Teaching Clinical Competence

Abstract

This Commentary is written from my experience as a teacher of Emily Liu in a graduate clinical psychology course focusing on the training of psychotherapy skills. Liu took the class simultaneous to seeing the case of TC, and she utilized the class to develop her approach to the case, including conceptualization and formulation; the processing of her emotional, "countertransferential" reactions to the client; the devising of intervention strategies with the client; reflection upon the process; and writing about the case. These processes are reviewed in the context of the course and issues raised by the nature of the case material itself. A synergistic overlap is reviewed among (a) the skills taught in the course, (b) an emerging national consensus on core clinical skills developed at the 2002 Scottsdale "competency conference," and (c) the competencies required to function in Peterson's "disciplined inquiry" paradigm, which is the model underlying the structure of the case studies in this PCSP journal. It is this overlap which provided to Liu very targeted and effective preparation in graduate school for the development of her impressive case study in this journal.