ABSTRACT
The author discusses the importance to balance the theoretical and reflective teaching alongside skill-based experience. Optimally, supervision will: encourage critical reflection; deal with the trainee as a person; encourage them to monitor their context, motives and perception; and develop sensitivity to constructionism, which means challenging any absolute claims to truth with the trainee. Phenomenology requires an ability on the part of the trainee to be attentive to experience the problem. One of the key elements for the trainee is to realize that the client is an ecological individual in the world. The trainee should be aware of how the phenomenological analysis complements conventional antecedent, behaviour consequence (ABC) analysis, where the therapist would be looking for triggers that preceded, maintained and reinforced the act. It is important to provide the trainees with a good understanding of what lived experience means and to help them to devise a good set of interview questions with specific, concrete questions about experience.
