Apr 12, 2021
Bilingual Supervision
An interview with Adriana Rodriguez, LMFT, about how to support bilingual, bicultural therapists. Curt and Katie talk with Adriana about her experiences as a clinician as well as her perception of the systemic concerns that bilingual/bicultural therapists face. We also dig into common work challenges for these clinicians, the ethical and competency concerns monolingual supervisors face, and specific action steps for individuals and organizations to increase the quality of supervision and training for these clinicians.
It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.
Interview with Adriana Rodriguez, LMFT (She/Her/Ella)
Adriana Rodriguez (She/Her/Ella) is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, she obtained a BA in Sociology from Sacramento State and a MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco. Adriana is a bilingual, queer, Salvadorian immigrant woman who is passionate about destigmatizing mental health. Adriana’s lens is intersectional, she is passionate about understanding how intergenerational trauma compounded with personal trauma impacts the mental health of first-generation adult children of immigrants and QTBIPOC. Adriana works with individuals and dyads in private practice in Sacramento, CA.
In this episode we talk about:
- Adriana’s story as a bilingual, bicultural therapist who immigrated from El Salvador
- Experiences of immigration, learning English, and trauma
- Criticism, bias, and navigating a different culture
- The impacts of uninformed supervision on bilingual or monolingual clients
- The requirement to build one’s own tools (i.e., translating documents)
- What is getting lost in translation – linguistic, cultural, etc.
- The importance of understanding context
- The power differential within the clinical supervision
- How do I level the playing field and share the power?
- Sharing knowledge (rather than seeing the supervisor as the only person who has knowledge in the relationship)
- Acknowledging and talking about differences
- Ethical concerns and supervisor responsibility
- The systemic challenges that bilingual clinicians can face in getting hired or promoted
- The need for greater diversity in leadership roles
- The idea of “first generation everything”
- The make up of the job for bilingual clinicians
- Survivor guilt – immigrating, learning English, education, and making it professionally
- The identification and desire to empower clients that remind you of yourself, your family members
- The exploitation of that desire by agencies who do not have sufficient bilingual clinicians
- How frequently bilingual clinicians have large caseloads and not sufficient compensation or matching or curating of caseloads
- The risk for burnout for these clinicians
- The complexity of translation
- The need for more research around the impacts of monolingual supervisors providing supervision on bilingual clinicians (as well as the impacts on monolingual or bilingual clients)
- The constant need for self-awareness and re-examining your bias
- Making sure to understand the differences between personality and culture
- Adjusting case conceptualization, looking at the triad of supervisor-clinician-client
Our Generous Sponsor
Practicery
Practicery is a graphic design company for therapists that was founded by Kimberly and Justin Slagle - a husband and wife team who are passionate about authentic, purposeful, custom visual branding and web design that’s made to match you (not your neighbor and everyone else down the block). Their combined experience in design, marketing, and the mental health field are perfectly aligned to help you create a look and feel for your business that will showcase your authentic style, expertise, and make your ideal client not only say, “I’ve found the one!” but feel it from the second they interact with your brand.
Every visual representation of your brand is an opportunity to build a genuine connection with your ideal client. From your logo, to your beautifully and strategically designed website. But if you’re getting lost in the crowd or haven’t quite found your footing yet, you could be missing out on those big ol’ juicy pay days. Or at the very least, helping more people!
Visit Practicery’s website at practicery.com to schedule a free phone consult and learn more about how their awesome team can help kick your marketing up a notch, or ten.
And join Practicery’s Facebook Group Therapists Who Brand for lots of great branding + marketing resources, expert advice, and networking opportunities.
*Mention this podcast episode to get $100 off your purchase of either a full branding or website package
Resources mentioned:
We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance!
Find Adriana on social media (Instagram, Clubhouse, Facebook)
Instagram: AdrianaRodriguezTherapy
Facebook: Adriana Rodriguez Therapy
https://www.adrianarodrigueztherapy.com/
Relevant Episodes:
Bridging Cultural and Communication Differences in a Bilingual Psychotherapy Practice
Getting the Supervision You Want
Giving and Getting Good Supervision
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Who we are:
Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com
Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also Past President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com
A Quick Note:
Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We’re working on it.
Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren’t trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don’t want to, but hey.
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Credits:
Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/
Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/