The History & Tranditions of Clinical Supervision

1
The History and Traditions

of Clinical Supervision
The traditional literature of counselling supervision seems to lack uncertainty and timidity. It is mostly
written from the supervisor’s, or supervisor trainer’s perspective and seems to be full of models, structures,
checklists and frameworks. It is not a humble or exploratory literature.
—Jane Speedy (2000, p. 3)
F
rom the early medical models of supervi- my own second opinions with regard to how they
sion, such as the psychoanalytic models of fit with strengths-based supervision. Along the
learning while being analyzed, to the way, I offer that other component—the super-
“study one, watch one, do one, teach one” visee’s point of view—as a vehicle to fill Jane
method that medical schools have used, our early Speedy’s (2000) critique for a more holistic point
models are still embedded in the supervision and of view.
training models of our sisters and brothers in Long-time author and a leader in the field of
medicine. Even our educational models that supervision, Janine Bernard (see, e.g., Bernard,
teach concepts and then spend time pointing out 1981, 1989, 1992, 1997, 2004, 2005), retrospec-
mistakes for remediation more than praising tively reviewed one of her earlier works with
strengths are solidly in this camp. Linked to a George Leddick and noted that it was easy to
hierarchical arrangement and aimed at problem- review the literature of professional supervision
focused evaluation and change, our roots have back then, when compared to today (Leddick &
mirrored those early modernist days. Miller, Bernard, 1980). Clinical supervision has become
Hubble, and Duncan (2007) stated that the usual a large and expanding field, as we have seen
focus on what a clinician did wrong, rather than already. In reviewing the field, however, I have
looking for what might be more effective, is a noticed that there is little specific literature about
terrible fault of our more traditional thinking clinical supervision per se, and as with many
(Miller et al., 2007). This chapter looks at what specific fields, the new branches off the base are
history has provided us as a base for our practice, growing strong and varied, with offshoots that
as well as an assembly of the nuts and bolts of parallel the growth of our field of clinical work.
how the field of clinical supervisor practices in Today, we have models, methods, and points to
its various forms, styles, and models. I also offer remember about clinical supervision, and they
3
4 • PART I. IN THE BEGINNING
all have a synergy to them that keep them in us for clinical work, consultation, or supervision.
flow. Leddick (1994) addressed the issue of Of course there are differences, but they are still
models of supervision, indicating that one could clients of ours, regardless. We are about protect-
categorize them in three general models: devel- ing and providing a profession service to both
opmental, integrated, and orientation specific. clients who come for clinical work, as well as
“The systematic manner in which supervision is our supervisees. The term supervisor, as we shall
applied is called a ‘model,’ ” (Leddick, 1994, p. 1) come to see, entails many conflicting as well as
and this indicates that specific knowledge of a complimentary behaviors and social constructs.
model, such as practices, routines, and beliefs What a clinically trained cognitive behavioral
(social constructions), are critical to understand- psychologist may believe about supervision will
ing clinical supervision. I want to remind the be different in many ways from what a Narrative
reader again that from my point of view, the Therapy social worker or even psychiatrist may
decision to use either a strengths-based meta act and think, and a brand new doctoral level
model or a problem-focused model is the most counselor educator may have even a different
important “practice” a supervisor and clinician view. These beliefs about how to supervise
can make up front. There is a lot to know about someone are socially constructed and learned
before practicing clinical supervision, but I don’t both from their own experience, as well as in
think it is daunting. I will take care to walk you their education. What follows is some of the his-
through it all. tory of clinical supervision and the methods and
Methods of supervision include the nuts and beliefs attached, followed by, in Chapters 4 and 5,
bolts of providing supervision, from the initial a strengths-based perspective that varies by
supervisory contracting, to methods of observa- degrees and also by kilometers.
tion or data gathering such as live, audio, or Finally, points of interest that include adher-
video tape and interpersonal process recall, uti- ing to a multicultural context, philosophy of
lized in one-on-one, group, cotherapy, or triadic training (pedagogical vs. andragogical and mod-
supervision formats, as well as case presentation, ernist vs. postmodernist), and all the currently
modeling, feedback, intervention, and evalua- applied and researched adjoining components
tion. These are the day-to-day or session-to- that inform us of what connects with good clini-
session mechanics that frame supervisory work, cal supervision, are covered.
and they allow for a smooth process.
There is a fine line, I believe, between what
we do with our clients and what we do with our History: Somewhat Briefly
supervisees. This book’s manuscript has been
sent out to a gaggle of other professionals—all Predating many of the deep tomes on supervision
from academia I must add—and many have had are an edited book called Social Work Supervision
difficulty with my grouping clients and supervi- by Munson (1979) and another called Supervision
sors under the term “client.” It is my contention in Social Work by Kadushin and Harkness (1976).
that anyone we see in a professional capacity, be Kadushin and Harkness point out that, prior to the
they coming for clinical work, supervision, or 1920s, the literature that cited supervision meant
consultation, are clients. According to Merriam- something completely different than what we
Webster, a client is “1) one that is under the now associate with the noun. The first text about
protection of another, 2) a person who engages social work supervision was published in 1904. It
the professional advice or services of another” was called Supervision and Education in Charity
(see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ and was authored by Jeffrey Brackett (as cited by
client). So I hope that clears up any faulty per- Kadushin & Harkness, 2002). Brackett’s book
ceptions. Again, I call anyone we are working was about the supervision of institutions of wel-
with a client, be they a person who comes to see fare organizations and Kadushin and Harkness
Chapter 1. The History and Traditions of Clinical Supervision • 5
stated the following: “Supervision referred to Allen Hess wrote his “seminal” book,
the control and coordination function of a State Psychotherapy Supervision, in 1980, 1 year after
Board of Supervisors, a State Board of Charities, Munson (1979) and 4 years after Kadushin and
or a State Board of Control” (2002, p. 1). Inter Harkness (1976) published their works on super-
estingly, social work apparently had a hand in vision in social work. To those of us outside the
administrative supervision long before the texts field of social work, Hess’s volume was a gift
on it were published by the American Counseling that put some sense to what we were doing; some
Association (Henderson, 2009). Of even more of us went for years without any solid thought,
interest to me is the statement that as supervi- other than the commonsense. Heath and Storm
sion moved from that of administrative focus to (1985) later pointed out, that most supervisors, at
direct supervision, it took on the meaning and some level, use their own favorite clinical model
action of “helping the social worker develop to inform their clinical supervision practice.
practice knowledge and skills, and providing Hess (2008) suggested that the very first
emotional support to the person in the social clinical supervision occurred after the first ther-
work role” (Kadushin & Harkness, 2002, p. 2). apy session, with a lone clinician observing the
Nowhere is it mentioned that supervision also feedback, either positive or negative, from the
required or focused on the evaluation of deficits interventions he provided, and correcting his
that can be associated with the field today. These work so that it was more effective—a self-
days, those who have been gatekeeping the pro- reflective personal supervision, if you will. He
fession have morphed this view to one where also pointed to Breuer and Freud, as they
“hierarchy and evaluation are so intertwined worked on their ideas of hysteria and how it led
with supervision that to remove them makes the to breakthroughs in their work as the first docu-
intervention [emphasis added] something other mented peer supervision, as well as the
than supervision” (Bernard & Goodyear, 2004, Wednesday evening group meetings in Freud’s
p. 12) and “supervision plays a critical role in home, where theories as well as case consulta-
maintaining the standards of the profession” tions were held (Breuer & Freud, as cited by
(Holloway & Neufeldt, as cited in Bernard and Hess, 2008, pp. 3–4).
Goodyear, 2004, p. 2). I wonder how it is that According to Goodyear and Bernard (1998),
supervision became an intervention rather than the literature on the practice of mental health
“providing emotional support” (Kadushin & supervision places its beginnings over 120 years
Harkness, 2002, p. 2). ago, when social work was involved early on
Social work has a long and proud tradition of with supervision (Harkness & Poertner, as cited
providing supervision to those in the trenches by Goodyear & Bernard, 1998, p. 6), in addition
rather than doctoral students, with a literature to the process and swell of psychoanalysis.
that is equally rich and tracks issues common to
every guild. See, for example, the history of
social work supervision (Tsui, 1997), a retro- Supervision Literature
spective look from one of the first to study this
topic (Kadushin, 1992), along with issues of
in Historical Context
parallel process in supervision (Kahn, 1979), The literature on clinical supervision began to
client satisfaction in supervision (Harkness & blossom with the advent of two major journals
Hensley, 1991), the usual regrouping and report- devoted exclusively to the topic. The Counselor
ing of social work supervision (Tsui, 2005), the Education and Supervision Journal, the flagship
use of team supervision (Shamai, 2004) as lead- periodical of the Association for Counselor
ership (Cohen & Rhodes, 1978), and finally, Education and Supervision, began with its first
way back in 1999, strengths-based social work issue in 1961. Counselor Education and Super
practices (Cohen, 1999). vision (CES) was originally dedicated to the
transmittal of information, training, and supervi- until now. Kadushin and Harkness’ (1976, 2002)
sion of counselors for the American Personnel book on social work supervision begins with a
and Guidance Association (APGA), the forerun- definition, after a word about their particular
ner of the American Counseling Association history. Their definition breaks down its roots,
(ACA) and all of its divisions. Again, primarily indicating that it comes from the “Latin super
geared toward academics who train and super- (over) and videre (to watch, to see) . . . one who
vise any of the many counselor types (mental watches over the work of another with responsi-
health counselors, couple and family counselors, bility for its quality. Such a definition of super-
school counselors, etc.), the journal is a much vision leads to the derisive phrase snooper
overlooked source of supervision thought and vision” (pp. 18–19). I was pleasantly surprised
training, as well as a source for other guilds in to see the “pun” of one who snoops, as a part of
the field of clinical supervision. A second jour- the earlier view of supervision, and reflected on
nal, which began in 1983, is The Clinical how I had earlier on changed the word to “co-
Supervisor, dedicated to providing a cross- vision,” a word Bernard and Goodyear, trounced
pollination of ideas and research of the supervi- (2004, p. 12). Rather than taking the usual
sion provided by all clinical guilds, including meaning of the term, Kadushin and Harkness
social work, psychology, counseling, couple and (2002) defined it by looking at function, objec-
family therapy, and substance abuse counseling. tives, hierarchy, indirect process, and a means to
It is just possible that these two journals are an end, settling on the following definition: “A
responsible for the dissemination of almost all of comprehensive definition of social work super-
the current knowledge and direction that our vision attempts to combine all the elements noted
field has up until now. Every book written since in the five sections . . . an agency administrative-
these journals’ inception has relied on their full- staff member to whose authority is delegated to
ness and richness of the breadth of our field to direct, coordinate, enhance, and evaluate the
fill their pages. Anyone coming into our field on-the-job performance of the supervisees” (p.
should feel the pride of knowing that the shoul- 23) . Using the traditional social work model of
ders we stand on are those of a diverse, dedi- ecological systems (Siporin, 1975, 1980), they
cated, and interesting group of professionals who indicated the complexity and interconnectedness
care to insure that clinical work has support and of all these functions and provided a definition
care beyond the managed care bosses. that is very different from that of other mental
In addition to the early literature, texts on health groups’ range of vision. What is most
clinical supervision informed those who wanted punctuated, however, is that social work super-
to learn and practice this craft. What follows is vision is for those in the trenches, as opposed to
a look at the major books on clinical supervision being almost entirely directed at doctoral stu-
in the aggregate. This is not an attempt to pro- dents. They then went on to address the social
vide a microscopic look into these volumes but work agency and unit, the demographics of
to place them in context historically in a large social work supervision, the nature of education
and ever growing field that is critical to those and how it is different from supervision and
who learn, research, teach, and practice supervi- therapy, as well as the relationship between the
sion. Every interested writer of clinical super- supervisor and the supervisee. These sections
vision since the “blossom” has explained their are rounded out with chapters on supportive
own view of what is meant by supervision, pro- supervision, including thoughts on burnout,
vides a framework for their particular manner of stress that includes both the client and the orga-
discussing the subject and then indicates that nization as contributing factors, the problems
there have been several discrete changes or that come with becoming a supervisor, and
additions, if you will, to the supervision litera- evaluation and innovations that include what we
ture and methods throughout the early years, up will cover as modes of supervision. Clearly,
supervision for social workers is a comprehen- with abuse survivors, those who are severely
sive view of all the factors that are a part of the mentally ill, those in a correctional setting, and
ecological process. even those in the fast-rising motivational inter-
The current big three generalist books on viewing model, so prevalent in the substance
supervision, written mostly for psychology and abuse community. Rounding this work out are
counseling doctoral students, are in the order of three short parts, namely (1) research and profes-
their first appearance: Allen Hess’ Psychotherapy sional issues; (2) race, sex, and gender; and
Supervision: Theory, Research, and Practice (3) the state of the field. Hess passed away re
(1980, 2008), the duo of Janine Bernard and cently at the age of 64, and for a man so young,
Rodney Goodyear’s Fundamentals of Clinical he has left behind a hefty legacy of supervision
Supervision—changing authorship position in ideas for budding and practicing supervisors. But
the middle—(Bernard & Goodyear, 1992, 1998, because of the range of topics, his work is more
2004, 2006), and C. Edward Watkins’ Handbook appropriate for doctoral students who are learn-
of Psychotherapy Supervision (1997). These vol- ing more about the field of clinical supervision.
umes take a more unswerving look at clinical The book has breadth but is short on depth, and
supervision than do the books on social work it is more useful as a piece of literature from
supervision. And although they are useful for which researchers and supervisors may find a
those on a master’s level, I wonder if any in-the- beginning on specific types of supervision.
trenches supervisor ever looks for books on Longtime supervision authors, Janine Bernard
supervision. These three books are aimed at the and Rodney Goodyear (2004), provide a 12-chapter
training of doctoral-level supervisors and per- book (not an edited work) focused clearly on the
haps some master’s-level students in programs process and modes of clinical supervision. This
that open their training to them. is a teaching book; that is quite clear. Laid out in
Later, Hess enlisted the help of his wife form for a good syllabus, with chapters enough
Kathryn and daughter Tanya (Hess, Hess, & for the usual university setting, the book moves
Hess, 2008) to update his original volume, which from an introduction to the field of supervision,
begins with a review of the supervision literature right straight to their academic point, that super-
in Part 1 and then moves into the first four chap- vision is always about evaluation. Chapter 3 has
ters in Part 2, which look at what it is like for excellent information about ethical and legal
supervisees to become professionals in the field. issues that most in-the-trenches supervisors
It then moves on to a personal perspective of should know well, along with information about
being supervised, including supervising interna- graduate training programs. Next they provide
tional students, to becoming a supervisor. From an adequate view of the most modernist
here, Part 3 discusses several psychotherapy approaches to the field, followed up by three
models, or as they call them, orientations, such chapters on the supervisory relationship and its
as psychoanalysis supervision and Narrative many parts and parcels. Here they have moved
Therapy supervision. Then, for some reason, into the nuts and bolts of supervision practice,
they move to Part 4, which includes a discussion including parallel processes, triadic supervision,
of couple and family therapy supervision and and clarity about what is going on in supervision.
hypnotherapy, which they consider special The next few chapters introduce the reader to
modalities. What is left out is the extensive lit- organization of supervision; the modes of super-
erature on both the person centered and cognitive vising, that is, group, live, and so forth; and
behavioral therapies. Part 5 is a discussion of supervising and teaching supervision. This is a
developmental perspectives, and by this, they fine book for doctoral students learning about the
mean children, adolescents, and geriatric popu- field, and in fact, it ends with a section they call
lations. Part 6 is a discussion of special popula- the Supervisors’ Tool Box (Bernard & Goodyear,
tions, such as supervision of clinicians working 2004, p. xii). As someone who has made the
transition from modernist to postmodernist, from book parallels some of the more traditional
objective reality to socially constructed reality, I books but with the language and rock stars of the
understand but disagree with much of what they systems thinkers. If there was ever any doubt that
put forth. Their emphasis on hierarchy and eval- the more traditional views on supervision and
uation from a single source who believes that he clinical work and the systems models speak and
or she has special privileged knowledge that is think differently, this book brings that message
the only truth leads to my finding fault with their home, for sure. Thinking structurally or strategi-
premises a great deal of the time. cally, or applying the concepts of cybernetics to
Finally, C. Edward Watkins’ Handbook of videotaping in supervision, makes me salivate,
Psychotherapy Supervision (1997), an edited while I understand fully that these concepts are
book, covers all of the ground found in the previ- completely foreign to many clinicians who live
ous two works, with an expanded section on in a positivist, modernist worldview. Today,
supervision models. This 7-part, 31-chapter vol- these concepts are taught as history of a field that
ume begins with a section on conceptual ideas has been all but marginalized by contemporary
and methods, defining supervision as they all clinical work that clicks with managed care and
have, as well as a chapter on evaluation and big pharma, I fear. But a lot has happened since
research. Part 2 has 12 chapters on what Watkins those early days when training was done in add-
considers approaches (not models) to supervi- on, freestanding training facilities or adjacent to
sion, including all the big ones from psycho more traditional university settings without
dynamic to cognitive and rational-behavioral and degree opportunities. Now, every guild’s training
developmental. Part 3 in Watkins’ book is about has at least one class in couples and family
training models for clinical supervision, while therapy/counseling.
Part 4 lumps supervision of adolescents, chil- Preceding Liddle et al.’s (1988a) work by
dren, and geriatric populations in with group and two years, Fred Piercy’s (1986) edited work,
family therapy under specialized forms and Family Therapy Education and Supervision, has
modes. I would contend that the supervision of a full setting of chapters, with a different flavor
family therapy has its own special view of super- of presentation. Nowhere in either of these two
vision thought, and it is really a modality, or as books are the usual discussions of what consti-
Watkins calls them, approaches. Bernard and tutes supervision. Instead, they focus on how
Goodyear (2004) called this systemic supervi- systemic thinking, and the training and supervi-
sion, while Hess et al. (2008) called it couples sion of family systems clinical work, are differ-
and family therapy and categorized it as a special ent. Liddle et al. presented the following in a
modality. Next are sections on research and pro- middle chapter (9), “Systemic Supervision:
fessional, legal, and ethical issues, and finally Conceptual Overlays and Pragmatic Guidelines”
endnotes or thoughts. Each of these volumes is (p. 153), instead of the usual introduction to
filled with the knowledge needed to know cogni- what supervision is in general. In Piercy’s book,
tively in order to provide solid clinical supervi- Robert Beavers’ chapter is entitled “Family
sion from a modernist perspective. Therapy Supervision: An Introduction and
Consumer’s Guide.” In it, he states the follow-
ing: “Supervision in marriage and family ther-
Family Systems Supervision apy is both a legitimate offspring of individual
One of the first books I purchased on supervi- psychotherapy supervision and a mutant, repre-
sion, other than Hess (1980), was Howard Liddle, senting qualitative differences from the parent”
Doug Breunlin, and Richard Schwartz’s (1988a) (p. 15). He is saying that the supervision of mar-
edited work, the Handbook of Family Therapy riage and family therapy is very different from
Training and Supervision. After reading the the usual manner that supervision is perceived
existing literature on supervision, I see that this and practiced.
In Piercy and Sprinkle’s (1986) conclusion to supervision early in the game of supervision
their chapter in Piercy’s (1986) book, they state literature and practice.
the following: “The key figures of family ther- I can say the same thing about the AAMFT
apy were revolutionaries. They took strong, book as I did about Bernard and Goodyear’s
often unpopular, theoretical stands that ran coun- volume (2004); it is complete, with chapters
ter to the Zeitgeist of their time and paved the ready to go for a semester’s worth of reading.
way for the theoretical models taught today” The book includes a chapter on models (yes,
(p. 12). That the American Association for Marriage family therapy, like individual therapy, has its
and Family Therapy (AAMFT) had an approved own abundance of models from which to choose),
supervisor status long before Professional a chapter on developing one’s own personal phi-
Clinical Counseling or any of the other guilds losophy of supervision (what, no right way?),
speaks to the privileged knowledge it assumes and chapters on the tripartite of interconnected
AAMFT has as supervisors of family therapy. relationships in isomorphic proportion, such as
All candidates are expected to practice from a supervisors, therapists, clients, within structures,
systemic orientation rather than the linear model assessments, modalities, ethics, and other issues.
of individual psychotherapy or counseling mod- Does this sound familiar?
els, and unless one has had good training past a Much of the field of mental health—
single class on family systems, it is hard to psychology, social work, professional counseling—
impart this special knowledge. AAMFT’s require has tried to make family therapy a separate sub-
ments at first included the notion that special part of its own training in the field and dis
training in systems thinking was a prerequisite to regards the unique supervision frameworks that
supervise other family therapists properly. Today AAMFT and its approved supervisory designa-
this notion is more lax as licensure has taken tion mandates. The question that still baffles
over and power struggles and turf wars have most others in the field at large is, can it be a
forced compromises as well as challenges to treatment specialty like cognitive therapy, used
supervise, let alone practice systemically. by social workers, psychologists, and counsel-
Berger’s (1988) chapter in Liddle et al. (1988a) ors, or is it really a very different way and phi-
speaks to this point prophetically when he stated losophy about how to treat people? Is systemic
that “the acceptance of family therapy theory as thinking and the postmodern, social construc-
a way of thinking in psychology would require tionist ideas that are a part of the systemic view
changes in psychologists’ basic unit of conceptu- a specific part of our larger field that is here to
alization . . .” (p. 305). My experience has been stay, or is it only relegated to working within
similar, even for APA programs that are attached those who use family systems thinking? Gerald
with a specialty program in child, adolescent, Cory (2008) placed postmodern and family sys-
and family as a subspecialty. Supervision from a tems therapy on the same level as cognitive
systemic perspective is very different from a behavioral, gestalt, person centered, and all the
traditional individual perspective. Appropriately rest. I mention this because next I address the
enough, the AAMFT (2007) put forth its own supervision of substance abuse counseling, and
book as a training tool for upcoming AAMFT- rather than seeing each of these as specialties,
approved supervisors in training. thus specialties of supervision, one has to won-
Some of the first recognitions of a cultural der whether it is a practice issue or a title pro-
influence in clinical supervision appeared in tection issue. I think this becomes a topic for
these two books. Falicov’s chapter, “Learning our field of clinical supervision. The questions
to Think Culturally,” in Liddle et al.’s (1988a) become these: Who has the right to supervise
book, is evidence that family therapists were what groups in the larger field? Does the train-
out in front and aware of how culture influences ing of specific treatment populations also
systems and contextualizes treatment, thus require specific supervision models?
