Skillful and Ethical Self-Disclosure in Clinical Practice and/or Supervision

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Short Description

A practical workshop that reframes self-disclosure as a clinical skill—one that can be assessed, practiced, modeled, and refined. Rather than avoiding disclosure out of fear (or using it without reflection), participants will learn a simple, usable framework to support intentional decisions about *if, when, and how* to disclose in supervisory relationships. Participants will explore common concerns clinicians hold about oversharing, timing, impact, and professional boundaries. Participants will examine the risks and benefits of self-disclosure in both client work and clinical supervision, with a focus on how supervisors can model ethical, developmentally supportive disclosure.

Learning Objectives

• Describe self-disclosure as an ethical, intentional clinical skill in supervision, including common concerns (oversharing, timing, impact, and boundaries).
• Apply a simple decision-making framework to evaluate when self-disclosure is clinically useful in supervision and when it may create risk.
• Identify and practice supervisor and supervisee self-disclosure strategies that strengthen the supervision alliance and support clinical development and professional growth.

Each topic can be adapted to your audience, timeframe, and delivery format, with a minimum of 1 hour of instruction. The summary on this page is intentionally brief; detailed descriptions, learning objectives, and sample agendas are available upon request.