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SUPERVISION IN COUNSELING

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 CHAPTER - 11

SUPERVISION IN COUNSELING

Topics Covered
Supervision
Types of Supervision
Roles and Responsibilities of Supervisor
Who Needs Supervision
Benefits of Supervision
Goals for Supervision
372 Supervision in Counseling

SUPERVISION
Supervision is a professional service which encourages the counselor in the process of
self awareness whilst facilitating self-learning which results in ongoing
professionalism. Working under supervision means that a counselor uses the services
of another more experienced and qualified counselor to review their counseling
practice with clients. Supervision also considers the ethical professional development,
and often the personal development of the counselor. Working under supervision
means that a counselor uses the services of another more experienced and qualified
counselor to review their counseling practice with clients. Supervision also considers
the ethical professional development, and often the personal development, of the
counselor. Supervision is a professional service which encourages the counselor in the
process of self awareness whilst facilitating self-learning which results in ongoing
professionalism. The supervisor, in this relationship, acts as a consultant.
A variety of definitions for supervision exist. Bernard and Goodyear (1998) offer this
definition that has come to be accepted within the counseling profession -
“Supervision is an intervention that is provided by a senior member of a profession to
a junior member or members of that same profession. This relationship is evaluative,
extends over time, and has the simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional
functioning of the junior member(s), monitoring the quality of professional services
offered to the clients she, he, or they see(s), and serving as a gatekeeper of those who
are to enter the particular profession”. Within the definition, there is mention of
several components of supervision -
 Supervision is an intervention: There are unique competencies and skills involved
in supervision that allow the supervisor to help the supervisee. Models of
supervision exist that provide a framework for the process. In addition,
supervisors incorporate various modes and interventions to facilitate supervisee
development. Awareness of these models, modes, and interventions will help the
supervisee understand the underlying processes of supervision and therefore, be a
more active participant in the supervision process. A dialogue can develop
between supervisor and supervisee as a means to share personal styles and
preferences for frameworks and interventions to be used in supervision.
 Supervision is provided by a senior member of a profession: A clinical supervisor
is more advanced, at least in some important ways, than the supervisee. During
fieldwork experiences, supervisors typically include a course instructor and an
individual clinical supervisor. Depending on the level of the fieldwork experience
and the program, the clinical instructor may be the course instructor or other
Essentials of Counseling 373

professor from the training program, a doctoral student from the training program,
and/or a professional counselor affiliated with the site at which the student is
engaged in the fieldwork experience. It is important that the supervisee understand
the roles and expectations of each supervisor.
 Supervision is a relationship that extends over time: The process of supervision
occurs within the relationship established between the supervisor and supervisee.
It is important to keep in mind that both the supervisor and supervisee contribute
to the relationship and have responsibilities within the process. As assumption of
supervision is that it will last long enough for some developmental progress of the
supervisee. Supervision is differentiated from brief interactions (such as
workshops), and consultation that, by definition, is time and session limited,
although all of these interactions share common goals (e.g., training in a skill,
clarification of process, regaining objectivity). The fact that supervision is
ongoing allows for the relationship to grow and develop. The importance of the
supervisory relationship has received much attention in supervision literature.
While not the sole determinate of the quality of supervision, the quality of the
relationship between the supervisor and supervisee can add or detract from the
experience. It is important that the ‘relationship’ aspect of supervision not be
overlooked or neglected. The elements necessary in the relationship are - Warmth;
Trust; Genuineness; Ethical boundaries; Confidentiality; and Respect. Supervision
involves maintaining a relationship as well as giving attention to the skills and
process of the supervisee.
 The supervisor evaluates, monitors, and serves as a gatekeeper: In addition to
enhancing the professional functioning of counselors, supervisors have an ethical
and legal responsibility to monitor the quality of care that is being delivered to the
supervisee’s clients. In order to enhance the professional functioning of the
supervisee and assure quality of care, the supervisor constantly monitors and
provides feedback regarding supervisee performance. This formative evaluation
forms the basis of the work done in supervision. The supervisor also serves as a
gatekeeper for those who want to enter the counseling profession. The supervisor
is charged to evaluate the counselor based on work done with current clients, and
to assess potential for working with future clients. As part of this role, supervisors
formally evaluate supervisees. These summative evaluations occur after there has
been enough supervision to expect a certain degree of competence. For example,
during fieldwork experiences, summative evaluations typically occur at the
midpoint and end of semesters. Evaluation is a crucial aspect of the supervision
374 Supervision in Counseling