Substance Abuse founded on fundamental concepts of organiza-

Counseling Supervision tional leadership: servant leadership, stakehold-
ers, participatory management, and effective
Substance abuse (SA) and the counseling that working environment” (p. 20).
treats it have always had their own unique and Here is a real book on supervision, written for
sometimes misunderstood ways of treating a those in the trenches, not some ivory tower train-
problem that affects millions of people. The ing for a hierarchical view of their world. They
comorbidity/dual diagnosis with or because of champion a leadership/supervision that sees
other mental health problems makes SA a huge supervisees as stakeholders in the process—
problem that has its own special treatments and stakeholders in relationship with their clients as
myths. Substance abuse, in its many forms, also well as the organization. Inspired by new views
affects families with long-range concerns, some of what it means to be a leader, they also believe
that last a life time. In addition, up until a decade that being a supervisor does not automatically
ago, many SA counselors had little or no train- mean that they will be respected. How different
ing, and then most of the training came from this model of clinical supervision is from many
community colleges where the associate’s degree of the standard, revered literature that has been
was the terminal degree. I can’t speak for all the informing us for years. They take the road of the
training in the United States, but today in many new management and organizational philosophy
states, the field has transitioned to insisting on that no longer adhere to a “linear, hierarchical,
master’s degrees in some mental health field, and quasi-military structure, with top-down commu-
many physicians and psychologists are special- nication and little employee empowerment”
izing in this field. (p. 24). Quoting the words of 6th-century father
As with psychology, counseling, and other of Taoism, Lao-tzu, they put forth the notion that,
mental health fields, the field of substance “The superior leader gets things done with very
abuse is also replete with multiple views on little motion. He imparts instruction not through
what causes SA and how to appropriately treat many words, but through a few deeds. He keeps
SA as a serious health concern. Having said informed about everything, but interferes hardly
that, it is interesting that there is only one book at all’” (Lao-tzu, cited in Powell & Brodsky,
written on the supervision of counselors who 2004, p. 22). This is a real book on clinical super-
practice in this area (Powell & Brodsky, 2004), vision for today, and it sounds exactly like what
while an examination of both Google Scholar Mei Whei Chen and I put forth in 1999 (Edwards
and the PsycINFO database found a paltry few & Chen, 1999): Leave less footprints. When I
who even attempt articles on the subject began this viewing of the literature on clinical
(Anderson, 2000; Culbreth, 1999; Overholser & supervision I felt like Diogenes, and yet, in the
Ricciardi, 1992; Todd & Heath, 1992). Powell most far-reaching place of supervision, in a place
and Brodsky’s (2004) book is laid out in similar I would never guess might have what I desired, I
fashion to the other leading works: There are have finally found two honest men.
three parts and an appendix with interesting
forms and study information, with 17 chapters
that establish a historical perspective, working
definition, and traits of effective clinical super- Historical Changes in Models and
vision, evaluation, and feedback, contracting, Modes of Clinical Supervision
ethics, and several models, while Chapter 3’s
section on leadership principles for supervision Neukrug (2003) defined the role of the supervi-
and organizational perspective is enlightening sor as critical to a clinicians’ professional
and exciting. “The principles and methods of responsibility, so much so that it is expected. He
clinical supervision espoused in this book are found it critical in a systemic way, so that the
supervision can create change for the super- and Hess et al. (2008) and Watkins (1997) called
visee, as well as for the clients. Indeed, clinical psychotherapy orientations—are case-specific
supervision has become one of the most impor- types of supervision suggestions, and depending
tant factors not only in training, as well as on the guild from where the author(s) or editor(s)
accountability, but as a vehicle of change in the comes from, this might include supervision of
clinical process. After all, two heads are better supervisees using special modalities like couples
than one. and family therapy, hypnotherapy, and parapro-
fessionals, or special populations such as abuse
survivors, substance abusers, different sexual dis-
Models of Supervision orders, and so forth (Hess, et al., 2008). Does this
confuse you? Are you asking the same questions
The models of supervision, “the systematic as I, such as why is there such chaos of models
manner in which supervision is applied” among the different authoritative books? One
(Leddick, 1994, p. 1), came about in several dif- needs to look no further than the various guilds’
ferent ways. As I have said elsewhere, “Most insistence on turf and ownership of who does
traditional supervision has paralleled conven- what. Most clinicians at some time or another, if
tional counseling, looking for what the super- they are practicing generalists in mental health,
visee was doing incorrectly or not doing enough will come across any and all of these special
of, mostly in the area of technique, and attempt- populations, and hopefully, they will notice that
ing to devise remedial solutions” (Edwards & there are many different ways to practice as well
Chen, 1999, p. 350). Supervisors use their favor- as supervise. It is also an indictment of our inabil-
ite model of clinical work as an adjunct to their ity to learn from and accept one another that some
clinical supervision; the facilitative counseling find working with couples and families as modal-
taken from Rogers (1951) will model empathy, ities, while others see the same activity as a spe-
warmth, and genuineness in their supervision, cialty. Several of these guilds have battled
while those adhering to cognitive behavioral perception for a long time, longing to be seen as a
therapy will stress supervision that parallels that separate profession (Fenell & Hovestadt, 1986),
model, and so forth. where a clinician can be called a Licensed
Heath and Storm (1985) pointed out quite a Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), or a
while ago that most supervisors at some level use Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC).
their own favorite model or models to inform their These guild wars are an indication of our inability
clinical supervision practice. As the field pro- to learn from and accept one another. Turf wars
gressed, providing better research and more addi- and holdovers from our early days keep us from
tions to clinical supervision thought, many ideas seeing our similarities and maintain our top-down
of how to supervise well became part and parcel views of each as discrete entities in a hierarchical
of how some supervisors were trained at the uni- pecking order from psychiatry, to psychology, to
versity level, and this added to the collective fund social worker, licensed clinical professional coun-
of ideas that informs clinical supervision today. selor, or licensed marriage and family therapist,
Like the field of clinical practice, clinical supervi- and even on to addictions counselors. There has
sion increased its range of models. From psycho- never been any concrete research which demon-
dynamic, to person centered, cognitive behavioral, strates that one group’s practice outcome is better
and the generalist systemic frames, that is, strate- than the other, and I suspect that this is also true
gic, structural, narrative, and solution focused, when it comes to supervisors. It is important,
supervisors use their own favorite clinical model however, to note that the current models of super-
as a frame for their supervision. As stressed else- vision almost always maintains a hierarchical,
where, these models of supervision—what evaluative, remedial position (Edwards & Chen,
Leddick (1994) called orientation-specific models 1999), indicative of the medical model that is
about “fixing” people. World-class social psy- training), the main proponents of what I came to
chologist Elliot Aronson (2010), who has com- understand as a helpful developmental perspective
mented about his own field of psychology, said were Bernard’s (1979) discrimination model, and,
that his colleagues on the clinical side of the field beginning with Cal Stoltenberg (1981), a develop-
are about “fixing” people, while he and his col- mental model he called the counselor complexity
leagues in social psychology are about change, model, which evolved into a unique and ever
saying, “Okay, you had a bad childhood, but let’s growing developmental approach coauthored with
change your environment, change your motiva- Ursula Delworth (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987)
tion, and give you new opportunities, and you can and recently Stoltenberg and McNeill (2009).
transcend your origins, your self-defeating atti- Since I cover these two models as executive skills
tudes, your prejudices” (p. xiv). This is very dif- in Chapter 2, I do not dwell on the particulars of
ferent than the usual views of mental health as the model here, but I briefly talk about them and
portrayed by some guilds and the common then discuss them in more depth, as well as what
nomenclature as presented by the American others might have written about them.
Psychiatric Association’s (1994) Diagnostic and Despite the agreement in the field to think
Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders about the developmental stages of the supervisees
(4th ed). This view is very similar to what is pur- with whom we work, and to adapt supervision
ported by strengths-based work, of sorting out accordingly, Kersey (1982) and Fisher and
and punctuating what people do well and by help- Embree (1980; as found in Marek, Sandifer,
ing them stay on that course of development. Or Beach, Coward, & Protinsky, 1994) suggested
like what Albert Bandura (1997), another great that supervisors generally do not take the devel-
psychologist, called developing self-efficacy, opmental stages into account while they are
whose methods are also a far cry from a medical supervising. This leads one to wonder if supervi-
model’s remediation. sors should even bother. However, by this time,
Additional to the orientation models are what thinking developmentally is part of the culture of
Leddick (1994) called developmental and inte- informed clinical supervision. I can put forth my
grative models. These two models make up the own personal experience. At least three or four
rest of the usual models of clinical supervision times a year, during practicum and internship,
that is both taught and used in training centers students express their anxiety about not knowing
around the country. Leddick (1994) and Bernard where to go with their clients’ discussions or what
and Goodyear (2008) have different meanings to do, or most often, they say that they just don’t
regarding a developmental model, when com- feel as if they have had enough training, thus they
pared with Hess et al. (2008). Hess et al. defined need more specific instruction (and when one
development according to the client system speaks his or her anxious concerns, the other
being discussed during supervision, with clini- more timid ones will also chime in). A calming
cians treating three separate populations—child, voice from what they perceive as a totally compe-
adolescent, and geriatric. Leddick and Bernard tent supervisor, stating that this is developmental
and Goodyear defined development according to and that this too will pass, quiets their fears. So,
the skill level of the clinicians under supervision one of the issues of development is that of experi-
with respect to their stage as a clinician. Anyone ence, rather than training or skill. I usually tell
interested in clinical supervision reading these them a story from my favorite author, Malcolm
various authoritative offerings would be con- Gladwell’s (2008) book, Outliers: The Story of
fused and perplexed. For a better look, let us Success, where he demonstrates over and over
briefly move into the developmental perspective again that success is based on a large quantity of
as defined by Leddick. experience. From the Beatles’ luck at having a
Looking at the developmental perspective of long-term gig in a German cave bar playing for
the clinician (and isomorphically the supervisor in eight hours at a time early in their career, to the
success of hockey players in Canada based on watching to see where a supervisee—a clinician in
their very early youth club experiences, to the training—is situated in his or her development. It
high school shenanigans of Bill Gates with com- is specific to the training of counselors and psy-
puters, Gladwell documented that a large fund of chologists, however, that all clinicians move along
experience from which to draw seems to make a a developmental path as they learn more about
huge difference in one’s success. There is a magic their craft or a specific model. By integration, this
number of 10,000 hours that seems to have a model means to provide a clearer and more com-
large bearing on great success, but I do not tell plete “set of identifiable skills and behaviors” that
them this often for fear of losing a whole lot of fit within an integration of them with a more com-
late-term clinical students to other careers. plete set of developmental stages, as I understand
Although it is useful to know this about them and IDM. I am, however, troubled by their use of so-
to normalize their situation, the original intent of called interventions meant to provide a perfect
Stoltenberg’s developmental model, the coun- climate for change of what the supervisor sees as
selor complexity model, was to identify not only appropriate. This way of working is not only
skills that may be lacking but also to move them mechanistic, but it leaves out any discussion or
onto “a course of development that will culmi- collaboration within the work or understanding of
nate in the emergence of a counselor identity” the context of where the clinical work is being
(1981, p. 59). What was originally intended was done. The clinician and other multiple factors
to bring forth complete clinicians who have inte- should be included in any discussion, using the
grated skills and theory, as well as an awareness notion of development as a theory (not real) that
of themselves in relationship with others. If this is can be redeveloped or jettisoned as needed.
the case, and I am sure my astute colleagues will Lee and Everett (2004) produced a primer book
disagree with me on this point, why is there on an integrative family therapy supervisor model
always so much focus on making sure that audio- that, of course, is directed at those who think sys-
tape and videotape content is exactly like the temically, and yet it references some of the same
microskills dictate? With over 400 models to concepts that individual, or perhaps, traditional
work with, how in the world is a supervisor sup- clinical supervision includes (see Table 1.1).
posed to know what his or her supervisee should Aside from the useful principles given in
say or do? One of the beauties of this develop- Table 1.1, this model and others have different
mental model is its focus on more than just skill meanings for the word integrative. The word inte-
development, as it takes into consideration in grative as used in this model allows that there are
each of its four stages the development of a clini- many different models of family therapy (as there
cian’s identity. This focus on identity is portable also are with individual clinical work), but it
to any of the several guilds or professions that reaches for a central core with which supervisors
rest in our field. might attend to unique systemic concepts or theo-
Interestingly, Stoltenberg changed his four- ries with their supervisees. As an old-time family
level complexity model (1981) to a simpler three- therapist and counselor, I resonate with several of
level model (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987), as the concepts that are placed within their frame-
he and Delworth put forth an integrated develop- work of principles; they are central to a strengths-
mental model (IDM) “that relied more directly on based model, so they bear mentioning here. But
developmental theory and provided more specific before that, it bears witnessing again that the two
details regarding changes in supervisees over time models—individual clinical work and family
and the types of supervision environments, includ- systems clinical work—are from two very differ-
ing supervisor interventions, that were seen as ent eras, thus they have different philosophies at
most appropriate for each of the three levels of root. I have never understood the “why” of this
development” (Stoltenberg, 2005, p. 859). Again, difference, as I am sure that many who have done
this is a training model, useful to those who are any serious training in both models must also
Table 1.1 Basic Principles of Integrative Family Therapy Supervision
1. Supervision must be respectful.

2. Supervision, like therapy, must be a safe place.
3. A working alliance must be developed.
4. A supervisor does not offer therapy to the clinical family.
5. A supervisor does not offer therapy to the therapist in training.
6. Supervision operates within a clearly defined clinical training system that includes intergenerational
subsystems and dynamics.
7. The dynamics of supervision include hierarchy and power.
8. Supervision develops through predictable stages.
9. Supervision interventions are driven by theory.
10. Supervision should be competency based.
11. The supervisor has simultaneous responsibilities to the therapist, the clinical family, the clinical setting/
institution, and the self.
12. The supervisor, like the therapist, follows clear ethical principles of conduct and practice.
13. Supervision is unique within each training system.
Source: Adapted from Lee and Everett (2004, p. 4).
wonder. However, I do understand the how. We looked to “identify, and appreciated the unique
hold onto our theories, no matter that they are not qualities, resources, and constructions of reality
real, as the only ways of thinking that have of the many therapists and their clients . . .” so,
become imbued with not so subtle sociopolitical first and foremost, “supervision must be respect-
turf issues. As a personal aside, I remember being ful” and “supervision, like therapy, must be a
interviewed by two clinical psychologists in our safe place” (p. 4). This sort of care is found
department when I first applied for a job, some 20 nowhere else as directly as it is here and in the
years ago. They were very concerned that I might family systems therapy literature on clinical
corrupt the students with my “radical” beliefs yet supervision. The way in which this next princi-
wanted someone that could teach the concepts ple attends to a major element and theory of
they abhorred that proliferate the main family family therapy, that “supervision operates
systems therapy texts. Strengths-based work, within a clearly defined clinical training system
whether from systems concepts or the early that includes intergenerational subsystems and
works of psychology, all have a disdain for the dynamics” (Lee & Everett, 2004, p. 7), refer-
traditional model that came from the medical ences the systemic works of Murray Bowen
field of deficit seeking and correcting. But I (1966, 1971, 1974, 1976), Kerr and Bowen
digress, so let us move back to the point I was (1988), and Salvador Minuchin (1974, 1997),
making about Lee and Everett’s (2004) book on whose main theoretical thrusts are related to
integrative family therapy. intergenerational perspectives and subsystems
Lee and Everett (2004) utilized, as one interactions. A point of order here is that
would expect, the careful and skillfully crafted Minuchin’s idea of hierarchy can be divided
language of postmodern thinking, as they into two complementary parts, the hard side and
the soft side. Keim (1998) called these discipline not familiar with this work, you should read the
and nurturance. The hard side of hierarch is that originals or at least check out what I say about
part that makes and maintains the rules, while the her work in Chapter 3.
soft side provides for the nurture, care, and
health of those who are being cared for. For hier-
archy to be effective, both sides must be rules
Formats of Clinical Supervision
working for organizational systems to function In addition to the various models, there are also
well, and Lee and Everett recognized and different formats for providing clinical supervi-
imparted this piece of systems logic into their sion to those who are in need of supervision, be
model of supervision. Their model is isomorphic they students in a clinical training site—usually a
to the systems models they use in their supervi- university or college, a newbie clinician just learn-
sion. But then, I believe this model is important ing one of the skill sets from clinical models—or
to all of clinical work, and it cannot be isolated longtime skilled clinicians who feel the need to
to one specific model alone. Finally, congruent check out their own perceptions along with poten-
with the later, postmodern models of clinical tial changes to their work. Each has his or her own
work, such as narrative, solution focused, or uniqueness and also demands different sets of
languaging systems models, all adhere to a conditions and thoughts about how to be helpful.
competency-based frame. “Supervision should I want to say that again, because I think it is the
be competency based,” and as systemically ori- most important part of providing supervision, that
ented, looking for interrelationships between and during the initial presupervision contracting,
with the various components that make up the supervisors should check with their supervisee to
whole of the system, it is demonstrated by the ask how they might be helpful and what they
natural synergy that arrives when “the supervisor might want to gain from their supervision. So, for
has simultaneous responsibilities to the therapist, supervision to be effective, and beyond that to
the clinical family, the clinical setting/institution, provide excellent supervision, the work together
and the self ”(p. 4). must be perceived by the supervisee (the clini-
Integration can mean many things to many cian) as helpful. Just like the use of clinical skills
different folks. In the case of Lee and Everett must meet the needs of the client’s perception of
(2004), they referenced integration of different being useful to be most effective (Lambert &
systemic models, while Stoltenberg (2005) and Bergin, 1994), so, too, must clinical supervision
his many colleagues meant to integrate the vari- be useful—helpful—to the person being super-
ous developmental views with the supervisory vised. Supervision usually means that persons
conditions they suggested are needed to produce who would like, or are in need of, input from a
good clinicians in the end. more advanced or skilled clinician for the purpose
I have left out Bernard’s (1979, 1997) ridicu- of case consultation, training in a model, or inter-
lously wonderful discrimination model that set personal change, are in some formal or informal
the bar for all clinical counselor supervisors, social arrangement. In many cases, it is a remedial
discussed at length in Chapter 2 of this book as or deficit-based focus that a model takes, just like
what I call an executive skill. Bernard suggests older, traditional clinical models. From individual
that there are three areas of focus that supervi- one-on-one supervision, to group, triadic, live,
sors must pay attention to: “process skills, con- videotaped, or audiotaped (now digital), interper-
ceptualization skills, and personalization skills” sonal process recall, to reflecting teams, self-
(1997, p. 310), as well as three spheres of influ- reports, and now online, texting, or other electronic
ence which a supervisor makes use of: training, means, each is discussed and commented upon. In
consultation, and counseling. She then placed addition, any of these models may also be used in
these on a very useable grid in order for supervi- a strengths-based model where the supervisee(s)
sors to track the supervisory process. If you are will be seen as “at potential.
Formats or modes of clinical supervision or without a consultant. Two issues always are
include both the manner in which supervision present during supervision using a case presenta-
feedback is provided to the supervisee, as well as tion consultation format. First of all, memory
the setting of the supervision. Feedback can fades—rapidly. So what might be talked about
include either positive exchanges or corrective during a case presentation is always the clini-
exchanges, and both can be given in either a cian’s own perceptions of a client system, and
strengths-based manner or a top-down hierarchi- that is subjective. Depending on the relationship
cal manner. The method in which supervision between the supervisor and the supervisee, the
feedback is provided includes such things as case accuracy of the description can vary. People
presentations (Biggs, 1988), Interpersonal Process always want to put their best foot forward, and
Recall (IPR; Kagan, Schauble, & Resnikoff, even within the best of clinical supervision ses-
1969), audiotaped supervision (Protinsky, 2003), sions, the accuracy of the description of a past
videotaped supervision (Protinsky, 2003), cother- session or general progression of a specific client
apy (Barnard & Miller, 1987; Hendrix, Fournier, system will be filled with “writers’ prerogative.”
& Briggs, 2001; Lantz, 1978; Roller & Nelson, Also, there is no guarantee that the suggestions
1991; Whitaker & Garfield, 1987), a bug in the ear and requests to use a different approach will be
(Boylston & Tuma, 1972), live supervision taken or appropriate when the situation comes
(Montalvo, 1973), a phone-in (Wright, 1986), a about the next time.
team break (Barthe, 1985), and reflecting teams Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR), first writ-
(Andersen, 1992b; Stinchfield, Hill, & Kleist, ten about by Kagan et al. (1969), is usually
2007). Each of these methods of providing feed- attributed to Norman Kagan (1972); it is a super-
back or correction has its usefulness and draw- vision strategy that is used to help clinicians
backs, and, as you will see, some may be dated as understand and act on their perceptions of cases
the times and the means have changed. that they might have difficulty accessing, for all
Case presentations are unequivocally the of the reasons I outlined in the previous section.
most used mode for presenting information It is important to note that the use of IPR is a tool
about a clinician’s case, either for help or to keep to use Socratically with the supervisee being the
the clinician’s supervisor up-to-date on his or her one who has the “highest authority about the
caseload, as well as getting suggestions and help- experiences in the counseling session” (Cashwell,
ful consultation from the clinician’s clinical 1994, p. 1). The supervisor process, as Bernard
supervisor. Biggs (1988) suggested that a case and Goodyear (2004) see it, is not to “adopt a
presentation format included looking at and teaching roll and instruct the supervisee about
identifying how to help a clinician make interfer- what might have been done” (p. 220). Instead,
ences from his or her observations to better use questions that are designed to increase the super-
the clinical data presented, as well as talking visee’s insight into his or her own blind spots,
about the process and expectations of the super- thus increasing competency, are used. A short
visory relationship. This could be considered the “CliffsNotes” version of what all should or
contracting phase, where goals and expectations might be done using IPR is, as of this writing,
of supervision are laid out for both parties to readily available online (see Cashwell, 1994).
agree on. Finally, during the case presentation, The steps used in conducting IPR as well as a
goals for the client unit, including problems, handful of recommended leads the supervisor
personality, and factors that influence the prob- might use are available.
lem, lead to an intervention strategy, according Audiotaped supervision has been around for
to Biggs. Bernard (1997) called this part of the many years; in fact, Protinsky (2003) cited Gill,
supervision or consultation, and this can happen Newman, and Redlich (1954) as crediting Earl
either during individual supervision, group Zinn for having recorded psychotherapy sessions
supervision, or at a formal staffing of cases with on wax Dictaphone cylinders. Protinsky went on
to say that “it was generally agreed that Carl the results on videotape” (Allen, 1967, p. 5).
