 |
few years ago, a study of the practice of
psychotherapy showed that the therapist’s choice of theory and technique were not
predictive of whether clients got well. |
| Although the therapists felt these choices
were extremely important, what seemed to impact client improvement was the nature of the
relationship between the client and the therapist. My speculation is that this is true for
massage therapy, as well. As a group we are hungry for techniques. We ask for
continuing education that emphasizes hands-on experience and we push our regulators to
authorize curricula that are weighted towards practice rather than lecture hours. Yet
there’s more to being an excellent therapist than being a good technician; massage is
an art and a craft. The art of massage therapy is in the relationship.
As a profession, we have only recently begun to pay attention to the client-therapist
relationship, through our emphasis on ethics education. It is extremely important for
practitioners to understand the potential for harm to the client that exists in the
inherent power differential between client and therapist. The client is present to be
helped, which can imply weakness or passivity. The therapist is present to help, with the
implication being that she can help by virtue of special training and skills, and must
also be responsible for the safety of the interaction. But ethics are not the only
ingredient of professional responsibility.
Growing into a responsible and mature therapist can’t be done in isolation.
Working alone it is not only possible to become complacent, to normalize one’s own
quirks and habits, but also possible to drift into muddied waters of communication without
an easy route back to clarity. We are not inherently bad; we simply need more sources of
reflection than our own perceptions. To fully develop as therapists we need at least one
other set of eyes and ears educated about the client-therapist interaction and the nature
of massage therapy.
Once we know what to do with our hands, we must develop awareness of our personal
theories about what we do. We begin to understand ourselves in the therapist’s role
by grappling with issues such as what it means to be a helper, how responsible we feel
when clients do "or do not" improve, what personal meaning we make if a client
is routinely late or continually forgets his checkbook. Most of us, if we are to last in
the field, come to terms with the presence of sexual feelings and know how we will respond
to the challenge. But other feelings may arise for us in the therapeutic encounter such as
anger, disappointment, jealousy, loss, or guilt. We need to look at ourselves enough to
know when we would find these feelings disturbing or inappropriate and to know how we
would respond to these challenges. |
|
The process of sharing work
stories with other practitioners is called "supervision" in other professions.
The word conjures clipboards and reprimands, so it helps to think of the word
"mentoring" in its place. Social workers, psychotherapists, and nurses must
document a certain number of supervised hours, often in the thousands, in order to be
licensed. In some cases, the supervision takes the form of direct observation, Most often,
though, it is done in groups, or one-on-one, as the presentation of cases with responses
from the senior practitioner or the peer group.
I think one of the reasons that we still lack credibility among
certain regulators and other professions is that we don’t, as a matter of course,
invite others to hear about our work. Self-assessment is a hallmark of any profession. The
public cedes to a profession certain rights and expects the professionals to hold to a
higher standard of self-discipline, in exchange. Supervision is an activity that can help
us catch problems before they develop.
Supervision has not been our practice. Yet, I have found that massage
therapists often jump at the chance to discuss their disturbing cases, incidences when
they’ve been perplexed by client communications of feelings. We are also anxious to
hear about each other’s experiences and solutions that others may have found to both
practical and theoretical conundrums. But mentoring is not our habit. Supervision is not
the expectation of the laws we’ve participated in creating. Most schools, even those
with clinics, don’t build the expectation in newly trained therapists that they will
be engaging in a thoughtful examination of their work with peers or a mentor, in groups or
individually, for the rest of their professional lives.
Beyond increasing the profession’s credibility in the eyes of
lawmakers and other professionals, the practice of supervision can build community for us.
We have more in common than we often recognize in these days of increasing specialization.
Our great strength lies in our awareness of what we share and how we can support each
other. Whatever our preferred techniques and theories, all practitioners have in common
the client-therapist encounter.
It is a great gift to be able to look at the events and patterns in my practice with
colleagues who care that I blossom into my potential as a therapist. The profession and
our clients will be greatly served when we have developed a model of supervision that is
well-matched to the unique nature of massage therapy, and we share the expectation that we
can all help each other become fully developed.
[See Page 64,Ed.]
Adela T. Basayne
Portland, Oregon
Letter From the Editor
The Joy of Massage Therapy
Web Editor’s Comment: Adela makes a great point about sharing with
each other. It is easy to share your experiences with other members and new students on
the AMTA web site by going to the "Web Board Conference Room" in the
Members’ Section.
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