Luft, Toupey
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- ItemEnhancing clinical supervisors' compassion satisfaction through mentoring mental health clinicians(Mentoring Institute, 2023) Luft, Toupey M.; LaRocque, K. M.The overall purpose of the study was to generate an increased understanding of clinical supervisors’ (those supervising mental health clinicians) experiences of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue and to obtain their views on how these affect their supervisory and clinical practice. Further, our purpose was to develop recommendations for enhancing the relationships between clinical supervisors and the mental health clinicians they supervise. This study used a hermeneutic phenomenological (HP) approach. HP is well established as a language-based methodology that allows for meaning generation through qualitative interviews (Moules et al., 2015). We conducted in-depth interviews with nine clinical supervisors in the mental health field. We transcribed these interviews verbatim and analyzed them for underlying meaning using HP. We used research team reflexive practices as well as follow-up participant interviews to ensure trustworthiness. One of the key findings was that clinical supervisors felt more satisfied (and by extension less fatigued) in their roles when they had the opportunity to mentor less experienced mental health clinicians. They highlighted the joy that this brought them and how it allowed them to navigate the demands of complex systems where cutbacks were the norm. Mentoring junior clinicians was a way to encourage clinician development and to enhance the supervisory alliance. This study adds to our knowledge about clinical supervision relationships via the supervisory alliance, the developmental relationship between supervisors and therapist supervisees. There is an abundance of research on the perspectives of therapists, but we do not know much about how supervisors experience this supervisory alliance. This study also adds to the literature on clinical supervision by explicating how mentorship can affect supervisees as well as clients by extension through parallel processes (Tracey et al., 2012).
- ItemIntuition in counseling: implications for humanistic practice(Wiley, 2023) Bryant, Krystal; Luft, Toupey M.This phenomenological study focused on how counselorsexperienced instances of intuition in their practice. Fourcounseling psychologists were interviewed about theirintuitive experiences and four main themes emerged. Thefindings are discussed along with ethical and humanisticconsiderations regarding counselors accessing and usingintuition.
- ItemEngaging the reflexive self: the role of reflective practice for supporting professional identity development in graduate students(CreateSpace, 2016) Luft, Toupey M.; Roughley, RobertReflective practice can enhance the professional identity development (PID) of graduate students. Struggling with one’s self-awareness and related academic assignments are part of a necessary process for ensuring student success as developing professionals. Yet, there are many salient barriers that can interfere with graduate students undertaking this process. Graduate students need to have the opportunity to engage in a reflective process, but they also require emotional safety to take the risks required. Appropriate faculty involvement and modeling of desired qualities is also fundamental. Strategies are suggested to address student needs.
- ItemThe use of EMDR therapy for couples considering divorce: theory and practice(Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, 2016) Luft, Toupey M.Since its introduction in 1989, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) has gained a solid body of evidence for its efficacious use in treating trauma and its effects. The process of divorce is likely to activate what is known as “small t” trauma reactions in each individual of the couple. “Small t” traumas are responses to common life difficulties such as divorce or unemployment, and usually bring out irrational cognitions and inadequate ability to cope with certain events. Recent years have seen a surge of interest in investigating how EMDR therapy may be used for these more common traumas that can have a strong impact on individuals and couples. In particular, this article outlines the use of EMDR with an expository case of a couple considering divorce after an affair. The article presents research support for EMDR as a psychotherapy model for both “capital T” and “small t” traumas. The expository case is considered, and clinical decision-making from an EMDR-based approach integrated with body-focused interventions is delineated. Finally, a call for future research is included.
- ItemAdolescents negotiating romantic relationships in a culturally diverse, urban community(University of Victoria, 2017) Cameron, Catherine A.; Luft, Toupey M.; Dmytro, Dana; Kubiliene, Neringa; Chou, WinniIn this study we examined the negotiation of romantic relationships by urban youth, as discussed in focus groups, in a multicultural community. We compared these urban-student findings for an emergent fit with previously reported findings from more homogeneous groups of rural students. The unifying category, wrestling with gender expectations, which was identified in the rural studies, also emerged in the present study. A new unifying category represented urban participants’ balancing cultural expectations in the contexts of their families and social groups. Three categories from the former rural studies emerged in the present urban study: making sacrifices, showing respect, and standing up for oneself; and a new category emerged: communicating. While the rural students identified media as critical contextual conditions for romantic relationships, the current urban teens identified digital and social media as crucial contextual conditions in dating relationships. Together, these findings suggest the importance of considering cultural and contextual aspects of youths’ dating processes for developing a grounded theory that reflects aspects of teens’ relational lives. Implications of this emergent theory are explored, and directions for future research are suggested.