Sitting In: The Experience of Learning and Practicing Family Therapy through Being a Co-Therapist in Hong Kong |
| |
Authors: | Lily L. L. Xia Joyce L. C. Ma |
| |
Affiliation: | Social Work Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territory, Hong Kong |
| |
Abstract: | This article explores family therapy trainees’ subjective experiences of working as cotherapists with a supervisory-level therapist in a Chinese context, regarding their perceptions of and positioning in it and also their opinions on the benefits and/or pitfalls of cotherapy. Individual interviews with a total of six cotherapists revealed three themes: (1) Cotherapy was perceived as an experiential learning journey that evolved from anxiety and excitement to empowerment and nurturing; (2) a collaborative master–apprentice relationship of openness, trust, and mutual respect was developed with both sides’ interactive effort, which included common commitment and concern for the client, the supervisor’s awareness and explicit address of the role hierarchy, principle setting prior to the cooperation, and honest pre- and-postsession sharing and discussion; (3) the dual-purpose supervisor–trainee cotherapy brought direct benefits for all involved parties and for others. The findings have useful implications for integrating treatment and training for optimal training/learning outcomes and for advancing knowledge transfer from senior to junior and from academia to the field, with reference to local cultural characteristics. |
| |
Keywords: | Cotherapy Supervisor–trainee collaboration Family therapy training Chinese culture coterapia colaboración entre el supervisor y el practicante capacitación en terapia familiar cultura china 共同治疗 督导-参训学员合作 家庭治疗培训 中国文化 |
|
|