Rogers was most influential in the use of elec- What the Stanford group found unique was its
tronic recordings of the psychotherapy sessions” ability to provide immediate feedback by super-
(2003, p. 298). Audiotaped supervision can be visors and colleagues, as well as the ability to
used with IPR or videotaped supervision. I have demonstrate skill progress in a measured way.
seen and heard about audiotaped supervision Feedback had come of age with the knowledge
being utilized in several ways, including IPR. and expectation that more immediate feedback
Early on in my career as a clinician, I used audio- provides better learning opportunities and a
tapes as a means to discuss cases with my super- chance for course corrections and practice. No
visors. I found that supervisors who used longer were case consultations, even with IPR,
audiotapes as a means to help me with my case considered to be the gold standard for supervi-
load usually asked me to bring a recording that sion and training.
demonstrated either a stellar moment in a session With the opportunity for peer colleagues in-
or a time when I was genuinely stuck and was training, in addition to clinical supervisors to
looking for suggestions that were alternatives to interact and provide feedback, a new wave of
my current way of engaging and working with a influence was held to a higher standard. First of
particular client. I found these times both uplift- all, one needs to acknowledge that there is a dis-
ing and humbling. Depending on the clinical tinct difference between training and supervi-
model of my supervisors, their interactions and sion. I make this point repeatedly throughout this
“suggestions” might be helpful or shameful. I book: Our interns and clinicians, regardless of
also know of supervisors and have had descrip- the program from which they come or the field
tions of supervision where the focus was on of endeavor they call home, are some of the fin-
specific clinical responses and suggestions for est and best clinicians ever. However, training is
alternative responses to client discussion. This the acquisition of skills and knowledge in prepa-
sort of exchange may be appropriate for training ration for real clinical work, while supervision is
in a specific model, but in my opinion, not for something else again; yet all too often, the litera-
real-life cases where the situation changes in the ture for clinical supervision is set to accommo-
week(s) before the next session. My guess on date both. Second, as Todd and Storm articulated
why this occurs later in clinical work is that (2002), videotape allows supervision groups to
supervisors are utilizing a training devise they participate in the process and add their own per-
learned while in their own clinical training, and spectives; videotaped supervision allows for
without forethought, they continue to use the multiple perspectives, rather than a singular
same format when they are raised to the status of “correct” answer. In addition, this multiple per-
clinical supervisor. We all tend to replicate the spective allows for a flattening of the hierarchy
sort of clinical work and supervision we learned usually inherent with supervision. This flatten-
in our own training. This can occur especially ing, when encouraged and allowed to grow,
with those who have had a very positive relation- brings forth more accurate descriptions with
ship with their trainer or first supervisor. We can regard to cultural and gender perspectives when
place our trainers on pedestals, and it can be a supervisees (sometimes even seen as part of a
long way to fall for all, when we see that their team rather than students of the supervisee) are
ideas are not always useful or the best. allowed to bring forth their own perspectives and
Videotaped supervision goes as far back as views, creating a rich and thick description of the
1968 as a vehicle to allow “teachers to apply clinical work, with multiple perspectives from
clearly defined teaching skills to carefully pre- which to choose.
pared lessons in a planned series of five to ten- I remember learning to supervise this way while
minute encounters with a small group of real doing my supervision of supervision during my
students, often with an opportunity to observe doctoral work in the late 1980s. I had previously
trained as a postmaster’s student in one of the typi- Garfield, 1987). It is usually implemented in the
cal “family therapy free-standing” training pro- training and supervision of family therapy.
grams that had sprung up around the country, and Maclennan (1965), and much later Dugo and
I was used to having one of my trainers step out Beck (1997), also used cotherapy for the training
from his or her perch behind the one-way mirror of group work. Drawing on a “two heads are bet-
to knock on the consultation room and ask if he ter than one” philosophy, cotherapy allows the
or she might join the session with my clients and new clinician to participate in actual sessions
myself. The use of the phone-in seemed more with a more skilled clinician and to feel the joys
elegant to me than the suddenness of a knock and and shakes while feeling more secure than when
the intrusion of an “expert” joining us, but in all alone. Depending on the senior clinician’s
retrospect, the clients knew that I was in training skills, personality, clinical model of choice, train-
and expected some form of course correction ing or supervision intent, and relationship with
from an outside source. They had been informed the cotherapist, the experience has the potential to
of the training protocol and even seemed to wel- be really great or otherwise. I first used cotherapy
come this intrusion, as much as all of us in train- at the state mental health clinic I worked at out-
ing dreaded the knock. The point of it all, side of Chicago, where we utilized it during our
however, seems to be consistent with learning family and group clinical sessions. I was in group
theory, in that the shorter the time between when therapy training during my master’s program, and
someone makes a mistake or misses an opportu- at the Family Institute of Chicago’s two-year, free
nity to move in a more productive manner and standing marriage and family therapy training
the correction, the better the connection. This is program, by a cotherapy team during both years
the core of Lewinian Action Research and labo- of clinical training. When cotherapists are work-
ratory training (Kolb, 1984). Interestingly, there ing well together, it is wonderful. One person can
is also research to suggest that live supervision is be working on content, while the other can work
beneficial to the trainee or supervisee, but the on process. When one becomes stymied, the other
clients do not seem to notice any more progress may have seen the session from a different per-
during their sessions than those who do not have spective and be able to open up new, constructive
live supervision (Silverthorn, Bartie-Haring, dialog. It allows one to take a break and just
Meyer, & Toviessi, 2009). Since the early 1970s, watch what is happening during the clinical expe-
there has been a plethora of research done on live rience, while the other clinician may be fully
supervision from investigating many of the engaged in the process, modeling good commu-
aspects of its use and the many additional modal- nication and discussing in front of the clients how
ities used to provide feedback to the supervisor. both therapists are seeing what is going on.
According to Champe and Kleist (2003), all Again, the process is always to open up the ses-
of the guilds in the mental health field utilize live sion experience to new and multiple ways of
supervision for training, and many agencies are understanding. I always liked working in a
using it, with its different modalities, for treat- cotherapy team as long as we were collegial and
ment or serious internship training. We look at open to the experience and feedback. Again, this
these modalities from an historical perspective, is seen primarily as a training and supervising
rather than a usage, as it demonstrates how tech- device, and at some point, even though it is
nology has been instrumental in the provision of believed to be more useful for the training of cli-
training and supervision. nicians, it is more costly and complicated. In the
Cotherapy is a wonderful experience for a early 1980s, it fell from grace as anything other
trainee or new clinician to watch and learn at the than a training devise, due to economic con-
side of a more senior clinician (Barnard & Miller, straints in most clinics and agencies.
1987; Hendrix, Fournier, & Briggs, 2001; Lantz, Bug in the ear (Boylston & Tuma, 1972;
1978; Roller & Nelson, 1991; Whitaker & Crawford, 1994; Gallant & Thyer, 1989; Klitzke
& Lombardo, 1991; Mauzey, 1998; Smith, Mead, it as having a supervisor behind a one-way mir-
& Kinsella, 1998; Trepal, Granello, & Smith, ror, occasionally making suggestions to the clini-
2008) is a remote system where the trainee or cian via phone calls. But Montalvo was followed
supervisee wears a receiving devise much like a by a flood of other contributors to the field, such
hearing aid, while providing clinical services. as Birchler (1975), Gershenson and Cohen,
The supervisor or trainer sits behind the one-way (1978), Smith and Kingston (1980), Berger and
mirror and provides feedback (sometimes called Dammann (1982), Liddle and Schwartz (1983),
course corrections) to the trainee by speaking and Wright (1986), followed by those in psychol-
into a microphone that is connected to the bug in ogy, such as Kivlighan (1991) and Heppner and
the trainee’s ear. Feedback is directed to either Kivlighan (1994), and, in counselor education,
provide additional input or correct a mistake in Bubenzer (1991) and Champe and Kleist (2003).
clinical procedure. I also learned how to super- Phone-ins during clinical supervision were
vise using this type of feedback modality during one of the many novel and forward thinking
my doctoral program. It is just my perspective, ideas from the field of family therapy. Wright
but I found the use of a bug in the ear cumber- (1986) stated that the benefit of the phone-in
some and rather detrimental to the clinical pro- component of live supervision is “that trainees
cess. I mean, after students have had several are able to receive immediate feedback on the
classes in techniques, how much damage can development of their skills” (p. 187). Again, dur-
they do? And my experience is that students or ing my doctoral studies in the mid-1980s, I was
most trainees in a new clinical method really trained to use phone-ins as a method of provid-
focus on what they are doing wrong anyway, and ing supervisory input. It was, to me, a step above
they usually need feedback that gives them cour- the bug in the ear or the knock on the door, but it
age to continue and focus on what they have could still be awkward and clumsy, as the super-
done well. They already know about any glow- visor had to make the choice of providing imme-
ing mistakes. But again, this is a training method, diate feedback, thus stopping forward momentum
more so than a supervisory tool. of the clinical work, or waiting until there was a
Live supervision seems to have begun with natural break in the flow of dialog, and then,
the family therapists (Montalvo, 1973), and perhaps missing the opportunity to help change
according to Hardy (1993), it was one of the the clinical course. I never did any research on
salient components of the discipline that sets it this, and I have yet to find any, but I often won-
apart from other disciplines. Selvini and Selvini dered if I were to just let things be, might the
Palazzoli (1991) credited Nat Ackerman and his session turn out just as well?
staff at the Jewish Family Services for first Team breaks are also a part of the varied his-
watching “each other’s therapeutic work using tory of family therapy that somehow filtered
the one-way mirror” (p. 31). They went on to say over to more traditional individual clinical work
that during the 1950s and 1960s, “much therapy as well as group therapy. The Milan team, a psy-
theory building was characterized by the use of chiatry group practice from Milan, Italy (Selvini
observation and team work, including Bateson’s Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, & Prata, 1978),
(1972) seminal research project, undertaken in devised a model of clinical work that utilized a
collaboration with Haley, Weakland and later, team behind a one-way mirror and a cotherapy
Jackson, and The Multiple Impact Therapy group team providing the direct work with the family
(MIT)” (p. 31). Live supervision is a training and group. The Milan model went through several
supervision medium where the clinician is guided evolutions and revisions, as the original team
in the process through several discreet feedback split and group members refined their way of
modalities I discuss later. Montalvo’s (1973) treating seriously disturbed people from a family
article is the earliest recorded literature I could systems model. Originally working with the sys-
find in any searchable database, and he described temic ideas of Gregory Bateson, they attempted
to see family life with the communications and institutions as well as in private practice. They
game theory that had come from that work. Their posited that even though some have discussed
model included five interlocking stages, preses- the disadvantages of teams in terms of financial
sion, session, intersession, intervention, and issues, there are more factors weighing in favor
postsession discussion (Boscolo, Cecchin, of the use of teams, such as how clearly and
Hoffman, & Penn, 1987), and thus began the quickly teams have “striking results” because
team concept. During the intersession, the whole everything is clearer (p. 34). Emotional intensity
team would take a midsession break and meet is easier to deal with, because “a situation which
together to discuss what they saw and devise a is potentially so charged, with tensions can con-
strategic intervention that would be given to the fuse an isolated therapist who will more or less
family in the consultation room. It is most inter- consciously tend to defend against the intensity”
esting to me that their version of a team break (p. 35). Also, the use of a team tends to subjec-
was of a clinical nature and led to many other tify what team members are observing and the
versions of the use of team breaks with other multiplicity of meaning—the polyvocal mean-
clinicians. Sometimes the break is used as a ings of what is being seen becomes apparent,
training vehicle to help course corrections in the leading to more potential for outcomes rather
clinical exchanges. One advantage most teams than stymied situations. This honoring of multi-
pointed to is that the intervention strategy was ple voices and meanings leads to a lessoning of
always the team’s message, rather coming the hierarchical nature of our more traditional
directly from the clinicians, thus the clinicians supervisory situations.
working directly with the family, individuals, or Reflecting teams have been a unique addition
groups could have a great deal of maneuverabil- to training and supervision from the postmodern,
ity, should the client(s) disagree. As part of a social constructionist perspective. Most often
strategic intervention, the clinician could affiliated with family therapy (Edwards & Chen,
“blame” the team for not fully understanding or 1999; Hardy, 1993), they have also been used in
sometimes suggest that perhaps team members group therapy training (Chen & Noosbond, 1997a;
might have a better perspective because they are Chen & Noosbond, 1997b; Chen & Noosbond,
not so close to what is happening in the room. 1999; Chen, Noosbond, & Bruce, 1998), as well
Strategically, this can give the team an opportu- as with individual skills training (Chen, Froehle,
nity to ask the family to refine their own view of & Morran, 1997; Chen & Noosbond, 1997b).
themselves. My colleague Mei Chen uses the I was introduced to this modality during my
team as a way of providing input to groups in doctoral program while I was working toward
both a supervisory method as well as a training my Approved Supervisor Designation for the
model (Mei Chen, personal communication, AAMFT. For about half of the year, I worked
2001). It has also been researched for use with with master’s students using the typical phone in
group supervision of school counseling interns modality, then my supervisors of supervision
(Kellum, 2010), for clinicians treating comorbid Tony Heath and Brent Atkinson were introduced
alcohol and mental health problems (Copello & to the reflecting team, and they introduced it to
Tobin, 2007), as a means to help social workers their students. Credit for the reflecting team usu-
who live in politically tumultuous times (Shamai, ally goes to Norwegian psychiatrist Tom
1998), and back again to Europe, mostly Andersen, whom I met through my associations
Germany (Barthe 1985; Fatzer, 1986; Meidinger, with Heath and Atkins, but Finnish psychiatrist
1991; Schott, 2007; Spiess & Stahli, 1990), as Ben Furman and his associate Tapani Ahola were
well as France (Kuenzli-Monard, & Kuenzli, out to dinner with a group of us after they had
1999; Meynckens-Fourez, 1993). given a lecture/workshop, and they had a much
Selvini and Selvini Palazzoli (1991), however, different perspective on the reflecting team
lamented the loss of the team in both training beginnings. As they told it, during the early days
when the model of team breaks a la the Milan to allow the clients to “turn away from that with
team moved from prescriptive messages to team which they feel uncomfortable,” and when talk-
reflections, Andersen and his group had more ing in the reflecting team, “restrain themselves
financing for their two-way mirrors, so that the from giving negative connotations” (p. 60).
lights might go down in the treatment room at When first observing the team at work, most
the same time that the lights would go up in the clinicians and clients are surprised at the lack of
adjoining team consultation room. “Those “problem talk.” Many clients, upon returning to
Norwegians had more money than us poor Fins,” discuss what the team has said, comment that
said Furman. “We were so poor we used an old they were pleasantly surprised to find that the
lady’s nylon stocking we put over our heads, team didn’t flood them with talk about what is
instead of a one or two way mirror!” (Furman, wrong with them but instead had much to say
personal communication, 1989). The intention about how well they have been coping or trying.
was not lost on the rest of us sitting around the Life and our dilemmas and attempts to right
table—Andersen got the credit, instead of them can be punctuated—viewed if you will—
Furman and Ahola. We will never know whether with either positive or negative valences, given
this is a true story, but it is a funny story demon- context. However, we are, indeed, a society that
strating the interest, competition, and revolution- is facing what we think is wrong, rather than
ary spirit that existed in those earlier days. perceiving what is right or going well.
The reflecting team, comprised of a small The opening of the reflecting team clinical
group of colleagues, watches the clinician and meeting situates how the clients would like to
client(s) from behind the one-way mirror, and use the session and then explores the history of
then, after a little more than halfway through, the dilemma with all its socially constructed
group members switch by either having the parts. The clinician and clients talk for about
lights go down in the clinical room and up in the half the session, then switch rooms with the
team room, or they actually switch places. Then team members. The team members then talk
the members of the reflecting team talk about among themselves, while the clients and clini-
what they have seen, using their own reflections cian watch and listen. They then switch rooms
or thoughts. Andersen (1992b) started with the again, and the clinician asks the clients what
premise that reflecting team language “tended to they heard from the team while the members
move professional language towards daily lan- were talking, what they were thinking about
guage” (p. 58). Relying on Bateson’s (1972) during the discussion, and whether they wished
concept of a difference that can make a differ- to discuss anything or found something interest-
ence, Andersen wanted language and ideas to be ing. After this reflection on a reflection, the ses-
different from what the clients have already sion ends, and the team members and clinician
experienced, in order to make that difference, but may talk some more, privately. The expectation
not too different, so that the clients do not reject is that this will result in providing many posi-
it. We talked previously about how the narrative tives for what the clinician has done during the
function of the brain has top-down functioning session. In making sense of the use of reflecting
that, in Siegel’s (2007) thinking, enslaves our teams in triadic supervision, Stinchfield et al.
meaning to the present set of values or “views.” (2007), in reflecting the current directions of
This Batesonian manner of talking is a means to Andersen, wrote that, “it is the process, and not
get around those settings by adding novelty that the team, that holds therapeutic power and influ-
will make the difference. It is close enough to not ence” (p. 175). Social construction occurs when
create dissonance, yet different enough to make novel information that is interjected in conversa-
change—a difference that makes a difference. tion provides a difference that is not offered as
Andersen also said that clinicians using the truth but as a person’s own reflections about
reflecting team should always be flexible enough what he or she is observing in a way that does
not dictate truth, so much as perhaps an alterna- although it comes close at times. If the supervi-
tive view. The view is close and congruent sor and supervisee enter into this sort of supervi-
enough that an alternative reality is visible, and sion, informed consent should be obtained first.
perhaps internalized, thus creating change. As of Individual supervision is the typical one-on-
this writing, there has been only one empirical one supervision that most think of when address-
study of reflecting team use for supervision ing what supervision is. This is the version of
(Moran, Brownlee, Gallant, Meyers, Farmer, & supervision where Bernard’s domains were most
Taylor, 1995), and the need for more research is helpful to me during my formative years as a
obvious due to the many that use and rely on it. supervisor. And I must say that in the early days,
her tripartite model—easy to remember and sim-
ple to use—included teaching, consultations, and
Supervision Configurations counseling. Much of the early supervision I
Supervision also has several configurations, received, especially from those who had definite
from the typical one-on-one, to triadic, group psychodynamic leanings, involved a great deal of
supervision, and peer supervision. The purpose introspective work. Looking at my own motives
of any supervision configuration is the same, to in why I did something with one of my clients
provide input and feedback to clinicians who are was seen as relatively important to the movement
in need or desirous of another perspective on of my clients in a clinical sense—know thyself,
how and what they are doing with their clients. and you can help your clients move to the same
Supervision can be for those in training in a spot. Parallelism was important to the work. Even
clinical skills class, training of a new or proce- in the early days, the family systems thinking of
dural change or during practicum and internship, Murray Bowen (1966, 1974, 1976) suggested that
as well as an ongoing experience at a clinic or his theory was not one to be learned as a tech-
practicum situation regarding specific cases or nique, but it had to be practiced on oneself, thus
updates of a case load. Most commonly, the clinicians could not take their clients further than
supervisor and supervisee(s) discuss procedures, they had gone themselves.
expectations, beliefs, and experiences of their Triadic supervision came about, according to
supervision, numbers of meetings, goals, times, Stinchfield et al. (2007), from the 2001 Council
and dates. Depending on the model used, con- for Accreditation of Counseling and Related
tractual agreements taking into account these Educational Programs (CACREP) standards that
factors will dictate process and procedure of the allow for triadic supervision for students, as well
supervisory relationship. as for individuals. These authors alluded to the
An important part of the contract is the use of significant increase in programs (52% for
informed consent, just like in a clinical situation. CACREP programs from 1999 to 2004), as well
In several of the formal workshop trainings I as in students, as one of the reasons for allowing
have provided, some of the supervisors that are triadic supervision. I do, however, remember hav-
already practicing report that they are still using ing triadic supervision as far back as 1971, as a
person-of-the-therapist supervision. Person-of- means to deal with the time commitment a pro-
the-therapist supervision is similar to the sort of gram in the Illinois Department of Mental Health
supervision psychoanalytic supervision uses, had with respect to availability of a consulting
where the supervisee is required to talk about his supervisor. We thought nothing of it in those
or her interface/countertransference issues in days; however, we were well aware that our
depth. Supervision becomes more like therapy supervision was to be confidential due to the
than it does during clinical supervision. These nature of person-of-the-therapist supervision in
supervisors should obtain informed consent our psychoanalytically oriented program. My
before they stumble around into their supervis- personal experience lately with triadic supervi-
ee’s psyche. Supervision is not clinical work, sion has also been overwhelmingly positive, as
each member is also encouraged to comment, contractual process. Then the presenting super-
give opinions, suggestions, and encouragements. visee proceeds with the formal presentation
The students really like to hear from and give while the official supervisor and the reflecting
support to each other, as well as feel like others supervisee listen. The supervisee presenting the
value their contributions to the corporate clinical case specifies what they want to show, as well
growth. Stinchfield et al. have a unique version of as, perhaps, what they might want the two
triadic supervision that includes the use of a reflectors to watch for, and what he or she
reflective process adapted from Andersen (1987) might want to gain from this experience. Then
that has excellent potential for use in strengths- they proceed, and the supervisor and reflecting
based supervision, especially as it is one of the supervisee listen, and the presenting supervisee
frameworks of strengths-based work. and the supervisor may discuss the counseling
In this model of triadic supervision, Stinchfield, session. After some time, they shift to the
Hill, and Kleist (2007) pointed out that Andersen reflecting piece, and the supervisor and reflect-
has discussed, as one of his ideas about the ing supervisee engage in a reflection of the
reflecting practice, that there are both inner and supervision piece. It is interesting to note that
outer dialogues going on all the time, and it is Stinchfield et al. (2007) suggested a 1½-hour
this that makes the practice during supervision so time frame and that they also meet with their
powerful. But first, let us take it step by step to supervisees every week. At this point of the
help understand the practice. reflection, the presenting supervisee is not
First, the authors suggest that the reflecting required to speak or comment; only to listen.
part of supervision, using the Reflecting Model After the reflection piece of “approximately 10
of Triadic Supervision (RMTS; Stinchfield minutes” the supervisor turns to process the
et al., 2007), should be offered to students, rather reflection part of RMTS (p. 177). I am intrigued
than as using it as something that is a usual part by their use of the “process,” as it seems more
of common everyday practice. The invitation modernist than postmodern in its usage. In
and pre-discussion of what RMTS is reflects clinical work or supervision, my usual words to
collegial respect, or as they maintain, presents those listening to the reflection are, “So when
the opportunity to participate in either RMTS or you heard the team’s reflections, what were
individual supervision in order to “maintain a your own thoughts, ideas, or feelings? What
sense of safety” (Stinchfield et al., 2007, p. 181). stood out for you as you listened that you might
Most likely, if they do choose to participate in want to comment on?”
