Video: Friendly But Not Friends

Practical Tips: Friendly but Not Friend

The “Friendly But Not Friends” vignette demonstrates how the supervisor-supervisee relationship can become strained when professional boundaries are tested. The vignette demonstrates the value of integrity, responsibility, verbal communication skills, and professional conduct in the clinic.

Small Group Discussions

Individuals can break up into small groups and discuss the topics and issues addressed in this video.

Suggested Questions

1. How can the culture of a fieldwork site and the supervisor’s personality influence a student’s behavior?
2. How important is it to maintain professional boundaries with your supervisor during fieldwork? Is there a time when boundaries can be more flexible?
3. What caused Supervisor Elizabeth to respond the way she did? How can this interaction influence the supervisor-supervisee relationship?
4. As a supervisor, how would you set professional boundaries in the workplace? Should there be guidelines in place for how the supervisor communicates their expectations of students? Can these guidelines be modified over the course of supervision? Why or why not?
5. The client witnessed Supervisor Elizabeth speaking with Student Charlie. How could this interaction influence the client-therapist relationship? How could the client’s perception of staff and students affect future sessions?
6. How can you portray your personality and genuine self while maintaining professional standards with your supervisor and clients?

Role Play

Students can role play this scenario in order to facilitate an understanding of the characters, emotions, and challenges demonstrated in this video.

Video Disclaimer:

These videos contain dramatized content used for educational purposes that do not represent the viewpoints or opinions of the actors, students, the Downstate Occupational Therapy Department, nor SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.