process, and one that is often the source of discomfort for both the supervisor and
supervisee.
A supervisor is a qualified counselor, with additional qualifications in supervision and
has more practice experience. A good supervisor...
 Is committed to supporting the well-being of clients.
 Has the appropriate academic preparation and professional experience.
 Is committed to promoting positive relationships and supporting the development
of supervisees.
 Understands and adheres to professional ethical codes and mandates.
 Is empathic, genuine, and willing to give praise and critical feedback.
 Is flexible.
 Is willing to actively engage in self-reflection.
 Has a good sense of humor.

Characteristics of A Supervisor
Supervision sessions should be supervisee-centered. In this way the supervisee is able
to own the process, rather than feel that the process is driven and dominated by
external factors. The four A’s of clinical supervision proposed by Todd & O’Connor
(2005) offer a sound description of an effective supervisor. The four A’s are listed
below and include the supervisor being -
1. Available: open, receptive, trusting, non-threatening.
2. Accessible: easy to approach and speak freely with.
3. Able: having real knowledge and skills to transmit to the supervisee.
4. Affable: pleasant, friendly and reassuring.

TYPES OF SUPERVISION
Counseling supervision falls in to three main areas -
 Formative - Supervisor sharing their experience to teach the counselor.
 Normative - Supervisor asking the counselor to account and justify their work.
 Restorative - Supervisor offering support if the counselor is struggling with an
ethical issue or an aspect of their practice.
Supervision is not the place for the counselor to obtain their own therapy, although
sometimes issues in a counselor’s life might impact on their ability to give full
attention to the client. If this is the case then the supervisor might suggest that the
counselor access their own therapy to look at issues in their lives. Supervision means
counseling is a managed activity.
Essentials of Counseling 375

Different types of counseling supervision are -

1. Personal Supervision (one-on-one).
2. Peer Supervision - a process of supervision where members supervise each other.
The process and structure is negotiated within the group, and limited to well
qualified counselors.
3. Group Supervision - a regular meeting of supervisees with a designated
Supervisor. This is a working alliance between professional and/or student
counselors and provides a venue for learning.
4. Supervision via Skype and/or Telephone - locating a supervisor may be a
challenge where distance is an issue. Telephone supervision may provide a viable
option.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SUPERVISOR

Supervisors have the responsibility to provide ongoing training in the context of
related supervised experiences to enable supervisees to deliver effective and ethical
services. Because of this, supervisors must be well trained, knowledgeable and skilled
in the practice of their profession and in counseling supervision. Failure to have
appropriate supervision experience will make it difficult for the supervisor to ensure
their supervisees are functioning effectively and ethically (Corey & Callanan, 2007).
Supervisors operate in multiple roles such as mentor, teacher, consultant and advisor.
As a consequence they are ethically vulnerable due to the multifaceted nature of the
role and the level of influence and power they have in it. As a consequence, clinical
supervisors must also be ethically astute, being aware of and effectively upholding
relevant professional codes of conduct associated with their role. They also have a
significant influence on their supervisees; therefore, it is vital they monitor their own
behavior to ensure they model ethical practice effectively and also to ensure they do
not misuse the inherent power in the relationship between them and their supervisee.
Finally, supervisors are faced with the collective responsibility of protecting the
welfare of the clients, the supervisee, the public and the profession (Corey &
Callanan, 2007).
In the context of the multifaceted nature of clinical supervision, they have been
summaries below in to three major categories. These are -
1. Clinical - assessing and facilitating strategies to meet the learning needs of the
supervisee.
2. Supportive - changing, shaping or supporting the supervisee’s behavior.
3. Evaluative - evaluating the performance of the supervisee.
376 Supervision in Counseling

Clinical: An effective clinical supervisor does not just instruct the supervisee. They
should also teach by example through the effective modeling of clinical
competencies. The clinical supervisor’s role as a clinical instructor or teacher is to -
 Evaluate clinical interactions (in all situations and capacities);
 Identify and reinforce effective actions by the supervisee;
 Teach and demonstrate counseling techniques;
 Explain the rationale of strategies and interventions;
 Interpret significant events in the counseling process;
 Challenge the supervisee in a constructive manner.