RMTS, trainees will pick people whom they Now, let me get back to the comment I
know well and trust. It is the authors’ belief that made at the beginning of this reflection of tri-
offering choice also cultivates a trusting rela- adic supervision reflecting teams. Andersen
tionship with the supervisor, thus potentiating (1992b) clearly has set the standard for what
their involvement and comfort in the reflecting goes on during conversations, especially dur-
model. Next, for those who choose to partici- ing supervision, with his discussion of inner
pate in this form of triadic supervision instead and outer dialogues or conversations, as he
of one on one supervision, the two supervisees prefers. He makes clear that when people con-
meet with their supervisor, and every other verse, “they are engaged in an “outer” dialog.
week one of them present a case situation—in When they are listening, they are talking to
the authors’ setting, the use of videotaped clini- themselves in an “inner” dialogue. Each of the
cal work is used. The supervisor describes the participants is engaged on the same issue from
process of RMTS, including an informed con- those two different perspectives; talking and
sent, and as a usual part of goaling or contracting, listening, the other and inner dialogue respec-
the supervisees further agree to this model by tively” (p. 88). Reflecting on this, and mulling
either verbal assent or through formal supervisory over what Siegel (2007) has taught us about
the brain (see Chapter 4 in this book), our of how to supervise becomes apparent, not
“enslavement” is either taking the conversa- only for triadic reflective supervision but for
tion in, or filtering it out, depending on the all of supervision. The time to process, reflect,
way the language and conversation is con- make sense of, and be understood, as well as to
structed and presented, as well as how the acknowledge that supervisors understand too
receiver’s enslaved view is accepting it. To use why they have a difference from ours, creates
Narrative Therapy terms, as clinicians and the safe space where new meaning can be con-
supervisors we can either work to open space structed. What Andersen said is that “one does
for conversation, or close that space. The not even need a team to alternate talking and
structure of the RMTS and reflective work of listening roles” (1992a, p. 88). People can do
any kind sets the stage for a release of enslave- that themselves under the right conditions of
ment and opens us up to understand each other serious open reflection.
and appreciate what others have said, perhaps Group supervision or group soup is just what
not to agree. To deeply understand another it says, a supervisor or facilitator and a bunch of
point of view, thus to open space for other pos- people that gather to talk about and get ideas of
sibilities, one needs to experience being heard what to do with their clients. I remember in the
or received. “Pain is created by not being early days, we used a group soup format to have
received” (Loegstrup, cited in Andersen, 2001, case staffings, usually with a psychiatrist or
p. 11). The space for reflection is opened, clinical psychologist to listen, evoke thoughts
according to Andersen, because the obligatory from the group, and then pronounce a plan of
rush to answer, that is culturally constructed, action with the client. In agency or residential
especially in some countries and occupations, settings, it might also include members of a
is changed to allow for longer periods of therapeutic team, such as clinicians of many
reflection. Our profession places a high value stripes, such as social workers, activity thera-
on responding to a client/supervisee (our inner pists, dance therapists, aides and or child care
conversation), in order to be helpful. When workers, psychiatrists, and agency directors or
this rush to answer is replaced with a rush to supervisors. From this model, group soup natu-
pause and listen, inner reflections can be rally ends up as a training venue to teach models
opened for the difference that makes a differ- or supervise interns both on site and at the uni-
ence that we discussed earlier (Bateson, 1972). versity from which the degree will be granted.
For information to be taken in, and an impact Peer group supervision is just what it says: A
made, means that the reflection piece—the group of clinicians gather together and provide
internal conversation—has to have taken place support and suggestions with difficult cases. The
in a way that makes sense to the receiver. The absence of a designated or assigned supervisor
receiver does not have to agree with it in total, with responsibility and ties to an agency or orga-
or in part, but he or she needs time to reflect nization of some kind changes the dynamics of
and see if it fits and also to have an opportu- power and hierarchy most supervision configura-
nity to voice his or her own perspective and tions have. There is a scarcity of literature on the
have that received. The Taos Institute folks subject (Kassan, 2010), demonstrating the lack
argue that meaning is constructed in relation- of informal—or should I say unofficial—forms
ships, and it is by this reflective, recursive of supervision that occur. Kassan (2010) made
manner that our internal conversations are the point that peer supervision can become a
stored, from “our history of relationships— great source of comfort and help to those in inde-
from our early childhoods to our most recent pendent practice. Worrall and Fruzzetti (2009)
conversations . . . that we determine what is presented an Internet-based training system
real and valuable for us” (Anderson et al., “designed to help increase the skill with which
2008). It is here that the most important piece peer supervisors discriminate more effective
from less effective interventions, allowing them group. Their model also lacks true peer group
to deliver more effective feedback to their peers supervision, as the university supervisors facili-
or supervisees” (p. 476). Whether it is for train- tate the group process:
ing and supervision in Dialectical Behavior
Therapy, or simply based on the unique avail- Supervisors supplied initial structure, but as super-
ability of an Internet method, should demon- visees became more effective in their roles, super-
visors served as group process facilitators. From
strate that there are many ways of delivering
the perspectives of the supervisees, supervisors
supervision and that there are many theoretical were most effective when they facilitated feed-
models for clinicians to use that need supervision back, focused on interpersonal dynamics, and
from those more fully trained. intervened to resolve process issues. (Christensen
Peer group supervision has been written & Kline, 2001, p. 96)
about for the development of school counselors
(Wilkerson, 2006), as an adjunct to individual However you slice it, new clinicians value
supervision (Akhurst & Kelly, 2006), as a vehi- any feedback they can get, including that from
cle to collaborate between health workers and peers, who the new clinicians experience as
mental health workers in the field of infant men- “being highly valuable and important”
tal health (Thomasgard, Warfield, & Williams, (Christensen & Kline, 2001, p. 97). One can
2004), with music therapists (Bird, Merrill, hope that they feel the same way about their
Mohan, Summers, & Woodward, 1999), in social clinical supervisors also.
work (Hardcastle, 1991), and in counselor edu- Peer supervision is an outside-of-formal
cation (Benshoff, 1993), showing that it has training and supervision model that allows a
versatility and usefulness. Although the research clinician to get feedback from his or her peers
on peer supervision follows the usual course of regarding cases that might be in need of alterna-
the next new big thing in this field (see a list of tive points of view, but they should be differenti-
research from 1987 to 1997, in Christensen & ated from a “stuck-case clinic” (Quinn, Atkinson,
Kline, 2001), the topic of peer supervision & Hood, 1985), which is a fairly rigorous and
seemed to peter out in the literature after the formal group supervision model for couple and
Christensen and Kline (2001) article was pub- family therapy.
lished. Their premise echoes what most group Training contexts are the last metagroup of
supervision models expect, that “the support for clinical supervision I want to address. It must be
peer group supervision is based on the belief fairly evident to you at this point that the sepa-
that it offers opportunities for vicarious learning rate field of supervision has become a force of
in a supportive group environment.” It is argued reckoning in the various fields of mental health
that once established, this environment contrib- clinicians and thus in the literature. Supervision
utes to decreased supervisee anxiety, increased is a method of training and maintaining integrity
self-efficacy and confidence, and enhanced for the client and the clinician, as well as the
learning opportunities. Christensen and Kline organization. Depending on the clinical treat-
also postulated that because of the dual factors ment modality being used for family therapy,
of being a group, and being a peer-led supervi- individual counseling or therapy, or group
sion modality, the issue of hierarchy and depen- counseling/therapy—each treatment modality
dency that is found in most problem-focused may have its own worldview, thus its own model
individual supervision, is diminished. In unpack- of training and supervision. To some extent,
ing Christensen and Kline’s research subjects’ they have maintained their own views about
qualitative responses, it seems that the same sort clinical practice as well as clinical supervision.
of expected outcomes for any group process is In my experience, this also happens between
evident, meaning that their peer group supervi- the various guild groups, such as psychology,
sion is no more or less effective than any other social work, couple and family, and professional
counseling. That we rarely read each other’s lit- something to supervisees, to collaborating with
erature is a sad commentary on scholarship, but stakeholders, the assumptions of supervision
that some refrain from using excellent models of change significantly. Assuming that typical
clinical supervision or clinical work limits our supervision competencies do provide needed
ability to be helpful to those we seek to serve. I executive skills, strengths-based supervision
believe that this is exactly what Jane Speedy provides nine strong basic skills that are typical
(2000) meant when offered her critique of most for any good supervision work and replaces the
literature regarding clinical supervision when usual medically modeled deficit and problem
she said, “It is not a humble or exploratory remediation focus with the primary four contem-
literature” (p. 428). porary strengths concepts—Narrative, Solution
Focus, and Resiliency means, as well as Positive
Psychology—for the operating principles that
Strengths-Based Supervision move the supervision process past mere effec-
The strength of Strengths-Based Supervision tiveness, onward toward excellence. In addition,
in Clinical Practice is that it is different and more supervision excellence is assured by using
current than any of the books on supervision I research from social psychology, management,
have read and referenced. It is the paradigm shift and leadership, all tested and proven concepts
that needs to happen in the field of clinical super- that work and should have been a part of clinical
vision to fit with the strengths-based clinical supervision from the beginning.
work that is current today. Based on Information All of these concepts are unpacked in
Age/Connectivity Age and strengths-based con- Chapter 4, which looks at how postmodern and
cepts, strengths-based supervision moves away social constructionist models inform strengths-
from the “more of the same” mentality that has based supervision, and in Chapter 5, how Positive
dominated the supervision field for so long. In Psychology and resilience research adds weight
reframing the focus of supervision from doing to strengths-based supervision.
2
Executive Skills of
Strengths-Based Supervision
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction,
both are transformed.
—Carl Jung (1933, p. 49)
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.

—Mark Twain (1869, p. 491)
M
ost clinical supervision is done by providing a flavor of the literature on supervi-
competent and well-heeled supervisors sion, while at the same time adding up-to-date
in the trenches who are not attached to material past what was originally written. I do so
academia in any way. This is somewhat conten- to provide a more current, albeit personal, ver-
tious to academics, yet the bulk of supervision sion in order to round out what many site super-
literature and training is geared toward doctoral visors never got because they chose to provide
students and academics in ivory towers and labo- quality work in our collective field.
ratories. There are far more supervisors without Strengths-based work, yes I will get to it
doctoral training (West Russo, 2010), and they eventually, cannot exist alone, and neither can
deserve our respect, admiration and thanks, any form of supervision or clinical work. It is
rather than the failure of inclusion that occurs in executive skills that provide the groundwork for
literature intended for doctoral students. There whatever we do. They are the nuts and bolts of
is, it seems, a pejorative favor of doctoral train- clinical supervision, while resiliency and
ing of supervisors over “in the field” supervisors strengths are the frame through which we must
in the literature’s availability and focus, while in see our supervisees. Several universal concepts
reality there are more of those in the field, and from clinical work form the basis of executive
they are doing good solid work. I have nothing skills that help clinical supervisors stay on track
but admiration for these folks who provide the regardless of the model they use. This is also a
bulk of clinical supervision in our world. Thus, partial review of many of the foundational
the executive skills I present here are aimed at thoughts of supervision that can inform those of
27
us who supervise or desire to do so that we just group of guiding principles that help to organize
covered. While some experts have suggested specific events and issues in sessions that lead to
that clinicians should work from a strategic smooth and beneficial collaborative work.
frame, while maintaining a structural position Executive skills are metaskills, rarely taught in a
(Kottler & Shepard, 2008), I advocate for think- university setting and from the lack of literature,
ing strengths-based, while adhering to principles rarely spoken of or researched, yet seasoned
that assure quality and ethical work, both clini- clinicians and supervisors know how to incorpo-
cally and as a supervisor. Each of the executive rate these in order to run a session smoothly.
skills described here is punctuated with actual Especially today, managing the session from
case material. entry to exit, from upset to joy, it is useful to
Regardless of the model or mode used, clini- know how things work in one’s office during a
cians or supervisors, to do their job, must under- session. It is important to have a skill set that
stand and utilize the 10 executive skills: (1) cross- goes above and beyond one’s model or orienta-
cultural or multicultural competencies, (2) the tion in clinical supervision. Ironically, the only
domains of a supervisor, (3) ethics, (4) develop- place I found references to executive skills in
mental stages of a clinician, (5) isomorphs and counseling was in Chen and Rybak’s book,
parallel processes, (6) boundary issues, (7) inter- Group Leadership Skills (2003), and in an arti-
personal relationship skills, (8) conflict resolu- cle on family therapy training by Tomm and
tion, (9) enhancement of self-efficacy and Wright (2004). In this chapter, I review what I
personal agency, and finally, (10) session man- consider to be the executive skills of a clinical
agement. Each of these areas that I include as a supervisor. Each of the executive skills is punc-
specific executive skill has been researched and tuated with actual case dialogue. Let us unpack
written about in great detail, so I will only pro- the supervisory executive skills one at a time
vide an overview. But I sincerely believe that to and understand the synergy they create for com-
be a competent supervisor—even a strengths- petent clinical supervision.
based one—these areas need to be understood While evidence-based practice may be the cur-
and continue to be a part of a lifelong learning rent gold standard, statistically proven protocols
update that we maintain. Even in the last few don’t always work. When they fail, clinicians and
years, from when I began the formulation of this supervisors often place blame for the errors and
book, new and exciting changes have happened failures on the client, saying the client wasn’t
in each of these areas. ready or psychologically minded (Hubble, Duncan,
Over the years, as I provided workshops & Miller, 1999). Time-bound models do not account
for new supervisors and those who had no for novel or random events that occur in our stake-
formal training, it was clear to me that the litera- holders’ lives, so even the best constructed model
ture compartmentalized a series of skills that will not account for a mother’s loss of food
were needed to provide adequate supervision. stamps, a child’s sudden desire to begin using
However, although they may all have been situ- drugs, or other systemic barriers to smooth sailing
ated in edited texts, no one has actually placed treatment. Like a well-trained clinician who has a
them together, and like the executive skills nec- developed maturity and personal agency and can
essary to provide quality clinical work (office move with the flow and be flexible when needed,
rules of conduct, how to start and stop sessions great supervisors are ready to attend to the sudden
on time, what to do if someone talks too much stops and starts, all the while looking for the
or too little, etc.), they are the bedrock of quality supervisee’s strengths and resilience, pointing
clinical work and supervision but are rarely them out at an appropriate time. Most supervisors
taught or written about. An examination of the have had times when a supervisee experiences a
literature shows that little work has been focused death of a loved one, a romance gone sour, family
on these “high-level” skills—skills that help problems, or a tragedy. These experiences require
clinicians and supervisors pay attention to a supervisors to be on their toes and ready to help
Chapter 2. Executive Skills of Strengths-Based Supervision • 29
their supervisee bring forth his or her natural resil- breast milk for their baby at home, during class, so
ient resources. The supervisor’s ability to be flex- I left them alone in my office, showed them where
ible is imperative, and our executive skills, if the refrigerator was, and started class with the
understood, can kick into gear and help smooth expectation they would join us later. In addition,
out these transitory life events. I have had at least we videotaped the sessions they missed and sent
two women give birth and need to be in internship the tape to them so they would still feel a part of
class soon after. Both needed to express their the class.
Personal Care for Personal Agency

Jennifer was in her last semester of internship at a program designed to work with
women who have experienced sexual abuse at some point in their lives. She had talked
several times in supervision about one of her clients, a woman who also had an advanced
degree in counseling and who had at times been suicidal. Jen had, according to the
agency plan, written a suicide protection contract, but the women had laughed and said,
“This is really more for you than it is for me, isn’t it?” The woman had no plan at the
time, but she had also talked about knowing that at some point in time she would follow
through with ending her life.
Then one day, Jen came in looking really stressed and said she had received another cli-
ent who had been suicidal once before and that this client was always in crisis mode. The
wear and tear on this intern was showing, and I asked if she was talking care of herself well
enough to have the energy to be present for her clients. Her personal agency was at risk. I
asked what were some of the things she used to do that gave her joy and filled her life with
energy. The mood in the room changed from hopeless to more hope filled as she discussed
how she enjoyed singing in a choir, had not spent any time during her graduate studies
doing this, and was waiting until she graduated. Signature strengths when applied can bal-
ance the work stressors we all have, and as Jen and I discussed this, we both agreed that
the sooner she started this course of action, the more likely it would be that she would
continue it as a regular part of her life. The offshoot might possibly be better energy and
focus on her clients. I then asked her to describe a time in her sessions when she felt the
work she was providing with one of these clients was really profound and solid forward
progression. She was able to describe several of these times—she was in the moment—flow—
and the clinical work was, in her opinion, the best of the best for client and clinician. As we
take care of our supervisees, they will do the same for their clients.
Cross-Cultural and Drs. Anita Thomas and Sara Schwarzbaum,

Multicultural Competencies authors of two fine texts about multiculturalism
(Thomas & Schwarzbaum, 2005; Schwarzbaum
As I was thinking more about the issue of culture & Thomas, 2008). So I asked them what they
and how it plays into supervision, I chanced to thought would be important to get across to super-
have lunch with my two colleagues and friends, visors regarding multiculturalism. Thomas quickly
said, “Talk about it” (A. J. Thomas, personal com- and differences among discrete cultural groups
munication, March 31, 2010). Schwarzbaum beyond the constraints of a nation, state, or other
agreed. This is good sound advice, but of course, structure, while multiculturalism has to do with
there is more. differences among groups within a larger group
Multicultural and cross-cultural thought, such as a nation, or even within the boundaries of
including, for instance, the feminist perspective a single cultural group. Cross-culturalism would
(Nelson, 2006), gender and sexual orientation be interested in how blacks who have ancestral
(Singh & Chun, 2010), cultural (Constantine, roots in Africa are different from Asians or dif-
1997; D’Andrea & Daniels, 1997; Dressel, ferences of psychologists in the United States
Consoli, Kim, & Atkinson, 2007; Gonzalez, 1997; from those in Sweden, while multiculturalism
Inman, 2006; Lassiter, Napolitano, Culbreth, & might focus on differences and similarities of
Ng, 2008; Martinez & Holloway, 1997; Stone, white Eurocentric males in the United States or
1997), racial (Butler-Byrd, 2010), and spirituality compare the Hells Angels from Los Angeles to
and religion issues (Puig & Fukuyama, 2008), the Aryan Brotherhood Wonderland Gang from
have become central to the field as we train future some of our southern states.
generations of clinicians as well as supervisors to For our purposes of supervision in clinical
work sensitively with all people. Most of the work settings, however, as early as 1997 Constantine
of cultural sensitivity includes a healthy look at (1997), as well as D’Andrea and Daniels (1997),
our own epistemological view of who we are and suggested that the term multicultural is far more
how we learned how to think about and get along appropriate, because these days the nature of
with those who are not the same as us. We tend to clinical work, thus clinical supervision, is reflec-
believe that the way we have been taught to think tive of “multiple cultural factors” (D’Andrea &
and believe (social constructions) is not only the Daniels, 1997, p. 293). Fong and Lease (1997)
right way but that those who are different from us made the point that “all supervisors, regardless
are wrong. Even those with multicultural sensitiv- of racial/ethnic background, need to seek profes-
ity can still carry around messages embedded sional development in the knowledge and skills
from years of walking around in a country and of cross-cultural supervision” (p. 396). Today,
culture that continue to institutionalize racist poli- we know that to be true, however, as multicul-
cies and practices. For example, in 2009 a justice tural supervision. Many years later, the field has
of the peace, of all people, refused to marry a increased our understanding of multicultural
couple because they were of different races, while supervision by many folds, making it a rich and
prominent public figures of color continue to be growing endeavor that continues to need more
mistaken for each other and parts of our nation are professional development training.
enacting strict and potentially dangerous legisla- Smith (2006) suggested “a core component of
tion that effects cultures that might be racially the strength-based theory is that culture has a
profiled. These actions are the most obvious of major impact on how people view and evaluate
concerns, as ever more critical human rights are human strengths. All strengths are culturally
overlooked as we debate the rights of all people to based” (p. 17). She believed that any time clini-
share in the common good, equally. Those of us cians are involved with counseling where culture
who supervise and practice must always be aware is a factor (and almost all are), they should be
of our own worldviews. focusing on cultural strengths rather than on their
potential to be victimized due to discrimination,
Cross-Culturalism and she noted that strengths-based work has
roots in researchers who began to question the
and Multiculturalism relevance of some assumptions of the field, due
There is a distinction between what is meant to their cross-cultural implications.
by cross-culturalism and multiculturalism. Furthermore, the implications of a philoso-
Cross-culturalism has to do with the similarities phy that adheres to a postmodern and socially
constructed practice have similarities and congru- respect to issues of gender (Nelson et al., 2006),
ence with those of multiculturalism (D’Andrea, sexual orientation (Singh & Chun, 2010), and cul-
2000). It moves us away from a universalist per- tural (Constantine, 1997; D’Andrea & Daniels,
spective to a multiverse, providing opportunities 1997; Dressel et al., 2007; Gonzalez, 1997; Inman,
and ways of truth farther past fundamentalism. 2006; Lassiter, 2008; Martinez & Holloway, 1997;
The standardization of traditional clinical the- Stone, 1997); and supervisor competencies
ory and models can be called into question and (Dressel et al., 2007; Inman, 2006; Lassiter et al.,
required to make way for multiple perspectives, 2008; Ober, Granello, & Henfield, 2009). The
due to our understanding of top-down socially issue of power is a standard part of supervision,
constructed beliefs, and this moves us away from one I have tried to deconstruct throughout the sec-
holding to any single truth. We are forced to tion on strengths-based models. Some of the issues
admit and see that our way is only best for us, not of power and privilege that come along with the
for all, and that we may also adopt and rewrite title of supervision are more likely to be jettisoned,
our views over time. So, what does this all mean depending on where the supervision is done. The
in regard to multiculturalism embedded in natural consequences of a hierarchical grade-
strengths-based supervision? I will give you, the giving occupation as professor and clinical super-
reader, a broad stroke view of the field. visor make the problem just that much harder to
deal with, yet as we see throughout this book,
supervisees want to be treated as competent and
Multiculturalism and Supervision collegial members of a team (Heath & Storm,
Earlier in the study of multiculturalism and 1983; Heath and Tharp, as cited by Thomas, 1996).
