Education Commons^™

Therapists-In-Training Who Experience A Client Suicide: Implications For Supervision, Sarah Knox, Alan Burkard, Julie A. Jackson, April M. Schaack, Shirley A. Hess

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Client suicide is often an extraordinarily painful process for clinicians, especially those still in training. Given their training status, supervisees may look to their graduate programs and supervisors for guidance and support when such an event occurs. This study qualitatively examined the experiences of 13 prelicensure doctoral supervisees regarding their client's suicide. Findings suggest that these supervisees received minimal graduate training about suicide and that support from others, including supervisors, helped them cope with their client's death. Supervisors are advised to normalize and process supervisees' experiences of client suicide. Implications for training and practice are discussed.