of clinical modalities. I was also able to develop a more reflexive practice through the use of one to one clinical supervision with a clinical psychologist, ad hoc individual supervision/consultation with other therapists and regular group consultation with other therapists. Participation within their anger management group and bi-­‐weekly individual spiritual presentations where each individual therapist shared their unique spirituality provided a work environment with reflection built into it and was in itself a primary tool in building reflexivity into my clinical practice within the Centre.