supervision, Stone (1997) noted a growing prob- Awareness, self-reflection, and open discussion
lem in a growing field—the literature is slim. work to maintain open communication and level
Those who are studying this niche of the field the hierarchical playing field. Indeed, the impor-
disagree on what the focus should be; defining tance of self-examination is considered one of the
multiculturalism from either an inclusive or themes that came out of the work of a two-day
exclusive approach uses ambiguous terms such meeting/discussion of the Supervision and Training
as race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and so Work Group at the 1998 Advancing Together:
forth, in addition to who should be included in Centralizing Feminism and Multiculturalism in
what is called culture. Pointing to a study of bio- Counseling Psychology Conference (Nelson et al.,
logical aspects of ethnicity, the position is made 2006). Nelson et al. (2006) also pointed to the abil-
that the boundaries of culture are blurred as there ity to contain ambiguity and anxiety as it relates to
are no discrete boundaries genetically between multiculturalism within supervision, a notion I
races (Chapman, 1993, as cited in Stone, 1997). have experienced quite often while writing this
Making an observation that I think is an early section for this book. “The capacity to make such
precursor to strengths-based thinking, Stone said admissions is related to a supervisor’s ability to
the following: “One general, unfortunate conse- acknowledge her or his own limitations in supervi-
quence has been the view of culture as an obsta- sion with trainees. Admission of what one does not
cle to overcome in counseling practice rather know is related to the capacity to remain open”
than an opportunity to enhance practice” (p. 268). (Nelson et al., 2006, p. 116). Regardless of my
Culture as a strength is centered and put forward, experience working with urban populations and
with the caveat and understated notion that mul- counseling in multicultural settings for the better
ticultural training is cited in the literature for the part of my 43 years, I have not had sufficient train-
purposes of training competent clinicians, while ing in a broad understanding of what it means to
we noted earlier that the focus should also be on supervise multiculturally. Sometimes I have felt
the training of supervisors. like a fraud writing a section in which I have expe-
Throughout the literature, the issue of power rienced but not had formal training. Multicultural
and privilege resonate for the supervisor with competency training was not a required part of my
education when I was in graduate school, and I am a mistake; he is white. And I am really glad that
the product of a family that didn’t think twice there are no roses without thorns—no hay rosas
about its white power; my beloved father liked sin espinas. So my supervisee goes off to find out
only his own kind during an era much different about that part of the multicultural situation—his
than the one I live in today. We are socially con- South Asian gay man, coming from a culture
structed, but that can change through training and where there is no word for gay or homosexual in
self-examination and being open to our own limi- his language, and he is living in a very multicul-
tations. Thus began a career where my work com- tural urban city. I am not in Kansas anymore, that’s
prised almost 70% nonwhite clients. for sure. There is a lot to know when one becomes
During the writing of this section, I had a super- a multicultural supervisor.
visory session with a Latino gay man who was Let us take a look at some suggested skills we
stymied in his work with a gay man of South Asian need to have and what to do to get there. But
descent. The client presented as depressed and before you do that, you should look at the multi-
expressed that there is nothing about where he cultural competencies of the Association for
came from to be proud of or like, and that there Multicultural Counseling and Development
was no one in this city to whom he relates. Irony: (AMCD), a division of the ACA (Figure 2.1). In
a straight, white 64-year-old male supervisor help- addition, both the American Psychological
ing a Latino gay supervisee who is struggling with Association (APA; 2002) and the National
a situation neither I, nor my supervisee, know very Association for Social Workers (NASW; 2005)
little about. My only hope is that I have recently have articulated practice and training stances on
read several articles for this section, especially multiculturalism.
Singh and Chun’s (2010) From the Margins to Dressel et al. (2007), in an attempt to find what
the Center: Moving Towards a Resilience-Based successful and unsuccessful multicultural supervi-
Model of Supervision for Queer People of Color sory behaviors might be, conducted a three-round
Supervisors and Field and Chavez-Korell’s (2010) Delphi study with 21 supervisors referred by uni-
No Hay Rosas Sin Espinas: Conceptualizing versity training directors, who met the criteria for
Latina-Latina Supervision From a Multicultural the study—many years as a supervisor with mul-
Developmental Supervisory Model; and I have ticultural experience (number unspecified) and
reread Smith’s (2006) seminal article on strength- evidence of scholarship in multicultural supervi-
based work. Smith’s mantra, again, is that strengths sion. The final number of supervisor panel mem-
emanate from our culture—work with the cultural bers who stayed with the project to the end was
strengths and you are working strengths-based, 13. The final results indicated that of the 27
while Singh and Chun advocate for a resiliency behaviors the respondent group put together for
model. I feel at home again. My dual cultures of successful multicultural supervision, the most
English, which can sometimes be perceived as favorably rated behavior was “creating a safe
arrogant and standoffish, are tempered by the environment for discussion of multicultural
knowledge of what my Scottish ancestors had to issues” (p. 58). The next highest ranked behaviors
do to gain their rights for freedom. This is a useful were those that had to do with supervisors devel-
clash, I might rather suspect, but I acknowledge oping their own self-awareness with respect to
my own limitations. My Celtic epistemology tells culture and ethnic identity and communicating
me that the universe will provide, while my respect for their supervisees’ ethnicity, ideas about
Scottish Presbyterian epistemology tells me that cultural influences in a clinical situation, and
the Lord will provide if I have been predestined. openness, empathy, genuineness, and ability to be
She (God) did, so we dig for strengths and resilien- nonjudgmental (Dressel et al., 2007). Of the 33
cies of his client’s culture, but we are both unsure behavioral statements the panel decided on, the
of what they are. I start to suggest that he have the highest rated behavior to indicate unsuccessful
young man watch the story of Harvey Milk—what multicultural supervision was a lack of awareness
Figure 2.1 Association for Multicultural Counseling & Development (AMCD) Counseling Competencies
I. Counselor Awareness of Own Cultural Values and Biases
A. Attitudes and Beliefs
1. Culturally skilled counselors believe that cultural self-awareness and sensitivity to one’s
own cultural heritage is essential.
2. Culturally skilled counselors are aware of how their own cultural background and
experiences have influenced attitudes, values, and biases about psychological processes.
3. Culturally skilled counselors are able to recognize the limits of their multicultural competency
and expertise.
4. Culturally skilled counselors recognize their sources of discomfort with differences that exist
between themselves and clients in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture.
B. Knowledge
1. Culturally skilled counselors have specific knowledge about their own racial and cultural
heritage and how it personally and professionally affects their definitions and biases of
normality/abnormality and the process of counseling.
2. Culturally skilled counselors possess knowledge and understanding about how oppression,
racism, discrimination, and stereotyping affect them personally and in their work. This
allows individuals to acknowledge their own racist attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Although
this standard applies to all groups, for white counselors it may mean that they understand
how they may have directly or indirectly benefited from individual, institutional, and cultural
racism as outlined in white identity development models.
3. Culturally skilled counselors possess knowledge about their social impact upon others. They
are knowledgeable about communication style differences, how their style may clash with or
foster the counseling process with persons of color or others different from themselves based
on the A, B, and C, Dimensions, and how to anticipate the impact it may have on others.
C. Skills
1. Culturally skilled counselors seek out educational, consultative, and training experiences to
improve their understanding and effectiveness in working with culturally different populations.
Being able to recognize the limits of their competencies, they (a) seek consultation, (b) seek
further training or education, (c) refer out to more qualified individuals or resources, or
(d) engage in a combination of these.
2. Culturally skilled counselors are constantly seeking to understand themselves as racial and
cultural beings and are actively seeking a nonracist identity.
(Continued)
Figure 2.1 (Continued)
II. Counselor Awareness of Client’s Worldview
A. Attitudes and Beliefs
1. Culturally skilled counselors are aware of their negative and positive emotional reactions
toward other racial and ethnic groups that may prove detrimental to the counseling
relationship. They are willing to contrast their own beliefs and attitudes with those of their
culturally different clients in a nonjudgmental fashion.
2. Culturally skilled counselors are aware of their stereotypes and preconceived notions that
they may hold toward other racial and ethnic minority groups.
B. Knowledge
1. Culturally skilled counselors possess specific knowledge and information about the particular
group with which they are working. They are aware of the life experiences, cultural heritage,
and historical background of their culturally different clients. This particular competency is
strongly linked to the “minority identity development models” available in the literature.
2. Culturally skilled counselors understand how race, culture, ethnicity, and so forth may affect
personality formation, vocational choices, manifestation of psychological disorders, help
seeking behavior, and the appropriateness or inappropriateness of counseling approaches.
3. Culturally skilled counselors understand and have knowledge about sociopolitical influences
that impinge upon the life of racial and ethnic minorities. Immigration issues, poverty,
racism, stereotyping, and powerlessness may impact self-esteem and self-concept in the
counseling process.
C. Skills
1. Culturally skilled counselors should familiarize themselves with relevant research and the
latest findings regarding mental health and mental disorders that affect various ethnic and
racial groups. They should actively seek out educational experiences that enrich their
knowledge, understanding, and cross-cultural skills for more effective counseling behavior.
2. Culturally skilled counselors become actively involved with minority individuals outside the
counseling setting (e.g., community events, social and political functions, celebrations,
friendships, neighborhood groups, and so forth) so that their perspective of minorities is
more than an academic or helping exercise.
III. Culturally Appropriate Intervention Strategies
A. Beliefs and Attitudes
1. Culturally skilled counselors respect clients’ religious and/ or spiritual beliefs and values,
including attributions and taboos, because they affect worldview, psychosocial functioning,
and expressions of distress.
2. Culturally skilled counselors respect indigenous helping practices and helping networks
among communities of color.
3. Culturally skilled counselors value bilingualism and do not view another language as an
impediment to counseling (monolingualism may be the culprit).
B. Knowledge
1. Culturally skilled counselors have a clear and explicit knowledge and understanding of the
generic characteristics of counseling and therapy (culture bound, class bound, and
monolingual) and how they may clash with the cultural values of various cultural groups.
2. Culturally skilled counselors are aware of institutional barriers that prevent minorities from
using mental health services.
3. Culturally skilled counselors have knowledge of the potential bias in assessment
instruments and use procedures and interpret findings while keeping in mind the cultural
and linguistic characteristics of the clients.
4. Culturally skilled counselors have knowledge of family structures, hierarchies, values, and
beliefs from various cultural perspectives. They are knowledgeable about the community
where a particular cultural group may reside and the resources in the community.
5. Culturally skilled counselors should be aware of relevant discriminatory practices at the
social and community level that may be affecting the psychological welfare of the population
being served.
C. Skills
1. Culturally skilled counselors are able to engage in a variety of verbal and nonverbal helping
responses. They are able to send and receive both verbal and nonverbal messages accurately
and appropriately. They are not tied down to only one method or approach to helping but
recognize that helping styles and approaches may be culture bound. When they sense that
their helping style is limited and potentially inappropriate, they can anticipate and modify it.
2. Culturally skilled counselors are able to exercise institutional intervention skills on behalf of their
clients. They can help clients determine whether a “problem” stems from racism or bias in others
(the concept of healthy paranoia) so that clients do not inappropriately personalize problems.
3. Culturally skilled counselors are not averse to seeking consultation with traditional healers
or religious and spiritual leaders and practitioners in the treatment of culturally different
clients when appropriate.
4. Culturally skilled counselors take responsibility for interacting in the language requested by
the client and, if not feasible, make appropriate referrals. A serious problem arises when the
linguistic skills of the counselor do not match the language of the client. This being the case,
counselors should (a) seek a translator with cultural knowledge and appropriate professional
background or (b) refer to a knowledgeable and competent bilingual counselor.
(Continued)
Figure 2.1 (Continued)
5. Culturally skilled counselors have training and expertise in the use of traditional assessment
and testing instruments. They not only understand the technical aspects of the instruments
but are also aware of the cultural limitations. This allows them to use test instruments for
the welfare of culturally different clients.
6. Culturally skilled counselors should attend to as well as work to eliminate biases, prejudices,
and discriminatory contexts in conducting evaluations and providing interventions, and they
should develop sensitivity to issues of oppression, sexism, heterosexism, elitism, and racism.
7. Culturally skilled counselors take responsibility for educating their clients to the processes
of psychological intervention, such as goals, expectations, legal rights, and the counselor’s
orientation.
Source: Adapted from Arredondo, P., Toporek, M. S., Brown, S., Jones, J., Locke, D. C., Sanchez, J., & Stadler, H.
(1996). Operationalization of the multicultural counseling competencies. Alexandria, VA: AMCD.
by a supervisor of his or her own culture or bias. supervision satisfaction, but they had a negative
This was followed up in rank order by failing to relationship with supervisees’ etiological concep-
bring cultural issues into supervisory discussion, tual abilities regarding multicultural factors. Again,
being defensive about multicultural issues, and supervisors’ knowledge of multiculturalism as
more general behaviors such as not establishing a perceived by supervisees has a positive effect on
working alliance or recognizing the hierarchical working relationships with their supervisees.
power differential. What is interesting to me is that Two protocols for the development of multicul-
many of the statements this panel has set forward tural competencies in supervision are worth men-
are general skills one would expect of any supervi- tioning. Lassiter et al. (2008) presented a structured
sor, and they have limited content connected to peer group supervision (SPGS) model where a
multiculturalism specifically. For instance, the supervisee tapes (audio or video) and selects a
highest ranked statement for successful multicul- 10-minute segment to share and has a series of
tural supervision is to create a safe environment for questions, concerns, and areas to focus on, while
the discussion of multicultural issues. And although the peers choose roles they will address, such as
I am at first incredulous that any supervisor would nonverbal behavior of either client or supervisee,
shut down discussion of this sort, I know and have reactions and possible perceptions of the client,
an example of such behavior in a later section dis- how significant others to the client might react if
cussing boundary issues, where I provide a case they were present, multicultural concerns of the
example called “Muriel and her Beliefs.” case, and so forth. These people then voice their
In an interesting study by Inman (2006), it was perspectives after the presentation, with the expec-
hypothesized that supervisors who were perceived tation that this will increase hidden concerns or
by their supervisees to have multicultural compe- factors of which the supervisee might be unaware.
tencies and by their working alliance or both Ober et al. (2009) proposed a synergistic
would have an effect on supervisees’ multicultural model (SMMS) combining Bloom’s Taxonomy
case conceptualizations. Results of this found model (Bloom et al., cited in Ober et al., 2009),
that supervisors’ multicultural competencies were which promotes cognitive development, with the
positively correlated with working alliance and Heuristic Model of Non-Oppressive Interpersonal
Development (HMNID; Bloom et al., cited in multicultural expectations as part of our super-
Ober et al., 2009), with process learning and visor’s responsibility begins with us and our
multicultural counseling competencies (Sue et al., own work on our own cultural context and pro-
cited in Ober et al., 2009). This is a very curricu- cesses and our own openness to explore this
lar model, intended for classroom learning, and it during supervision. For me, as a white male
is not, in my opinion, practical for applications in supervising in a university that prides itself as
group supervision, where the focus is on case the most culturally diverse university in the
conceptualization and strengthening supervisees’ Midwest, that means I need to attend to my own
skill and personal agency. top-down beliefs about my power and privilege
During my research for this section, I was and the fact that as supervisors we have assigned
enthralled with the manner in which a group of to us, by our supervisees’ perceptions, a power
women (Nelson et al., 2006) went about their and privileged rank that we may not choose but
discussion of multiculturalism. I was also have to accept. Knowing this makes it all the
shocked and dismayed at how lengthy, and to my more difficult to deconstruct those perceptions
mind, cumbersome and academically oriented, of my supervisees in order to be more in tune as
the two models seemed. I have tried to write this a supervisor who cares about working with and
book for both those in academics as well as those for a multicultural stance. Is being open to dis-
in agency sites, and I wanted to provide a simple cussions and aware of my position in these
yet easy way to go about training that would supervisory relationships enough? Does it mat-
benefit their interest and knowledge of multicul- ter that I understand and have pride in my own
tural supervision, so I invented and later tested cultural pedigree? It seems important that I am
my model with my group supervision class. The not only willing to immerse myself in under-
procedure used a person-centered group format standing other cultures and contribute to an
for the discussion on multiculturalism, facilitated equal footing of all cultures but also that I see
by an outside person. The interns are asked to them as important to the substance of our
read five readings, which are referenced in this growth and resiliency as clinicians who work in
section, prior to this experience: Nelson et al. a multicultural world. Understanding and pro-
(2006), Field and Chavez-Korell (2010), Singh moting multicultural competencies are not only
and Chun (2010), Butler-Byrd (2010), and the for clinicians but for supervisors as well. If we
list of multicultural competencies of the AMCD. believe we know it all, we have lost the ability
After reading these, the supervisor (me) and to take risks, be open to the complexity of our
supervisees (my group supervision class) met for supervisory relationships, and “tolerate ambi-
1
2 2 hours of open discussion facilitated by a skilled guity and anxiety related to a lack of certainty”
group leader. I wish I had done this earlier in the (Nelson et al., 2006, p. 113). In my experience,
year, because the discussion and openness were this is aimed at us all, regardless of our culture,
wonderful. I would like to include a reflecting race, gender, or station in life.
team to further facilitate discussion.
Further Discussion on Focus Areas and

Domains of a Supervisor
Multicultural Supervision
What strikes me first from all of the litera- Janine Bernard (1979, 1997) was the first to
ture is that a supervisor’s openness to discuss actually pinpoint what areas should be attended
multicultural issues, rather than a supervisee’s to when a supervisor begins to work with a clini-
perception that his or her supervisor is open to cian. She put forth the idea that there are three
these discussions, is most important. Second, areas of focus that supervisors must pay attention
what stands out is that the process of imparting to: “process skills, conceptualization skills, and
personalization skills” (1997, p. 310), as well as further thought. A better way of thinking about it,
three spheres of influence which a supervisor I believe, has to do with how clinicians make
makes use of: training, consultation, and coun- meaning of and structure their contacts with cli-
seling. She placed these in a grid so a supervisor ents or supervisees during presession, intrases-
can track and situate the supervisory process. sion, and postsession. For instance, I might want
Someone having a problem with, say, conceptu- to ask myself, what do I want to punctuate, what
alization of a counseling situation, can be super- do I want to listen for, ask questions about, and
vised either by training, consultation or where in the session do I want to see if I can help
counseling, and so on. Bernard’s work was an coconstruct different means or find opportunities
effort to provide an easy to understand map that to add or expand different meanings in the ses-
supervisors could conceptualize and use quickly, sion? I would also want to think about when I
in order to make interventions. I used this model abandon sharing my ideas in favor of my clients.
for quite a long time with success, but lately, I I also might want to ask myself where can I use
have found its underlying philosophy to be con- Positive Psychology ideas or consider how to
trary to my views, as it is deficit-based and hier- help the client use narrative reediting, and so
archically oriented, rather than strengths-based forth. So, I agree that supervision as well as
conceptually. I spend more time on this in clinical work is not just a process of reflecting or
Chapter 4. But for now, let us look at its parts and being in the here and now but a self-reflective
what they provide for clinical supervision as an engaged process of human interactions that can
executive skill. change and evolve over the course of a session
and the length of clinical involvement.
