Member-only story
I recently completed an internship at an integrative health clinic serving seriously mentally ill (SMI) communities. While I learned a lot from working with clients, I think I learned even more from working with narcissistic supervisors. I am writing about these lessons as part of my healing journey with the hope that doing so also helps give others insights that can be used to more effectively navigate narcissistic abuse.
I was my initial primary supervisor’s first (and, hopefully, only) supervisee. She greeted me by giving me a tour of the clinic, introducing me to staff, and explaining her expectations. She was the Clinical Director of the location and did not lead by example. For example, every staff member (including me, the unpaid intern) was required to attend a “morning huddle” at 8:30am each morning to share updates that could have otherwise easily been communicated via email. My supervisor, however, only attended this meeting in-person once on my first day; from that point forward she called in and requested to be on speakerphone but also never put herself on mute until she was asked by the frazzled morning huddle leader to do so. I thought this was odd and so did the staff as indicated by frowns and shaking heads.
Initially my supervisor put me on a high pedestal, calling me over regularly to instruct me about things irrelevant…