Supportive: Supervision can be a valuable source of support and encouragement for

practitioners. A supervisor’s role as a supporter is to facilitate the supervisee’s growth
through the following -
 Assist the supervisee in recognizing their personal limitations in order to protect
the welfare of both the client and supervisee.
 Interact with the supervisee in a manner that facilitates their self exploration,
problem solving ability and confidence.
 Support the supervisee’s wellbeing through being aware of and helping the
supervisee deal with such things as stressful events, role ambiguity, career
development and skill use.
Evaluative: Supervisors have an evaluative role too. Supervisor’s role as an evaluator
is to -
 Assess the practitioner’s skills and approach towards the psychotherapeutic
process with the client.
 Clarify performance standards to be met.
 Negotiate objectives for learning.
 Utilize appropriate strategies to address performance and skills deficits in the
supervisees approach with clients.
Other responsibilities of the supervisor -
 To ensure venue and mode availability
 Personal availability
 Record-keeping
 Confidentiality
 Awareness of limitations in knowledge
 Commitment to the process of clinical supervision
 Being accountable to the employing organization, the client and the supervisee by
promoting safe clinical practice.
Essentials of Counseling 377

WHO NEEDS SUPERVISION

All counselors and those involved in the area of ‘people helping’, regardless of
experience, need supervision. It is an area which assists the counselor with the
development of skills, meaning, personal health and professional growth. Those who
receive supervision include -
 Counselors
 Student Counselors
 Ministers and Clergy
 Chaplains
 Business professionals

 Social Workers
 School Teachers.

BENEFITS OF SUPERVISION
Supervision is essential to ensure high standards of professional practice. Ongoing
supervision helps practitioners to monitor and review the quality of their work as well
as their client’s progress. Supervision, moreover, is a form of professional self-
regulation. It is essential for the right to autonomous practice in the helping
professions. Without supervision psychological counselors might have to be regulated
or ‘licensed’ to practice by other professions (e.g. by the medical profession).
Three major benefits of what counseling supervision should provide to a new
counselor.
 Promote Professional Identity: First of all, for a new counselor, the most tangible
benefit of counseling supervision is that you will be fulfilling one of the final
requirements toward obtaining a professional counselor license. This informs your
clients and potential clients that you have received optimal counseling training
and supervision. In other words, you will be highly qualified to help your clients.
 Promote the Development of Counseling Competencies: As the counselor
supervisor serves in the roles of teacher, counselor and consultant, the new
counselor will be improving counseling competencies. The specific counseling
competencies evaluated during counseling supervision include - (1) intervention
skills, (2) assessment techniques, (3) interpersonal assessment, (4) client
conceptualization, (5) individual differences and multiculturalism, (6) theoretical
orientation, (7) treatment plan and goals, and (8) professional ethics. In addition,
the counseling supervisor and counselor supervisee may develop specific
counseling competency goals to be achieved during counseling supervision.
378 Supervision in Counseling

 Promote the Welfare of Clients: During counseling supervision, the counselor

supervisor is ultimately responsible for the welfare of the clients that the
counselor supervisee presents for consultative feedback. This can be a great aid to
a new counselor who may be unsure of professional ethics or legal issues. In
addition, because of the counselor supervisor’s professional experience, the
counselor supervisor provides many functions such as advising/ instructing,
supporting/ sharing, counseling/ consulting, modeling, monitoring/ evaluating, as
well as providing administrative documents to promote the professional
competencies of the new counselor.
Counseling supervision is especially important for trainees. Counseling skills can
appear deceptively simple to learn with few technical details or technical language.
Supervision has a special role in helping trainees move beyond basic forms of
counseling skills to develop a more sophisticated and sensitive form of counseling
expertise. Equally, counseling placements need careful management and structured
support. The trainee experience should be encouraging and empowering rather than
negatively demanding. Supervision provides a solid base to help trainees make sense
of their learning experiences and to facilitate their professionalism.
Continuous professional development is a necessity for professional growth and
success. The three benefits for new counselors who obtain counseling supervision
include (1) promoting professional identity through fulfilling a necessary step to
obtain a professional counseling license, (2) promoting counseling competencies in
eight specific areas of counseling, and (3) promoting the welfare of clients. In short,
counseling supervision develops new counselors to become highly effective
counselors who will be able to serve their clients with greater care, competence and
professionalism.

