Self-Disclosure, Separation, and Students: Intimacy in the Clinical Relationship

Abstract

I met most of my clinic students for the first time at an informal coffee hour my colleague and I arranged at the beginning of the new semester, before the first clinic class. Although the event was designed to allow the students to meet each other, it seemed a little awkward because I was trying to meet the students for the first time also, and this was an unfamiliar role for me. I usually came to a new school year having at least met all of my clinic students, because I have been involved in selecting them to participate in the clinic, and the clinic's selection process includes a personal interview. I had not met most of these students, however, because I had been on maternity leave when they had been selected.