The Briar Patch:  Thorny Challenges for Directors
Regression in Student Clinicians And Directors, Too
Vic Pantesco, Ph.D.
 
The Thorn
As doctoral students have been getting younger the developmental snags Directors may encounter have likewise assumed younger proportions. In particular, when fairness or disciplining (did I really use that word?) come into the picture, students may react in identifiable regressions. For example, if a student whose maturity has recognizable growth ahead of it perceives that another student may have "unfairly" been allowed to take an extra day to visit a sick family member, this may evoke some immature well-learned behavior in the offended. This may take the form of stirring up the troops or otherwise energizing the gossip mill.
Recently I overheard a student (I say "overheard" but it was down the corridor and the student was obviously not speaking in a stage whisper) complaining to another student that next time she was going to make sure her notes were in really early so that "Vic won't yell at me." I checked with my trusty administrative assistant who has worked with me for 12 years if she had ever heard me "yell." No. I didn't think I had, but I am prone to selective recall. This particular student was also older and, I suspect, therefore caught up in the regressive pull. It is always interesting to me when I observe the parental and family language that displays some of these dynamics.
On a good day I can more quickly put such things into perspective and not spin into impatient reacting or descending quickly on my dark chocolate stash. On such days there is a particular settling and teaching help I have used.
 
To Ease the Pain
As with many of the "thorns" the tool has been good communication, which essentially has effective content and effective delivery. As for the delivery, as some of you have heard in presentations and also has been written here, the combination of benign matter-of-factness, humor, and simple human visibility are most useful. For example, in the instances mentioned above I raised these in our weekly team meeting. But, my access was not through the specific cases in question. I inserted into our processing of events in the week, reflections on our team interactions, offering something along the lines of: "…, and when people may have a complaint but do not bring it forward and instead take it out into the hallways, then we can set up interactions and behaviors that take us all back to middle school. Ugh.  So, once again, please do bring concerns to me or your supervisor directly before these dynamics get invoked or my name shows up on a bathroom wall."
So far, my experiences been students find they can chuckle, experience some relief, and-not the least important for me-it usually makes it much more difficult for the less maturely inclined to engage regression.  Self care in action.

                                                                                                             

                                                                              Vic getting some much needed therapy from his
                                                                                     rock troll therapist on Block Island, RI