Exploring the promotion of youth voice in community-based youth development programmes

This constructivist grounded theory study used semi-structured interviews with 19 youth service providers in community-based youth development programmes to develop a context-specific framework of how and why youth voice promotion occurred. Factors external to the youth programmes, such as funder expectations, influenced the conceptualization of role for youth workers. The social process of meaning making in relation to role identity impacted how youth workers perceived self-efficacy when working with youth, especially when engaged with behaviours falling outside programmatic expectations or norms. Workers prioritized fostering physical and psychological safe spaces for youth participants. When conflict occurred, perceptions of efficacy guided workers in taking positions that either promoted or restricted youth voice based on their perceptions of efficacy in resolving conflict safely. Youth programmes have the capacity to resist or replicate oppression present within the educational system. The adoption and adaptation of educational models of resistance offer a strategy for community-based youth organizations to promote equity and thriving youth.     

Countertransference and its potential for abuse

The definition of countertransference ranges from pathological and inappropriate responses of the psychotherapist/psychoanalyst based on inner issues and conflicts (hence an obstacle to cure) to a position that countertransference feelings and reactions provide useful information in understanding the patient and contribute constructively to the curative process. This later definition can enhance and expand the analytic inquiry. However, with this expanded conceptualization, abuses of countertransference can have damaging impact on the patient. This presentation will undertake to explore one aspect of such abuse and speak to the specific influences that contribute to the misuse of countertransference in the therapeutic situation.     

The therapy-supervision dialectic

It is widely agreed that supervision has an emotional load which should be dealt with in the supervisory relationship as means of increasing effectiveness in the learning process. This situation makes it difficult for the supervisor to keep adequate distance between supervision and therapy. Current literature on this subject offers no tools for this matter. This paper suggests a model that uses some basic ideas derived from Winnicott's thinking. Our model integrates the dynamic forces operating in the supervisory space and can be used as a compass to help the supervisor in his or her movements while preventing crossing the boundary between supervision and therapy.     

The Uses and Abuses of Co-Therapy

The literature on co-therapy suggests increased interest in this treatment procedure. There is some agreement over advantages and disadvantages, but there is also confusion on indications and counter-indications. This paper summarizes the current use and abuse of co-therapy. The reported clinical experiences of several co-therapist teams, including spouse co-therapists, are also discussed. It appears that co-therapy will remain controversial until outcomes are rigorously measured and compared with the results of other therapeutic modalities in a standardized, acceptable way.     

Empathy in clinical social work

This paper explores the meaning of empathy in clinical social work. It differentiates empathy from the related concepts of sympathy, insight, identification, and intuition. It examines the phenomenon of affect transmission, defines different types of empathy, describes major errors and postulates how empathy can be improved. Clinical illustrations are used throughout.     

The downside of managed mental health care

This article provides and analysis of the diffuculties caused by an attempt to combine professional and corporate cultural values in managed mental health care. It encourages the reader to think critically about the ethical, administrative, clinical, and practical issues which invevitably arise when these two cultures collide. It further suggests that although utilization review claims to provide cost-containment and consumer protection, in actuality is exists to protect profit, for the managed care company by providing disincentives for seeking and accessing necessary treatment. Finally, there is an exploration of the manner in which managed care companies manipulate virous segments of the healthcare system against one another in order to maximize profit. An alternative model is suggested.