A Day with a Master of Family Therapy

Robert Mendelsohn, Clinical Director at SCCC, met with Celia Falicov on May 20^th at the Pepperdine Malibu campus to discuss issues of difference, culture, immigration, etc. as they relate to clinical work.  He describes his experience below.

Celia Falicov, Ph.D., met with us last Friday, May 20, at the Pepperdine Malibu campus for an amazing day, going in depth into how and what we talk about in our clinical work around issues of difference, culture, immigration, etc., with our clients and in our supervision groups.  There is literally no encounter with our clients or each other in our multiple clinical settings that does not include considerations of the “borderlands” (her word) between us, ways in which we overlap or differ in our identities, histories, experiences and knowledge.  It’s just that we rarely make it explicit.

We will be using her ideas in our classes and supervisions in the future, employing her easy-to-use model for heightening our awareness of our own identities and those of our clients and supervisors, all overlapping in a rich mosaic.