Sociocultural attunement refers not only to awareness of societal systems, culture, and power, but a willingness to pay close attention and be responsive to the experience of others.
Supervising those who are preparing to practice independently in a diverse world—to be effective, compassionate, equity-based professionals—requires that we attend to the impact of societal systems and power not only on family dynamics, but on the supervisory system itself. Sociocultural attunement is paramount to navigating the many practical and ethical considerations in supervision that support just and equitable relationships.
In this workshop, presenters Carmen Knudson-Martin, PhD, LMFT, and Teresa McDowell, EdD, LMFT will share updates based on their latest work, including the 2nd edition of their book: Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy: Guidelines for Equity in Theory and Practice .
This includes practicing and providing supervision from a third-order perspective, which connects the dots between societal systems, cultural practices, and power dynamics that impact relationships between family members; therapists and families; and therapists, families, and supervisors.
Topics addressed in this workshop will include:
- Social determinants of health, health equity, and individual/family wellbeing
- Why sociocultural attunement is core to successful therapy and supervision
- A model for applying the transtheoretical concepts of third-order thinking and third-order change
- Guidelines for practicing socioculturally attuned supervision
- Video examples of practicing socioculturally attuned therapy and supervision
Following this workshop, participants will have the ability to:
- Be better able to describe the concepts of 1st, 2nd and 3rd order thinking and change,
- Describe why sociocultural attunement is foundational to effective therapy and supervision,
- Define six guidelines for using sociocultural attunement in supervision, and
- Identify at least one way they can apply sociocultural attunement to their clinical practice and/or supervision.
Carmen Knudson-Martin, PhD, LMFT, is a professor emerita of Marital, Couple, and Family Therapy at Lewis & Clark Graduate School. She has published over 100 articles and chapters on the influence of the larger sociocultural context in couple and family relationships and the political and ethical implications of therapist actions on marital equality, relational development, and couple therapy. She was the 2017 recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice award from the American Family Therapy Academy.
Teresa McDowell, EdD, LMFT, is a professor emerita of Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy at Lewis & Clark Graduate School. Teresa currently serves as a social researcher, program evaluator, and consultant with Partners in Social Research. She is the co-founder and principal of the Advanced Career On-line Resource Network. She was the 2022 recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice award from the American Family Therapy Academy.