Process Skills
Conceptualization Skills
Bernard changed her original version from
what she called process skills (1979) to interven- Bernard considers this a more subtle part of
tion skills (1997), because she believed that the clinical skills because it has to do with how the
concept of process is not as elegant as the term clinician (and supervisor) makes meaning of
intervention. What she is talking about, from her what is going on during a session. She also hooks
reference point I believe, is the observable activi- this up with how to decide what responses to
ties and technical interactions a clinician does make during the session, so it is in her mind a
while engaged in clinical work. Such things two-part process. If I am attempting to make
might be when to confront, when to reflect, when assessments of my client’s discourse, of course I
to reframe, when to use circular questioning, am attempting to make meaning of what is meant
when to listen, and so forth. This way of working and where to go with the discourse—in other
is from a modernist perspective and has a flavor words, I am in charge of the session and its direc-
of what Nichols and Schwartz (2001) stated post- tion. My druthers again would be to ask the
modern clinicians avoid, because “too often cli- supervisees to be in charge of telling me how they
ents aren’t heard because therapists are doing are making meaning of what we are doing
therapy to them rather than with them” (p. 205). I together and to have them evaluate whether what
have the same dilemma with the term interven- we are doing together is useful (Miller et al.,
tion, as it has too many connotations, from 2007). My conceptual skill, rather than being on
planned and orchestrated strategies applied with evaluation and intervention, will be on asking and
substance abusing individuals, to the all too fre- refining what we do in the session that can be of
quently used term associated with the military. I more use to the client. My conceptualization
think Bernard’s intentions are good, and I would skills would be self-reflective as well as interac-
hope that she might agree with my concerns, after tive, to help define how the session can change to
be more useful. I have heard many discussions Auerbach, 1985). Bernard said that they are the
that question if supervisees or clients are truthful makeup of who we are: personality, culture,
or fully committed to their own treatment, and in sensitivity, humor, to name a few. How we use
fact I have even experienced those sensations ourselves during sessions, make up our persona
myself. My experience has been that when I lization skills, and how we make the sessions
believe my client to want something positive out and work our own, I guess would be another
of his or her time with me, it generally happens, way of looking at it. These skills are also what
and we find a way. Again, the Pygmalion effect as make up a good deal of feminist clinical ideas
a socially constructed idea is central to this con- (Goodrich, Rampage, Ellman, & Halstead,
cept. Cooperrider (2000) stated the following: 1988), so that the person-of-the-clinician (per-
sonalization skills) bridges from the technical
One of the remarkable things about Pygmalion is (techniques and hierarchical stance) to the per-
that it shows us how essentially modifiable the sonal and collaborative. But they can also work
human self is in relation to the mental projects of to a clinician’s detriment when they undermine
others. Indeed, not only do performance levels a working relationship because of transferential
change, but so do more deeply rooted “stable” self or interface issues—personal blind spots caused
conceptions. (p. 36) by top-down personal narratives. Because this
component is one of the most critical, when it
If I believe in my client’s ability and see that becomes a focus of supervision, it can be very
person as capable and honest, it has been my tricky. Supervisors must continually monitor
experience that it seems to work out. An old tale themselves, reflecting on their known and poten-
about hypnotherapist and founder of the strategic tial unknown places of vulnerability. The three
model Milton Erickson confirms for me that areas we discussed earlier, what Bernard called
recursive interactions of how I perceive and act skills, fit with the three domains of activities or
toward others will have an effect on how others roles that follow.
may act in return. The tale, one I cannot identify
or provide citation for, that has been told to me
years ago, goes like this: When asked by someone Training
what he (Erickson) does when he finds a client to
Training supervisees is something we all do a
be so reprehensible as to make it impossible to
time or two or more. Depending on their sophis-
work with, he responded as follows: “I form a
tication, education, and experience, supervisors
mental picture of the person and envision him or
will find themselves in a spot discussing new
her as having some genuine desirable traits, and
techniques or reviewing older but perhaps more
then I act toward him or her as if they are true.”
appropriate models that might work better with a
The power of our projections is amazing, as well
certain client. This means that the flexibility of a
as verifiable. If I had to decide on one conceptual
supervisor, with respect to models, should be
skill I would want my supervisees to have, it
fairly wide. In these days of evidence-based
would be an ability to see their clients in a positive
treatments, or Solution-Focused brief Therapy,
light, and somehow that sounds to me like uncon-
there is a tendency to be locked into one
ditional positive regard.
method—a one-size-fits-all mentality, that not
only violates ethical responsibility but may pur-
posefully avoid techniques that could be used for
Personalization Skills clients with specific complaints. We discuss
These “skills” are what some believe to be the more of this in the ethics section.
most important to clinical work, as well as super- I have made a conscious effort to make clear
vision (Luborsky, McLellan, Woody, O’Brien, & that I believe our supervisees are the most
well-trained and well-informed clinicians ever core to our program, during group supervision.
due to the explosion of media and technology. Also, it has been my experience that many pro-
In addition, the efforts in the last few years to grams typically require only one class in family
increase the competitive edge through training systems, so when the newly trained clinicians hit
followed by continuing education requirements the market, they might get the additional training
for licensure have made our clinicians more during their clinical supervision at their intern-
competitive and better trained than ever before. ship site where family therapy is part of the usual
It is well known that since the mid-1980s there treatment routine.
has been over a 275% increase of persons who All of this leads me to agree with Bernard,
have trained to be mental health clinicians that training can be critical to supervision prac-
(Hubble et al., 1999). Those of us who train tices and that supervisors need to know more
and teach in universities have felt the impact than a few models and knowledge of the differ-
for our students both for internship placements ent styles of learning. In my experience, many of
as well as jobs postgraduation. Those of us who our supervisees already have preferred concep-
supervise or administer agencies know all too tual orientations and approaches to learning. Ed
well the competiveness for jobs and the lack of Neukrug (2011) has developed an assessment
financial resources to provide clinical services tool supervisees can take online that will help
for the clients we serve. It’s a highly competi- them and (if they care to share) their supervisor
tive market, fueling a highly trained clinical find their preferred clinical conceptual orienta-
surplus. But the point still remains that super- tion (see http://www.odu.edu/~eneukrug/therapists/
visees are extremely well trained. booksurvey.html). I have used this with my
Despite this increase of clinical “right stuff,” supervisees to help them assess where they are in
universities have had to cut back on extra elec- their development and what they like most from
tive classes, as course work becomes centralized the breadth of the 12 theoretical approaches, as
around guild requirements and students’ funds well as the four conceptual beliefs Neukrug has
for elective classes past the minimum require- situated in the field of counseling and psycho-
ments are usually not available. Add to that the therapy. After having my group supervision class
financial crunch put upon agencies where dollars take the test, I have them discuss what it is about
for continued training was routine and now the those approaches that they like and don’t like.
place where advanced elective training may be This not only gives us a clue about what they feel
collected is during supervision. A supervisor comfortable with, but it also provides multiple
may have a set of skills that is different than what models that allow for additions and increased
the cadre of Licensed Clinical Professional readiness to learn different models that they
Counselors, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, might find useful in the future.
clinical psychologists, and so forth, might be
provided by a supervisor who has advanced
Consultation
training, or at an agency where a specific model
is used, and new clinicians are taken on with the Consultation practice has made interesting
expectation that they will learn those models’ strides in the past 20-some years since Bernard
skills along the way (B. Atkinson, personal com- first wrote her discrimination model of supervi-
munication, March, 2010; J. Walter, personal sion. What has remained constant in the focus
communication, October, 2008). and application of consultation skills is that it is a
In my internship classes with community and voluntary relationship where a person or persons
family counselors who are headed out the door (the consultant) are in dialogue with a second
soon to begin their clinical life’s work, I try to person or persons (the consultees), regarding a
teach them some other strengths-based skills, third person or situation, for the purpose of poten-
past the foundational microskills course that is tial change. Consultants are supposed to provide
an assessment of needs and then give suggestions This view has an historical basis, and anyone
and advice, providing alternatives and objectives familiar with the way psychoanalysts were trained
that the second person may or may not follow will be more than accustomed with how this one
through on. The responsibility for follow-through works. Psychoanalytic training includes going
is always left to the consultee to decide, and over through the process yourself, as part of your
the years consultants have devised a set of opera- clinical work. I remember working with my
tional principles that can influence the follow- supervisors, talking about my own family (of
through. Block (2000) suggested much of the origin or nuclear) and how that part of my life
following: (a) effective decision making should was affecting my clinical work. Today, however,
require free and open choice—the consultee ethics dictates that counseling your supervisee
(supervisee) always has a choice whether to fol- might be construed as a dual relationship. I have
low the suggestions of the consultant, (b) imple- trained numerous supervisors who blink with
mentation requires internal commitment—the distress when I suggest that supervision in this
consultee and his or her organization needs to be manner could be considered unethical, especially
committed to the process of change and believe if they have not provided informed consent about
the process is appropriate, (c) the first goal of their way of supervising and had it agreed upon
consultation is to establish a collaborative rela- by their supervisee. If the relationship is volun-
tionship and solve problems together so they stay tary, the client has the right to agree or disagree.
solved, (d) change works best when consultees If supervisors are working in an agency, they
feel the need and understand that the goals and must provide a less “clinical” form of supervision
solutions are mostly their ideas, (e) to begin the if their supervisee rejects counseling as a part
process means the examination of all data and of supervision.
choice making of commitment, methods, and Now there are many times in one’s supervi-
intended outcome, and (f) collaboration works sory life when it is as plain as the nose on the
best, over that of an “expert” role. This is nothing face (given our own top-down constructions)
new to most clinicians, as we have recognized for that counseling, either long term or short, would
a long time that collaboration—helping clients be helpful to the process for a supervisee. Our
feel that they own a large part of their changes field has a fair number of impaired clinicians,
and helping them experience the solutions as their including those with all the common problems
own—contributes to a successful outcome our clients might have, as well as a significant
(Lambert & Bergin, 1994). The last point is the number of clinicians who cross the boundary
most interesting. Collaboration over “expert” roll sexually with their clients. Bringing these issues
fits very well with a strengths-based perspective, up to supervisees and providing suggestions for
such as reflecting teams, narrative, and so forth. ways they can work things out or even perhaps
(and I say this with great trepidation, knowing
that there are those out there who love psychic
Counseling voyeurism) using part of a supervision session to
This final domain or task Bernard points to is explore how supervisees interface issues might
vexing to me. As she intends, counseling is to be negatively affecting clinical work. But super-
create a place where supervisors provide an visors need to have a mandate from their super-
opportunity to reflect on what has happened in visees to do so. Supervisors need to explain
their clinical work and to explore the meaning. themselves clearly and make it known that this is
“Therefore, the supervisor as counselor is more a choice the supervisee has. Just as in our own
likely to instigate moments for the trainee when clinical work, it is necessary to provide informed
things ‘come together,’ when thoughts, behaviors, consent, with stipulations that there will be no
and personal realities merge to enhance profes- repercussions if the supervisee says no and sug-
sional development” (Bernard, 1997, p. 312). gestions for providing alternative means to work
things out. Even then, supervisees have the right seeing, they will teach new or deeper understand-
to self-determination, and unless their interface ing of clinical skills, and they will find themselves
issues are harming clients and it can be docu- in instances where interface issues (countertrans-
mented, they have the right to reject their super- ferences) occur, and they may have to do some-
visor’s suggestions, without reprisal for following thing about that in order for the supervisor to
their own path. move forward. This last piece can provide diffi-
The Bernard model leaves us with a short and culties, if we think that the traditional concept of
sweet way of understanding what can and does counseling always applies. And maybe there are
happen during supervision. Supervisors will con- not any difficulties, if we think of evaluation and
sult regarding cases that their supervisees’ are counseling from a strengths-based perspective.
Karen: An Example
Karen was open about her reasons for interning at a domestic violence shelter. She had
been beaten many times by her husband before she finally got the courage up to leave
him, their children in tow. So, when she began her internship, she ended up talking fairly
regularly about the bastards that beat up their wives, and after some time, she began
tirades about how gutless were the women who had gone through the program, only to
reappear again and again. I spoke with Karen about her anger and asked if she thought
maybe seeing one of our free-for-students counselors at the university counseling center
would help. She responded fairly angrily that she was fine, but she said she would not
speak so blatantly in group supervision in the future. However, her attitude didn’t change,
only her use of pejorative words, and one day soon after our supervisory “talk,” several of
her colleagues in group supervision began to take her down for her attitude toward both her
clients and their men. She fought back, angrily, and left the class in tears; I followed her
out and down the hall, to comfort and talk, leaving the rest of the group members to con-
tinue their talk and their regret. Karen didn’t want to talk much, especially when I sug-
gested again that she seek help from someone at the center or seriously think about where
she is interning and if it is best for her.
Karen slowed down in class with her attitude, didn’t participate as much, and told me
once she felt as if she didn’t belong anywhere. No matter what I suggested, it just didn’t
seem to help. One day, however, she came to my office smiling and said that she would
finish her internship, that she and her site supervisor had also talked, and she had decided
that instead of being a domestic violence counselor, she was going to become the agency’s
marketing and development director, as she had these skills from her past work experience
in business. I was relieved, she was overjoyed, and her relationships with her peers began to
get a whole lot better. She graduated on time and felt as if she had learned a great deal
from her experiences and from the internship. Her distance from the direct services over time
gave her perspective, and the last time I saw her, she was doing well.
I do not know why people gravitate to a place It should be enough that I stress that ethics
where the clinical work is so close to them that for supervisors are the same as those for clini-
interface issues get in the way. Well, that’s not cians. It is not by accident that the lawyers in
true, and as soon as I started to write that last the most famous of all ethical cases for clini-
sentence, I knew it was silly. Recovering addicts cians, the Tarasoff case, sued the supervisor as
go into substance abuse counseling treatment, well as the consulting psychiatrist for not
many African American counselors I have super- insuring that a clinician followed the duty to
vised want to work with people from their com- warn another person of possible danger, when
munities, gay and lesbian counselors seek out the clinician had information that might have
centers for people with HIV, and I ended up see- prevented harm. Supervisors must live with
ing lots of divorcing clients as I went through my these ethical and legal requirements also, even
own separation and divorce. Unconsciously, or when they cross another ethical guideline of
consciously, we work out our own issues and confidentiality.
give back to others who are experiencing the As I have noted elsewhere in this book, super-
same sort of pain we have overcome or in some visors have a responsibility to provide informed
cases are still going through. Or maybe the uni- consent to their supervisees, especially when
verse in its infinite wisdom calls us to this pro- they are using forms of supervision that might
fession as wounded healers. Whatever, rather cross other boundaries such as person-of-the-
than being one-up and all knowing, I am glad therapist supervision where the supervisor
that I spent time with Karen but let her work it assumes the role of clinician during supervision
out herself. I’m also pleased that her site supervi- to help supervisees move past stuck places, or as
sor was willing to find her a space that fit where in early psychodynamic supervision, where it
she was at the time, rather than making it a huge was expected that clinicians learn their craft by
pathologizing event. The takeaway for me was being analyzed (Aponte, 1991; Watson, 2005).
that supervisors should never be supervisees’ Early in my career, this was the typical mode of
counselors, but they can be an open ear, make supervision as I was trained by people for the
suggestions, provide support, and describe their Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, but I was
own time when they had to seek counseling for never given informed consent back then; my
their own interface issues. supervisor just plodded on through as a natural
course of our supervision. These days, it is a
boundary issue and an ethical problem of dual
Ethics relationship, as well as an issue of informed con-
sent. In my training of clinical supervisors, I
One of my favorite colleagues used to start off all have been perplexed that this still goes on as part
her classes on ethics by saying, “Don’t sleep of business as usual supervision. I have had sev-
with your clients.” That was her mantra and a eral supervisors in training who have been taken
well-intended and needed one at that. The statis- off guard by the knowledge that they had been
tics on clinicians of every ilk who still break the crossing the ethical boundary of informed con-
sacred and ethical bond is startling. Aside from sent as they openly did what I consider to be
the fact that every guild from clinical counseling psychic voyeurism, unnecessarily and unethi-
on down to psychiatry has ethical guidelines cally. As Hess (2008a) stated, “Sadly, chapters
about dual relationships, and specifically about on ethics are necessary because one or both par-
sexual relationships, it still needs to be said. ties does not see the other’s interests, values, or
They are defined as inappropriate; we all know being” (p. 522).
that it is a hierarchical problem, and yet clini- An issue of confidentiality and boundary
cians are human too. issues under threat in many states (D. Stasis,
executive director, Illinois School Counselors before one can practice the art and skill of
Association, personal communication, February 20, clinical supervision. As a part of that training
2010) centers around the issue of school counsel- and responsibility, supervisors are bound to
ors who are expected to “give up” any informa- their own codes of ethics for all members.
tion that their administrators want to know about Abide by your guild’s ethics and the law of the
students who are in their care. This issue affects land where you practice, and as a supervisor
not only school counselors but school social you will be an ethical supervisor.
workers and school psychologists as well.
Legislation has been passed but not without a
fight from school administrator associations who
feel that all information should be held as non- Developmental
privileged with regard to their need to know. Stages of Counselors
Again, unless it is a situation of duty to warn of
imminent harm, confidentiality is believed by As Stoltenberg and Delworth (1987) taught us
most clinicians to be confidential under the codes years ago, clinicians go through developmental
and laws of mental health practices. stages. This developmental process is organic,
Finally, every guild has an ethical component rather than static. One is never stuck in one stage
that speaks to practicing outside of your bound- but may be working at issues in several of our
aries. For instance, the AAMFT’S code of ethics arbitrary descriptions of development. In fact,
stated the following: the transformation of one’s experiences are
expected or hoped to be changed into meaningful
While developing new skills in specialty areas, information. Thus, the emerging clinician is seen
marriage and family therapists take steps to as moving toward a goal or end state through the
ensure the competence of their work and to pro- incorporation of new more meaningful informa-
tect clients from possible harm. Marriage and tion (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987). Growth is
family therapists practice in specialty areas new organic, ever changing. I would add that these
to them only after appropriate education, train- stages are isomorphic to the process supervisors
ing, or supervised experience. (AAMFT Code of go through also. In addition, as I have said else-
Ethics, 2001) where, most supervisory research and literature
are intended for academics, but they are also a
Similarly, the ACA’s code of ethics, in useful way of understanding any supervisory
addressing boundaries of competency, stated the relationship or context—be that of new supervis-
following: “Prior to offering clinical supervi- ees and/or supervisors beginning new relation-
sion services, counselors are trained in super ships or learning new skill levels. I will try to
vision methods and techniques. Counselors synthesize Stoltenberg and Delworth’s work here
who offer clinical supervision services regu- with an attempt to stay within the spirit of that
larly pursue continuing education activities work. As they pointed out, there have been dis-
including both counseling and supervision top- cussions prior to their early work (Blocher, 1983;
ics and skills” (see C.2.a., C.2.f., ACA Code of Hogan, 1964; Hunt, 1971; Littrell, Lee-Borden,
Ethics, 2005, p. 9). All of the guilds, including & Lorenz, 1979; Ralph, 1980; Stoltenberg, 1981;
the APA and the NASW, have codes of conduct Yogev, 1982), and several since their work began
related to competency, and this always includes (Rønnestad & Skovholt, 1993, 2003; Skovholt &
the training and education of supervisory prac- Rønnestad, 1992, 1995), but Stoltenberg and
tices. What this means for clinical supervisors Delworth’s ideas remain an important way of
is that our guilds mandate competency in clini- viewing the clinician’s progress and develop-
cal supervision, through appropriate training, ment (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987). To reiter-
and in some cases supervision of supervision, ate, their stages follow.
Level 1: The Beginning doing my best—you still believed in me, and that
of the Journey helped me to keep on going. You saw my
strengths when no one else including me could
During this beginning stage, clinicians are see them.”
usually very dependent on their supervisors, and
they may imitate them a great deal. They can
lack self-awareness, think about their cases and
Level 2: Trials and Tribulations
clinical work categorically, and show the world, The second stage can be challenging, both for
unbeknownst to themselves, that they have lim- the supervisor as well as the supervisee. Much
ited experience (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987). akin to an adolescent stage, Level 2 supervisees
Graduate student supervisees can quote little show a fluctuating motivation, great striving for
know facts about Carl Rogers, Aaron Beck, or independence, and more self-assertive, less imi-
Steve deShazar, depending on the guild with tative behavior and the typical dependency/
which they are associated, while supervisees in autonomy conflict that goes with most middle
agencies can tell interesting stories about their growth stages. Stoltenberg and Delworth (1987)
supervisors and how cleverly they were able to conceptualized this stage as one of confusion,
help them. They are using role models as a way and rightfully so.
to learn socially about their field and practice. As can be true with adolescences, during this
Supervisees at this stage have high motivation stage a supervisee’s various skills, strengths,
to do well, and their anxiety can be channeled and weaknesses are becoming more evident.
into hard work—almost overdoing their clinical But also, now that supervisees know that this is
responsibilities. They are also focused on skill a job they can do—they are over the frightful-
acquisition, building up a grand library of half- ness of sitting with someone who has problems
read books on every form of counseling known and conversing—they begin to have an aware-
to man. They are highly dependent on supervi- ness that this is not a job for the faint of heart,
sion, so supervisors can use this to their advan- that there is more to this profession than using
tage by providing a supervision environment that good counseling skills and technique, and that
provides well-defined structure, thus keeping the not all cases respond as hoped for, even with
new clinicians’ anxiety low. By providing posi- good skill level usage. Many of the supervisees
tive feedback regarding counselors’ abilities and with whom I have worked had the largest col-
focusing on specifics rather than on the super- lection of technique books on the widest variety
visee, you can ease them into a good working of models known to mankind, all with the first
alliance and begin to build their confidence. It is two chapters dog-eared, highlighted, and under-
also at this stage that criticism of their work is lined, as they searched for the silver bullet that
taken very personally and can hinder the rela- would fix all their clients. They often tend to
tionship. As in any relationship that will be of mix methods, such as solution focused therapy
great importance to both parties, care must be and cognitive behavioral work. Or they think
taken to move slowly, and the use of positive that all family therapists use genograms or ask
connotations and relationship building is essen- for narrative stories.
tial to future contacts (Stoltenberg & Delworth, They begin to see how certain professional
1987). Kind words about their ongoing fund of ethics like boundaries relates to the work and
techniques or how well they did with difficult that some of their case load may have severe and
cases will go a long way to an ongoing bank traumatic, even toxic horrific situations that illu-
account of a positive working relationship. I minate the limitations of counseling process with
remember a supervisor who told me, “You certain clients. These factors can lead one to
helped me to believe in myself, even when the “take home” the situations, as they work out how
cases were very difficult, and when I was not best to deal with situations they have not known
before. At the same time, supervisors are also and building on our relationship, with little care
inclined to increase their supervisees’ autonomy, toward “professional boundaries.” Instead he was
while noting that they may not actively seek always interested and mentoring me as if we
opinions or the advice of their supervisor, if not already had a collegial relationship. While it pre-
altogether resist discussion of cases. This is a sented some of its own issues, it also served to
wrongheaded, albeit natural protection devise increase my feelings of competency and profes-
that occurs so that they do not look foolish or sionalism, as we worked together in several other
incompetent to the supervisees who they have venues including publishing, attending, and pre-
been trying to imitate. senting at conferences. Interns especially like to
Strategies that most often work during this hear the stories of my own trials and failures, as it
time are to provide a highly autonomous supervi- seems to make me more human to them. Collegial
sory situation, with little structure. As with clients mentoring supervisory relationships have to be
who present with similar profiles, allowing them real, I believe. One of my classes with advanced
to go it alone not only gives them the autonomy doctoral group counselors took me on and all but
they wish for but also the flexibility to work out tore me apart because of a serious mistake I had
problems for themselves. Other strategies include made. In the efforts to repair the situation, one of
providing supervisees with a good blend of client them said, “I just don’t understand; most of the
types, so that they see a broad variety of clients students here think the world of you—put you up
where difficulty is not generalized to the entire on a pedestal as someone to really learn from, and
field but can be seen as case specific. Providing a here you did such a stupid thing” (it wasn’t that
supportive environment that is consultative, stupid). My reply was that I didn’t like being put
where generalizations can focus on theory and its on a pedestal, because the fall is always hard. But
application can be useful. I always ask supervis- being real with supervisees is what they like the
ees to provide me with several alternative views most from us—the reason that they look up to us,
of clients as a way of broadening their repertoire and yet that very act that can make us a great
of theory and technique. I am displeased with the model can also be the one thing that works to keep
notion that one model of counseling should fit us out of reach. This closeness of relationship car-
well for everyone. And though I am not fond of ried over to the relationships I had with my clients
eclecticism, I do think that understanding more and my own supervisees, and they too experi-
than one way of working with people increases enced a change in their relationships with the cli-
the chances for success. ents they were seeing. It is isomorphic. This
Another means to being helpful with super- movement away for a purely clinical view of cli-
visees is to use your relationship. Many new ents (supervisees) to a more human attention of
supervisees are fearful of developing a strong focus on relationship, both with client and during
relationship clinically, thinking that they might supervision, was a wonderful change from earlier
lose their “objectivity.” My experience is the days when we were always analyzing interactions
opposite. Those supervisees who have positive, from a purely clinical perspective. This posture or
caring relationships with me have almost always position helps supervisees begin the process of
been willing to listen to my suggestions, as well differentiation from their supervisor, and super-
as be up front about why my ideas will not work visees will find that they are ready and can be less
with certain cases or situations. In fact, most inclined to take the supervisor’s word as final,
supervisors at one time or another will be their without first critically evaluating supervisors’ sug-
own worst critic. This is the sort of give and take gestions as applied to clients. Their own trials and
you develop with both adolescents as well as tribulations need to be critically evaluated by their
supervisees during this stage. own hand and supported within a collegial rela-
I remember with fondness one of my last doc- tionship, rather than at the foot of some almighty
toral supervisors of my own supervision, focusing all-knowing supervisor. Again, the metaphor of
adolescence is appropriate, as good enough par- or thoughts for fear they will look foolish, or
ents allow their offspring to try out new ideas, worse yet, not ready to take their place in the
support autonomy, while at the same time pro adult world, this stage takes life lessons that
viding a background of operating principles of have to happen on their own. Parents, or in our
adult behavior. case clinical supervisors, cannot hold their hands
Supervisees generally know what they should forever but should stand ready and open to dis-
be doing, even when difficult cases present them- cuss and even bring up issues to discuss in a way
selves. The skilled supervisor supports their that also depersonalizes the situation, so that the
supervisees’ decisions, while at the same time new clinician is not humiliated. Pointing out
holding up professional competency as a model their strengths is always a good place to start
for them to judge their own work. Supervisors these discussions.
