ABSTRACT
Therapists working with couples and individuals with infidelity issues may need supervision from a clinician with experience and proven interventions. Infidelity presents unique challenges in therapy. The therapist must know how to treat the issue and have a clear plan for each of the three identifiable stages of infidelity recovery. Therapists must also be aware of potential countertransference issues and how to utilize that self-knowledge to enhance the therapeutic relationships as opposed to harming them. Finally, supervisors must work through their own countertransference issues in order to effectively guide their supervisees. The author uses a case study of a couple who has experienced infidelity to illustrate the approach and the supervision of the treating therapist. The supervision is critical to the success of the treatment plan of the therapist. The methodology includes a step-by-step rationale and suggestions for specific questions that should be asked at each level of the intervention: of the client(s), of the therapist/supervisee, and of the supervisor themselves. The result of this particular approach, based on the author’s seminal work on the topic, covered in her book The New Monogamy, is that the therapist and the clients both come to appreciate monogamy on a spectrum. The clients and establish a consciously crafted monogamy agreement to create a new relationship, stronger than prior to the infidelity.