GOALS FOR SUPERVISION

Supervision exists for three reasons. These reasons are fundamentally -
 to protect clients,
 to improve the ability of counselors to provide value to their clients and
 to monitor the self-care of the counselor or health care professional.
The goals of counseling supervision are as follows -
To help supervisees have a better (more integrated) sense of the therapeutic process.
Therapeutic process is common to all different forms of counseling and therapy. It
concerns the therapist’s capacity to be self-aware; of thoughts and feelings, of
possibilities and limitations in psychological counseling, and of personal and
Essentials of Counseling 379

professional boundaries. It takes place in the interchange between therapist and client
and is manifested in the style, pacing and art of therapy. Brems (1999) offers a useful
framework for understanding process in psychotherapy and counseling. He argues it
is best thought of as three separate but intervening circular processes - processing the
relationship; processing treatment challenges; and understanding phases of change.
Whilst psychiatry and clinical psychology have specialized in formal assessment (e.g.
using the DSM framework), psychological counselors might be able to claim that they
are moving towards a more process oriented form of client appraisal in which the
primary aim is to provide the best fit their repertoire of therapeutic skills to the
client’s needs. Walborn (1996) notes that process learning offers a guide or map,
which frees counselors to be flexible in the direction they take. The struggle to
understand process, moreover, promotes expression of intuition.
To help supervisees develop principles of best professional practice. Good
professional practice is founded on a sound understanding of ethical principles. In
turn this means therapists fine tuning their awareness of process considerations and
their decision making in the course of negotiating therapeutic change. Rogers ‘core
conditions’ are concerned with the ethics of good counseling practice as much as they
are with therapeutic methods. Rogers (1961) reframes the nature of psychotherapeutic
work from the question of how to treat the client to how to establish a relationship
with the client. Good practice also means maximizing counselor’s effectiveness. By
making the counselors thinking explicit it becomes open to revision. That is, it
functions as a form of learning through feedback, allowing the counselor to learn
from mistakes and to consolidate progress. Supervision also focuses on the intentions
and impact of therapeutic work and the general management of casework.
To help supervisees develop professional confidence and an enhanced ability to act
autonomously in their working context. Effective supervision also includes the need to
understand the working context of therapy, not just the clients presenting problem. In
my experience, practitioners need support to help cope with their practice setting as
much as they do with client issues. Hawkins & Shohet (1989) stated that supervision
and support are a fundamental need for all the helping professions. Walborn (1996)
cogently argues that the counselor must create a safe ‘emotional holding environment’
for clients concerns.
To help supervisees explore alternative means of understanding and intervening with
particular client issues. Supervision can also help the counselor to develop in-depth
understanding of the client and facilitate appropriate goal setting. Counselors may
also acquire new skills and knowledge to improve their functioning through goal
380 Supervision in Counseling

directed work. Cormier & Hackney (1999) contend that formulation of goals have
motivational, educational and evaluative advantages. Supervision can play an
especially important role in helping practitioners to address moments of ‘stuckness’.
Good supervision can help the practitioner reframe the problem and reaffirm the basis
of their therapeutic alliance.
To help supervisees explore past and present experiences of therapeutic work and to
find ways to develop their own unique therapeutic style. The form of supervision will
also be inevitably influenced by the therapeutic model employed by the supervisor.
Rennie’s (1998) sophisticated version of ‘Person Centered’ counseling promotes the
concept of counselor’s style. The point is for the counselor to develop his/her own
style whilst staying genuine and meaningful to the client. The sophisticated view of
person centered counseling is in considerable contrast to the more widely purveyed
literalist version. Although both adhere to the same basic principles of core
conditions, the sophisticated ‘Person Centered’ counselor recognizes that being with
the client involves more than good intentions. The counselor invites the client to work
in certain ways and utilizes feedback to direct the client through the counseling
process. This involves the counselor monitoring his/her own reactions to client
experience and highlights reflexivity in the moment-to-moment experience of
counseling.
Supervision can facilitate the reflective process by which therapists assess their own
standpoint and their style of practice. Some of the main points developed in
counseling supervision are as follows -
 The central focus of supervision is the quality of practice offered by the
supervisee to clients.
 Supervision can be seen as having three aspects - administration (normative);
education (formative) and support (restorative).
 Supervisors’ authority is derived from their positions in agencies and/or the
appropriate community of practice (profession).
 There are particular issues arising from the hierarchical position of supervisors.
 In some forms of supervision direct observation of practice is a major obstacle to
the exploration of practice; in others an aid.
Essentials of Counseling 381

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