should work with the idea of attraction, rather
than submission. As Heath and Storm (1983)
have said elsewhere, supervisees will work better
Level 3: Challenge and Growth
if they believe that their supervisor has something The third stage of development is one where
to offer them that is helpful, rather than criticism. their personal sense of counselor identity and
In a later chapter I provide a case example of self-confidence begins to shine. Whatever the
a supervision session I had with one of my super- clinician’s guild may be, they begin to feel
visees. She began her session by telling me what membership. Because their motivation to con-
a hard, horrible day she had been through and tinue learning and doing this work is more sta-
ended with a story of a mother and teenage ble, they feel more comfortable in talking about
daughter that used horrible obscenities toward both their struggles as well as their strengths.
each other. But there will surely be worse human Their autonomy is not threatened by their super-
tragedies that our supervisees will be a witness visor, and they seek the supervisor out to discuss
to: sexual abuse of children, rape and physical cases as consultation and their own self- and
abuse, potentially dangerous clients, and sub- other awareness is heightened. Having moved
stance abuse of every kind. If our firefighters and through the first two levels successfully and
police officers see the horrible, seamy physical now unencumbered from the fear of not measur-
events of life, then surely clinicians in our field ing up that they encountered in the first level,
see the same as remnants of the same in rela- and confronted with the realities of how difficult
tional, interpersonal, and psychological troubles. and responsible this job can be as in the second
To work with our supervisees as if this were level, a second-order shift has occurred. They
merely a clinical event and miss seeing the have moved up from going through the motions
trauma or providing empathy and support, super- and can now fully participate in clinical work
visors miss the point, in my estimation. with all its trials and tribulations, knowing that
I have made the analogy that this second they are well prepared and supported (Stoltenberg
stage is like that of an adolescent, where basic & Delworth, 1987).
skills are evident, but their knowledge of their At this point, supervisees are able to be with
own abilities has not been refined. Like a new their clients, and most are not drawn into the
teenage driver, they can drive most competently various traps that may be a part of the work.
but have not refined the skills and maturity that Aware of transferences and countertransferences,
need to go with it to become sophisticated and and hopefully, having begun to deal with some of
mature behind the wheel. This takes several their own interface issues, they are able to pull
years, perhaps a dent or two in their parents’ car, back from the relationships and evaluate what
as well as a speeding ticket or two, perhaps. has to be done for good clinical work to occur, as
Sometimes overconfident, sometimes undercon- well as understand where they stand relationally
fident, but also unwilling to share these feelings with their clients. They do not have their ego
invested in their clients’ process, most often, and Supervisees may be beyond formal, regular super-
can tell pithy stories about their own mistakes, vision, but they may seek help with specific cases.
laughing about how such and such client evaded There is a need for supervision to advance past a
them or how they missed important pieces of single theoretical framework, broadening the
their clients’ lives. One of our biggest problems supervisee’s repertoire. Focus should be on inte-
is how serious we can take ourselves and our gration of all aspects of the counselor (Delworth &
work, while at other times feeling like a fraud. Stoltenberg, 1987).
One of my doctoral mentors once told me that all Equipped with the understanding of the devel-
of the good clinicians will feel like imposters at opmental process of counselors, both newly
many times during their lives. Our pitiful hour or trained, as well as those retrained in a new
two a week, as important as it is, has a hard time framework or model, clinical supervisors need a
competing with the rest of their lives or the tool to increase clinicians’ competencies. It is at
cacophony of competing suggestions, world- this level that basic executive skill comes into
views, and family of origin operating principles. play. Clinicians need to believe in their skill lev-
And at this level, they hopefully recognize that els as well as their ability to work toward profi-
their clients’ growth, change, or wellness really ciency and competence.
depends on the clients and that although as a
clinician they may be a help giver, the journey is
not theirs to travel but can sometimes be a sup- Isomorphs and Parallel
port system, sometimes a guide, and sometimes Processes in Supervision
a mirror to their clients as they do the walking.
But the journey always rests with their clients: The word comes from Iso—meaning same, and
their choices, their moves, their life. morph—meaning structure. Any two systems that
Generally aware of their own strengths and are connected are said to have isomorphic proper-
weaknesses, Level 3 clinicians can think of indi- ties when there is similarity between the two.
vidual differences of their clients. It is during this Isomorphy refers to the part of two or more struc-
third stage, with good supervision and mentoring, tures that have a correspondence. As there is an
a new or new to a model changed clinician begins interconnection between all systems that are inter-
to understand the ethics involved and to assimi- related, this correspondence has the potential of
late the professional perspective of such a change. influence (see Figure 2.2). I assume that all sys-
Energy has been freed up from the first two lev- tems in relationship will have this correspondence
els, and these higher level aspects of clinical and thus will be open to the potentiality of influ-
work, albeit most important, become integrated. ence, when recognized. Conceiving of a client
Again, Delworth and Stoltenberg (1987) have system, be it individual, family, or group, the
provided the beginnings of what is helpful in interconnectedness of those systems with their
the supervisory environment during Level 3. own systems are also affected by the connection to
Remembering that they have named this final level a counselor, as there is an interconnection between
one of challenges and growth, it seems natural that the supervisor and the counselor they have been
supervision should both acknowledge the super- asked to help. A change in one part of the system
visees’ strengths as well as those areas where they will create a change in the corresponding parts.
may still have some dependency on their supervi- This is basic systems principles at work. A stuck
sor for more support and/or consultation around client system—group, family, or client—can cre-
specific areas that affect their clinical life. Most ate (not cause, but contribute to the creation of) a
often, as with previous stages, case accountability stuckness between the client and counselor, which
needs to be provided, but within the context of sup- will then affect or potentiate a stuckness within the
port and growth, rather than as a check and balance corresponding counselor or supervisor system.
that may be present during the previous levels. They are nested systems, with a correspondence.
Figure 2.2 Isomorphic Structure
Client System
Supervisory Clinician
System System
The more commonly understood concept of recognized in conjunction with psychoanalytic

parallel process is often cited in the literature models (Heuer, 2009; Rodriguez, Cabaniss,
(McNeil & Worthen, 1989; Williams, 1997). Arbuckle, & Oquendo, 2008; Sumerel 1994),
Originally referring to a part of transference and while isomorphs are most often associated with
countertransference of psychoanalytic treatment, the training and supervision of family therapists
early analytic supervisors noted that what was (Liddle, Breunlin, & Schwartz, 1988b; Liddle &
happening in supervision between supervisor Saba, 1983; Liddle & Saba, 1985). As Sumerel
and supervisee was also happening in the trans- (1994) suggested, “The concept of parallel pro-
ferential relationship between the therapist and cess has its origin in the psychoanalytic concepts
client (Morrissey & Tribe, 2001; Sumerel & of transference and counter transference. The
ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student transference occurs when the counselor recreates
Services, 1994). Parallel process represents the presenting problem and emotions of the
something that can be worked through or an therapeutic relationship within the supervisory
issue that needs addressing, while an isomorph relationship” (pp. 1–2). Morrissey and Tribe
epitomizes patterns of interrelated systems that (2001) described parallel process to be “the
remain similar in form, despite a context change. unconscious replication of the therapeutic rela-
The roots of these two phenomena are similar to tionship in the supervisory situation” (p. 103).
the two models from which they come. Parallel Much of the literature regarding parallel process
process concepts in clinical work were first suggests that the cause is related to the anxiety of
the supervisee, regarding the supervisee’s work more complete view of what happens between a
with a client who is similar through projection client system, up through a client/clinician sys-
identification, as the client projects his or her tem, and through, perhaps, to a client/clinician/
own feelings onto the clinician and the clinician supervisor system where it may, “not existing
projects them onto the supervisee. But there are with a reductionistic certainty, but as showing
multiple views of what parallel process is and the tendencies to exist. Such an analogy allows con-
causative nature of this action or event (Morrissey text replication and mirroring of sequences to be
& Tribe, 2001). In any case, the concept of paral- thought of in other than the familiar domino-
lel process runs parallel to the models from effect, cause-and-effect ways” (Liddle & Saba,
which it comes, being seen as intrapsychic, lin- 1983, p. 10). Oh, these systems folk! You gotta
ear, reductionistic, and from a problem-focused love ’em.
model. White and Russell (1997) made the point that
Liddle and Saba (1983) introduced the con- the concept of isomorphs is a standard part of
cept of isomorphs in the training and supervision understanding supervision within the field of
of family therapy, staying true to a systemic marriage and family therapy, and yet, there is a
frame work, rather than a more linear model that lack of clarity with regard to its usage and mean-
might be associated with analytic or other mod- ing. They noted that there are four different phe-
els of counseling and therapy. Believing that nomena identified and discussed in the literature:
isomorphs are a valuable tool for trainees of fam- (a) identification of repetitive or similar patterns,
ily therapy, White and Russell (1997) suggested (b) translations of therapeutic models and prin-
that the concept crosses all forms of clinical ciples into supervision, (c) acknowledgment that
work despite their theoretical model. Noting that the structure and process of therapy and supervi-
contexts being replicated at multiple systems sion are identical, and (d) isomorphism as an
overlays, regardless of their dissimilarity, are not interventive stance. In their treatment of iso-
conceived of as linear or work in only one direc- morphs, Bernard and Goodyear (2004) sug-
tion because the rules of the larger system seem gested that “the supervisor who is aware of this
to constrain and provide principles for how they process will watch for dynamics in supervision
should behave. Isomorphs are common culture that reflect the initial assessment that the super-
to mathematicians and physicists and also stem visor has made about what is transpiring in
from general systems theory, providing a fuller, therapy” (p. 141).
Isomorphs in Practice—An Example

Mary had a 13-year-old son, Tony, the identified client who was referred to our therapeutic
day school for severe acting out behavior, running away from home whenever mom con-
fronted him, and on at least one occasion, pulling a jack knife out to threaten her. Mary
would then try to console him and end up giving in to his demands. When she tried to step
up to the plate with some parental authority, he would become more abusive and confront
her with her inadequacies as a parent and woman.
Mary had divorced her husband Bill 3 years previously, because of Bill’s verbal and occa-
sional physical abuse to her, and although there was still contact between the boy and his
dad, Mary was adamant that she did not want him in family sessions. However, whenever
Tony became abusive toward Mary, her first response was almost always to call Bill for help.
As was typical of our program, both son and mother were required to have counseling
sessions—both together, as well as separately. The resulting feelings of defeat, anger, and
resentment toward her ex-husband Bill and her powerlessness with son Tony were almost
always the subject of discussion during Mary’s “parent consultation” session with her thera-
pist Joan. Joan’s attempts to get Mary to both back off from calling in Bill’s help, as well as
to “reward” Tony’s misbehavior with more placating and lack of consequences, was repeatedly
met without interest, and Mary stated that she didn’t know what else to do.
Corresponding with the these issues, Joan’s supervision with me became almost identical,
process-wise, to what was happening in other parts of the system. She repeatedly expressed
exasperation and a sense of defeat in her sessions with Mary, as well as when they had
family therapy. In her individual sessions with Tony, he was polite, and almost too sweet,
while in their family sessions, he would rule the roost. The more that this happened, the
more Joan hung around my office asking for help. Parallel process describes the experience
to some extent, but understanding it as an isomorph gives one the knowledge that the
dilemma can be changed. As soon as I recognized the pattern, I stopped being so willing to
give up suggestions and began asking Joan to brainstorm ways she herself could get out of
her own pickle. This led to a different sort of work between Mary and Joan, which was
similar to the work between Joan and I; it enabled Mary to begin acting differently in her
relationship with Tony. Once again, Tony predictably acted out and pulled a knife on his
mom. This time, rather than backing down to the seriousness, Mary called the police. This
is a responsible and appropriate act to the potential violence, and it underlines the serious-
ness of Tony’s actions. Counseling could now once again be back on track, and it dealt with
Mary’s feelings, as well as her responses to setting better limits and consequences that
matched Tony’s actions. Mary could be commended for her parenting response to a very
serious situation. In addition, Joan could be commended for her work with this system.
By knowing about and being aware of iso- If the supervisor resists responding to the train-
morphic properties in relationships, supervisors ee’s self-effacement and instead helps the trainee
may discern when this aspect is jeopardizing to take more control, the trainee may adopt a
progress and how to move away from the pull similar strategy in the next session with the cli-
that is common to all parts of the system ent” (p. 149). It sounds the same, doesn’t it?
involved. For our purposes, with regard to Well, perhaps someone more knowledgeable
strengths-based supervision, I am strangely about both concepts could straighten me out, but
interested in how both parallel and isomorphic here is my take with respect to strengths-based
processes can be viewed through a similar lens, supervision. Like the concepts of resiliency, the
darkly. Friedlander, Siegel, and Brenock (1989) issue seems to be one of attitude. Family systems
said similar things about parallel process when folk went a long way out to provide a concept
they noted that a new supervisee, who is having that did not replicate parallel process, a concept
a difficult time with a client that seems helpless, from the grandmother of all problem-focused
may also act in a similar fashion by becoming thought. Liddle and all his colleagues were set on
“helplessly dependent on the supervisor’s advice. using an idea that did not pathologize their
supervisees, by recognizing that there were simi- as Moskowitz and Rupert (1983) found that con-
larities among clients, supervisees, and supervi- flicts can also be problematic around the issue of
sors when they were in cahoots with each other. the type of counseling model being used, although
They were normal events that supervisors could Nelson and Friedlander pointed out that these
use to produce learning for their supervisees in a issues are lower on the concern scales and can usu-
manner that might help make the learning ally be worked out. The conflicts that can arise
become their own, rather than something they from a more senior clinician being supervised by a
learned at the feet of their master practitioners. rather new and less clinically experienced supervi-
sor, however, can be more problematic than a
supervisor who requires a specific model being
Boundary Issues in required. These issues of conflict are also breaches
Clinical Supervision of boundaries, because they entail relationship
issues that can be very personal.
The worrisome issue of boundaries is a holdover According to Gutheil and Gabbard (1993),
from clinical work; however, research has dem- boundary issues can be viewed as being harmful
onstrated that at the graduate level of training, or not harmful. Areas such as time, money, gifts,
severe boundaries are not as helpful as a profes- services, self-disclosure, and physical contact,
sional collegial relationship. There are different when shared in a counseling or supervision rela-
parameters and factors at work when training tionship, may be considered items where breech
and supervising that necessitate a second, per- of boundary exist but may not be seen as overly
haps less stringent look at boundaries between harmful. Sexual misconduct and other areas where
supervisee and supervisor, than would be held to power differentials are evident are in a harmful
between a clinician and a client. Aside from category. The issue of boundaries can be a diffi-
some of the more serious boundaries, such as cult and important concept within the supervision
those that are sexual, there are differences relationship. Problems with boundaries usually
between clinical and professional boundaries. come from novice, unsure or unclear supervisors,
This section explores some of these. and sometimes with impaired clinicians. A review
As Herlihy and Corey (1997) pointed out, there of the literature found that the majority of writing
is a diversity of opinions on the topic of dual or and research in the area of boundaries for our
multiple relationships in counseling supervision, profession focused on the area of inappropriate
leading one to believe that there are many ways dual relationships, mostly regarding sexual mis-
and reasons that boundaries may be bridged and conduct or abuse (Clipson, 2005; Evans & Hearn,
very few that present a hard and firm boundary 1997; Glosoff, Corey, & Herlihy, 1996; Lamb,
that should never be crossed. Sexuality and issues Catanzaro, & Moorman, 2004; Lamb, Catanzaro,
of unequal power differentials between supervisor & Moorman, 2008; Moleski & Kiselica, 2005;
and supervisee are some of the issues that have Pearson, & Piazza, 1997; Rinella, & Gerstein,
strong agreement as to their problem potential, as 1994; Robinson, 2006; Shavit, 2005a; Shavit,
well as being unethical. Ironically, the issue of 2005b). These are the sort of boundary issues that
conflict within the supervisory relationship points when crossed, give a bad name to all professions.
to three issues beyond inappropriate sexual con- We have ethical standards as well as legal and
tact or harassment. Nelson and Friedlander (2001) professional consequences for those who stray.
studied conflictual supervisory relationships from But sometimes, especially in the venue of supervi-
the supervisee’s point of view and found that the sion, they are based on a prejudicial view of the
issue of availability was bidirectional, in that one in the supervisor seat. The literature on con-
supervisors who were seen as distant and remote, flict in supervisory relationships references two
as well as those who seemed overly friendly or too specific issues reflected in boundary problems,
familiar, were found to be of concern (Nelson & other than sexual, as detrimental to the process
Friedlander, 2001). Nelson and Friedlander as well of supervision. One is how close or distant the
supervisor seems to be as perceived by the super- (Moskowitz & Rupert, 1983; Nelson &
visee, and the other is forcing a model on to Friedlander, 2001) without a prior contract and
a supervisee that is counter to what he or she updated discussions). Two case vignettes will
has already learned and is comfortable with demonstrate how this can get out of hand.
Marie and Strengths-forced Supervision: An Example

Marie and Jake were interns at the same internship site, with the same clinical supervisor. The
clinical supervisor of the site was a well-known strengths-based clinician, and both students
were eager to intern with this site and their supervisor, Kate. Both the site and the supervisor
had a good reputation in the state and locally, and both interns were given ample opportunity
to learn and practice strengths-based clinical work from this master practitioner/supervisor.
Somewhere in the middle of the clinical experience Jake became unhappy with his supervision.
He would present cases to Kate and then almost slyly say, “So Kate, you keep telling me that
I should only work on the presenting problem and work from a strengths-based position, but
the records have indicated that this client has had a severe substance abuse problem in the
past. I think we should be talking about relapse prevention strategies. What do you think?”
When Jake would talk with me about his site supervision, I could tell that he was having
trouble. My usual default modus operandi is to listen carefully to see if there is a serious risk
and then default to their site supervisor’s thinking, unless it was way off base. Sites “own”
their clients, their methodology, and their risks. Universities do not have privileged positions
with agency sites, above and beyond any contractual agreement. I began to believe this after
being a site supervisor for many years, when a brand new PsyD university supervisor with
limited family counseling experience attempted to change the methodology our agency was
using, expecting the students to work outside of our agency’s established family protocol.
Even experienced and savvy university supervisors can never have all of the information in
front of them to make snap clinical judgments when they are only armchair supervising.
I encouraged Jake to explore his own motivations and worldviews that informed this case,
and I commented on how hard it is to learn a new model that can seem to be at cross-purposes
with an old model we know well. He agreed, and for a short time, his case presentations with
me were again on track, but not for long. The same challenging situation came back several
times, and he commented that the strengths-based model was too restrictive and did not take
into account many of the elements of counseling he had learned in his counseling skills class—
a modified person-centered model. “Besides,” he said, “she is really pushy about learning all of
the skill sets and won’t let me see clients without her being present. All my fellow interns and
classmates are seeing clients alone by now, including Marie. She seems to be Kate’s pet pupil.”
A discussion on the phone with the site supervisor indicated that this was only partially
true, that Marie was seeing a woman alone that they had seen together for a time. Also, Kate
said that Marie had, in her opinion, learned some of the basic tenets of strengths-based
(Continued)
(Continued)
clinical work well enough that she thought the case would be better off with only one clinician
in the room, with videotaped supervision. She was well aware of the dynamics of her two
interns and her own relationships with them, and she really believed that Jake was coming
along fine, albeit a bit slower than Marie. She agreed that it may seem unfair to Jake, that
Marie had “her own case” to work with, but that Jake was slated to get a case of his own soon.
At our university, clinical experience is a year when he finished and I wondered if some of what
long, over three semesters, and many normal life he would continue to learn might rub off and will
events occur during that time, including, on rare be useful in his future clinical work.
occasions, switching clinical sites. So, I told Jake In retrospect, I think that the turning point
that if he was really unhappy and wanted to was when I offered up my support to Jake in
switch sites, we could look into it. He decided the form of an option to find another site.
that maybe he would stay and learn something Rather than feeling as if the strengths-based
after all. He also stated that he wanted to go back model was forced on him, it once again became
to working with the substance abuse community his choice.
Muriel and her Beliefs—An Example

Muriel was a nonpracticing, cultural Jew, and her internship supervisor Mike was an evan-
gelical Christian. One day one of Muriel’s clients was talking about an argument she had
had with a colleague regarding her religious beliefs, especially creation versus evolu-
tion . . . being more on the evolutionist side. Muriel listened and validated her client’s right
to believe what she wanted, while Mike watched from behind a one-way mirror. When Muriel
went for her consultation break to discuss the case, Mike was clearly upset and pursued
Muriel with questions regarding her own views of creation versus evolution. Muriel was very
clear with Mike, to her credit, that this was out of bounds for their supervision discussion,
but Mike persisted, wanting to know specifically what she believed. Muriel finished the case,
somewhat upset, and later, she made her point with Mike that this was uncomfortable ter-
ritory for her because of their differences in religion. The next day, he persisted again, and
again she made it clear that she did not want to discuss this issue, but she remained worried
that this interchange could change the dynamics of their clinical relationship. Muriel went
to the site’s clinical director and was later changed to a different site supervisor.
I was very proud of Muriel for sticking to her guns, using her voice, and risking a problem
by going over Mike’s head. The issue of Muriel’s beliefs is not an issue to be challenged, but
perhaps Mike’s views and insistences should be a subject of his own supervision with his
immediate supervisor. To this agency’s credit, Mike’s supervisor did spend some time with
him regarding this issue, and he later apologized for his inappropriate boundary breach.
The point to these stories, of course, is that ethical supervisors do not worry much about the
some boundary issues should be clear and out of boundary issues and focus on relationship build-
bounds for supervision. There are simply issues ing in the process. Ethical supervisors may not
and places that supervisors should not go with have to worry about rigid boundaries and thus can
their supervisees; for instance, differences in spend time forming long-lasting, interesting, and
religious beliefs are clearly inappropriate for ethical collegial relationships. I, for one, found
discussion, especially when pursued in such a myself in the lucky situation of having three very
hostile manner. If the issue was one of clinical competent and well-known supervisors in differ-
concern, then the issue is in bounds for discus- ent situations during my doctoral program. These
sion, but in Muriel’s case, the supervisor had no very generous educators gave their time and tal-
right to pursue her because of his own issues. ents to help me develop supervisory skills, as
And even if there was a shade of difference, the well as writing and publishing skills, that I would
fact that Muriel said she was uncomfortable in never have gotten if they had not reached out and
discussing the issue should have been enough. developed personal relationships with me.
The other case could be perceived as crossing In agencies, the issue of hierarchy and bound-
over into a conflictual place if a supervisor had aries are very different than they are in the uni-
not made it clear and provided informed consent versity setting. Setting us straighter on the
in regard to training and supervision with a spe- appropriateness of boundary issues between our
cific model. If a supervisee begins to feel pushed supervisees and ourselves, White and Russell
into a direction he or she clearly does not under- (1997) suggested an alternative, more realistic
stand or agree with clinically, the supervisor has collegial position, as they pointed out that the
a responsibility to discuss the meta-issue and more rigid boundaries of therapy are not the
stop pushing the model until that issue is cleared same as those supervisors might have with
up and a forward direction agreed upon between supervisees. Using their training with burgeon-
supervisor and supervisee. Clear expectations, ing marriage and family therapy students, they
using and encouraging “voice,” and good feed- made the point that our socialization (social con-
back will establish an open collegial boundary structs) have taught us to believe that personal
with good expectations of both participants and and more intimate relationships with clients are
“soft influence,” thus avoiding pitfalls. regarded as off bounds. While this may be true
Interestingly, some areas of boundary cross- for our clients, it might often not be true with our
ing can be viewed as useful to both parties. For supervisees, as this relationship involves creat-
instance, a qualitative investigation of patterns of ing future colleagues (Ryder & Hepworth, as
interaction in clinical supervision found that the cited by White & Russell, 1997). “We expect to
process of supervision appears to have much to meet them at future conferences, publish with
do with the nature of the relationship, and that them, refer clients to them, and so forth” (White
openness between supervisor and supervisee can & Russell, 1997, p. 330). I believe this to be true,
be relationship-focused and multihierarchical and maybe even more so in agency supervision;
(Keller, Protinsky, Lichtman, & Allen, 1996). at least this has been my experience both person-
During this research, Keller et al. (1996) discov- ally, as well as with colleagues from agencies
ered that discussing supervision processes (trans- where they publish together and also spend time
parency and metacommunications) between together outside of work, publish and even go to
supervisee and supervisor increased the level of festive conferences away and outside of work.
trust and collegiality between students and super- So, supervision relationships do and can cross
visors. It was found that supervision can be boundaries, but what seems to keep them from
enhanced by increasing vulnerability on both crossing that chasm to the dark side? Lamb et al.
sides of the relationship and collegiality, without (2004) studied the issue of multiple relationships
harm to boundaries. It may be that seasoned with psychologists and found that their values of
ethics and morals were most often indicated as for problems with being “friends” with students
what helps them from moving outside the bound- or supervisees on these sites. Immature and risky
aries; however, this does not always hold true young people can say and post things that per-
with supervisees. haps should not be seen anywhere, but they are
I have experienced firsthand in several set- fearless and sometimes do not understand the
tings how boundaries can blur and be both ben- risks. Posted information is seen by some as a
eficial as well as problematic. It is important to dual relationship, especially if that information is
remember that boundaries are not real, concrete being shared with supervisees or supervisors.
“things,” but they exist in our minds, formulated During this debate, someone mentioned that
and socially constructed by what we have learned they hated Facebook and would like to have it
from those who teach us, as well as past and cur- disbanded, but she had never been on the site to see
rent situations. Each circumstance is different for herself. Media changes so quickly. According
and constructed as people come together and to a YouTube video from “Did you Know,” there
utilize their own construct of where they want to are 200 million registered MySpace users and 31
go with each relationship. The caution is to be billion searches on Google every month (see http://
aware that hierarchy can be powerful and abused www.youtube.com/watch#!v=PHmwZ96_
on both sides. If it feels wrong, check it out with Gos&feature=related), and the video concludes
others, and talk about it openly. If you cannot do that we live in exponential times, ever expanding
that, or feel uncomfortable doing so, ask some- our knowledge and the electronic social media we
one else about it, and get good council. The use. Supervisors and educators cannot hide from
power differential can be a true double bind, this, but we can be careful and set out our own
where there are mixed messages and one of the parameters, as it has not been set for us as of yet.
parties is uncomfortable with talking about it for During this electronic mailing list debate, a woman
fear of reprisal. If that is the case, get out of the spoke against all of the cautious writers to say
relationship and go to someone at a higher level the following:
that you trust to talk it out. I do not want to give
the impression that all dual relationships are bad. I have seen the “establishment” rebel against com-
Due to the culture or the whereabouts of the puters, video tape, white board instead of chalk,
supervision site, the context will change. computer based training, going from disks to USB
When I was a brand new professor, I went to drives, etc.
lunch with a site supervisor and our shared stu-
Well, it is media, plainly. That is all. The telephone
dent, toward the end of her internship experience
probably started similar discussions.
to celebrate the end of her term. I intended to pay
my own way, but I was stopped by the site super-
By the way, if you are relying on a “chain of com-
visor when I went for my wallet and told that our
mand” type respect from students, then you prob-
student would be offended if I did not accept her ably do not have it now—fear is a bad motivator.
gracious gift. She was Vietnamese and was very Respect is from being professional in your dealings
proud to “pay back” her two supervisors with a and knowing what you are talking about. If you are
lunch for the time and interest we had given her. honest, you do not have to have two personas.
So, I got a great Vietnamese lunch and learned
I had 250 people that used to work for me. Most
about wonderful French coffee that I still love to
called me by my first name or nickname, only
this day. strangers used my rank. They also generated more
The newest issue to come up regarding bound- output than any other similar organization in the
aries is about the ubiquitous social networking USAF. I never doubted their respect. They did
sites on the Internet. The CEST-Net, an elec- what needed to be done because I asked them to,
tronic mailing list for counselor educators, has even when going to war. Their efforts went well
had a very active debate in regard to the potential beyond what I expected. These sterile “I am the
leader” theories that gave birth to some of these include such things as how you carry yourself
“boundary” discussions are what they seem to and interact with people. Do you appear confi-
be—authoritarian and antiquated. One earns dent and yet empathic and caring? Are your
respect. (Fisk, 2009) words congruent with your facial gestures and
body posture? Those who studied communica-
There is something about what Lt. Col. Fisk tions theory and used it as a model of clinical
said that rings simple truth for me beyond our work (Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1969)
attempts to regulate behavior of clinicians and suggested that all behavior is communication.
supervisors. If we act professionally and yet are For example, if my daughter Zoe were to come
human within the context of our professional in our house after school, throw her books on the
regulations, we can extend the professional rela- table, and run up to her room shutting the door
tionships to become clear and further refined quickly without saying hello, I am being told
beyond their constraints. I am reminded that something. How I begin to decode that message
Thomas found several of Heath and Tharp’s will depend on our previous socially constructed
(1991) points of the supervisory process to be meaning making of such or similar behavior.
what clinicians want most: a relationship based Also, communication is broken down into pat-
on mutual respect and a supervision process that terns of what is called report and command or
becomes a human experience (Heath & Tharp, digital and analog processes. Researchers postu-
cited in Thomas, 1996). I do not think it is over- lated that all communication has both a report
kill to point out that White and Russell (1997) (general content) and a command (do something
suggested a realistic collegial position, where about what I am saying). Nichols, in explaining
there are less than usual ridged boundaries found these phenomena, described it thus: “The report
in therapy, because we might bloody well be (or content) of a message conveys information,
meeting former students at conferences and even whereas the command is a statement about the
publishing with them (White & Russell, 1997). relationship. For example, the statement,
Finally, again I present the words of someone ‘Mommy, Sandy hit me’ conveys information
who has been at the top of a hierarchical relation- but also implies a command—Do something
ship and who seems to know better: “These about it” (Nichols, 2009, p. 111).
sterile ‘I am the leader’ theories that gave birth to An interesting study by Klein (2009) looked at,
some of these ‘boundary’ discussions are what among other qualities, what has typically been
they seem to be—authoritarian and antiquated. called the Big Five (see Digman, 1990) of broad
One earns respect” (Fisk, 2009). domains of personality, in regard to finding the
existence of antecedents for higher levels of learn-
ing and using interpersonal skills. The results of
Interpersonal Relationship Skills these analyses provided evidence for the existence
of meaningful antecedents of interpersonal skills.
Important to what supervisors and clinicians do The Big Five has been one of the most empirically
is how we relate to one another. If not for our researched and comprehensive models in human
interpersonal relationship skills in forming and sciences and also one of the most debated. The
maintaining relationships, we would have noth- five factors are Openness, Conscientiousness,
ing. Sometimes called people skills, they include Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism,
such things as using active listening and reflec- not necessarily in that order. These factors can be
tions and watching how you say things to rated on a continuum, from those who show high
people—for example, being too gruff, too soft, to low, and perhaps the antithesis of the named
and so forth—they are the basis of how we relate trait. For instance, one can measure high on the
to one another in everyday life as well as our agreeableness trait or at the opposite end that
professional life. Interpersonal skills can also would be high as disagreeableness. Each of these
factors also has constituent traits that cluster more than those who are closed off and have
around the other factors. Briefly, I describe the negative views and attitudes toward novelty with
factors and their traits: their supervisees.
Relationships can be fragile, and yet they are
•• Openness as a factor includes an appreciation extremely important. We are creatures that are
for the arts, adventure, imagination, curiosity, made to relate with one another, and we need to
and experience—largely, this factor usually is be in relationships to survive. Relationships are
considered to differentiate between people who the building blocks of our interconnection and
are down to earth and those who might be more human behavior, depending on our interrelation-
imaginative.
ships to work, play, cohabitate, cocreate, and
•• Conscientiousness as a factor includes self-
disciplined individuals versus those who tend to nurture our young. Relationships are built on
be more spontaneous. trust and mutual respect. Good relationships are
•• Extraversion as a factor includes people who the meat and potatoes of good working clinical
are engaged in life, have lots of positive energy, relationships. Guidelines for good relationships
and enjoy being with people, while introverts include being respectful of each other. Name
can lack social involvement, even though they calling and sarcasm, or providing hurtful and
also may be active and energetic. harmful feedback, can damage relationships.
•• Agreeableness as a trait includes those who are Showing respect for others as human beings can
compassionate and caring, tending to be more increase the currency with which relationships
optimistic and cooperative, rather than suspi-
depend. When discussing a problem, keep the
cious and oppositional.
•• Neuroticism as a factor tends to include people problem the problem, and do not blame or use
who have more negative emotions than posi- language that can be construed as adding fuel to
tive, potentially being more angry, anxious, or a complicated situation. Do not personalize the
depressed, while at the other end of the con- discussion, but stay focused on the issues, and
tinuum includes people who are more relaxed, use basic “I” statements when in disagreement.
are most often calm, and do not get rattled During any conversation there is a tendency
as much. to drift from the subject being discussed, to other
subjects that one might be reminded of from the
Of interest to those in the training and devel- conversation. Goal-oriented conversations should,
opment field are the findings that two of the however, have a point. Staying on subject is a
personality dimensions, Openness and Extra great way of making sure conversations pro
version, are related to performance outcome in gress, and it is the supervisor’s task to do so in a
training programs (Barrick & Mount, 1991). careful and courteous way.
Jang, Livesley, and Vemon (1996) concluded Make it a habit to use reflective, active lis-
their work noting that the factors of the Big Five tening, so you can really understand each other.
have about equal portions of being hereditary We all have a basic need to be understood and
and learned, meaning that having good interper- feel that what we say is important, and our
sonal skills can be either learned or improved opinions are valued. This means that you should
through training; but also we know that they try to see others’ points of view, and let them
have a big impact on outcomes and openness to know you understand, even if you don’t agree.
change. Interpersonal skills are an indication of And above all, accept each other with positive
how supervisors can influence outcomes because regard; basic attending skills make excellent
of the way they interact with their supervisees relationship skills.
in relationships that are open, engaging, and opti- When we take interpersonal skills into the con-
mistic. Supervisors who show genuine concern sulting room, other dimensions and behaviors can
and are open to different experiences rather than also be helpful. If someone is rambling on, it
being one dimensional seem to engage relationships may be appropriate to say quietly and respectfully,
“Can I jump in here please?” But then, after say- insubordination whenever a conflict or dis-
ing what is on your mind, remember to again get agreement occurs. Conflict resolution assumes
back to the person you are discussing with, a few basic ideas—simple to understand, easy
regarding where you left off. Even restating what to practice, harder to use in the heated moment
you heard the person saying before you inter- unless you have trained and worked at using
rupted will show that person respect as well as them. According to conflict resolution theory,
interest. Many of these skills are also useful in conflicts arise when someone becomes uncom-
conflict resolution, as we shall see. fortable with how a current relationship or situ-
ation is working. For conflict resolution to
become effective, one of the participants needs
Conflict Resolution: A Beginning to at least acknowledge that there is a problem
Not an afterthought, conflict resolution skills or conflict and speak up with the hope of
are an extremely important part of supervision resolving the current conditions. Next, all par-
not usually taught as typical supervision skills. ties involved need to be receptive to the idea of
Several authors have researched and discussed resolution. Conflict arises when there are differ-
the need for conflict resolution skills by supervi- ences in the way two or more people see the
sors, and have demonstrated that conflicts in situation and/or because they have different
supervision sessions are that it is one of the most value systems or objectives. Polarization of
detrimental factors for new clinicians in how positions creates a tension building up to the
they behave and solidify clinical learning (Korinek point where someone finally says something,
& Kimball, 2003; Moskowitz & Rupert, 1983; and it is acknowledged by all parties. At this
Nelson & Friedlander, 2001). Issues are dis- point, especially within situations where a per-
cussed, typical critical points in clinical supervi- ceived hierarchy occurs, the parties will either
sion are raised, and suggestions for resolving begin to work toward a solution or insist that
them are presented. the problem is not real, or worse yet, assume
The research and discussion of conflict and that the person who brings up the conflict is
conflict resolution skills in clinical supervision the cause.
is scarce but entirely needed (Jackson, Junior, Dealing with conflict in a supervision rela-
& Mahoney, 2007). During a review of the tionship, or in any relationship, has two methods
clinical supervision literature, I found that there or negative outcome reductions. The first is
are very few that mention conflict resolution prevention; the second is intervention. As with
skills, and yet those who have done supervision most mental health concerns, it is less costly
for any length of time know that there is a need emotionally to provide prevention strategies,
(Moskowitz & Rupert, 1983). Those who have thus avoiding the problem, than it is to head into
studied and researched conflict within the intervention strategies after the fact. We look at
supervision process have imparted us with an interventions first, because they also provide us
incredible amount of useful data; all that points with a series of behaviors that can be useful
to the need for better training in conflict resolu- preventatively.
tion. Over and again issues of conflict during As we apply conflict resolution to clinical
supervision seem to cluster around central supervision, we must be reminded that (a) the
issues. The anxiety of the supervisee seems to quality of the relationship is seen as essential to
be central to conflictual situations during super- positive outcomes in supervision, and (b) the
vision. The hierarchal relationship positions the hallmark of successful supervision is the reso-
relationship in such a way that the supervisee is lution of conflict that occurs naturally because
subordinate to the supervisor. The very nature of the power imbalance between supervisor
of the hierarchy places the supervisee at a lower and supervisee (Holloway, 1995; Worthen &
power level, which leads to either obedience or McNeil, 1996)—it is a natural component of
supervision and almost any hierarchical rela- to the conflict can be a turning point in changing
tionship. While people battle over opposing problems into possibilities.
positions and solutions—“Do it my way!” “No, The use of empathy for the supervisee’s posi-
that’s no good! Do it my way!”—the conflict is tion can lessen the potential emotional reactivity
a power struggle. What is needed is to change that will lead to conflict, so good interpersonal
the agenda in the conversation?. One must skills, active listening, and a building of rapport
adopt a win–win attitude that says, “I want to and openness on both sides can go a long way to
win and I want you to win too.” The challenge defusing conflict and producing solutions. Rather
then is how to have this happen. than focusing on personalities and traits that may
be irritating, focusing on data—information on
both parts in order to get a clear nonemotional
A Synthesis of Basic Strategies picture of what the problem is on both sides—
Let us look at some generic thoughts about will help. For instance, a supervisor might say
conflict resolution strategies and apply them to the following: “One of the components of super-
the supervisory relationship. To begin with, the vision is that we have goals that we both agree
challenge of adopting a win–win approach with. What are you wanting from our time
decidedly suggests that to be effective, one must together?” This might be followed up with this:
change his or her view of a supervisee from an “I understand that you have had lots of experi-
opponent to that of a partner in the conflictual ence in CBT, and now you are at an agency
relationship. Both supervisor and supervisee where we use Solution-Focused Therapy. I would
want something out of this relationship. This is like to see you succeed in learning the model in
consistent to my premise that those with whom addition to your skills in CBT. I believe it might
we work are truly costakeholders in the process. be useful to you in the long run, not that you will
If a supervisor can remove his or her ego from have to be chained to it forever. Does that sound
this process and focus on resolving the conflict reasonable to you? What do you think we might
rather than being right, a shift in attitude for do together to help you in that direction, because
both will take place that can alter the dialogue I want you to be successful here in your time
that will follow; in fact, dialogue really becomes with us.”
possible. But, as creatures of habit, we most In the scenario I just provided, I was appropri-
often find that our default behavior is to defend ately assertive in speaking about what my goals
ourselves when we feel attacked. So, it takes for this supervisor are in regard to some expecta-
forethought and practice, but in the end, it is tions, and I used “I” statements. The essence of
well worth it. being appropriately assertive is being able to
Next, research suggests that talking about state your case without arousing the defenses of
each other’s needs can significantly change the the other person, giving credit for the other per-
direction of outcome to a win–win position. son’s skills, saying how it is for you rather than
Attempting to find what is fair for both parties what he or she should or should not do. Your “I”
and working slowly to reach that point in discus- statement is not about being polite; it is not nec-
sion is key. As in Bowenian systems therapy essarily soft, but it also is not rude. It is about
(Bowen, 1978), the secret to most productive being up front without being reactive. Managing
change is to remain engaged while maintaining a how you are feeling while you begin the process
nonreactive attitude to statements that may of de-escalating the conflict is very important.
enflame. Remembering that all situations can be Once the process is moving past the initial
seen as either problems or as opportunities conflictual emotions, look for options. Make it
reframes the supervisor’s intentions and provides explicit that you both have outcomes you desire,
a context for the win–win situation all parties and make those outcomes explicit. You might
hope for, while looking for a creative response want to suggest that both parties take some
time to take a break and write a list of desirable Identify what you can do to affect a particular
outcomes—of potentials—so that you can both problem, even if it is only a small step in the
look at your lists and see where there are com- right direction. One step forward changes the
monalities. Looking for common ground makes dynamics and new possibilities can open up.
for a universal position and says we both have
some things we want from meeting together that
Preventing Conflict
can be agreed upon.
Coleman and Deutsch (2006) suggested two Several ideas I have used successfully come
rather out of the box creative components of to mind that have prevented potential conflicts in
conflict resolution. One is that after making supervision. The first is a concept that is close to
some decisions regarding outcome, each party what Russian psychologist and educational spe-
takes a break and is so quick to complete a con- cialist Lev Vygotsky (1987) suggested, called
tractual agreement. What is the rationale behind scaffolding. Scaffolding is a teaching pedagogy
this thinking? They suggested the following: that includes helping to prop up new learning by
“Research has shown that humans tend to be providing support, so that the student will suc-
poor decision makers because they often choose ceed rather than fail. There have been many
the first acceptable solution to a problem that times when I have had students with experience
emerges, even if it is far from being the best in other similar fields, such as music therapy, or
that could be developed” (p. 407). They believed substance abuse counseling, where they have
that creative tension and not giving in to the first some great skills that could be expanded some.
solution can make for longer lasting satisfaction Usually they have a concreteness in their view of
for both parties, because of the engagement and the professional relationship and are more like
creativity that comes from exploring all the pos- what we discussed in the first stage of develop-
sibilities. Why settle for the first outcome when ment (Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987) where they
others that are better might come along (Coleman hold on to concepts as if they are absolutely true,
& Deutsch, 2006)? In addition, they also sug- wanting to show their supervisor that they know
gested moving the venue of discussion from one something. Later in this book I will tell the story
location to another to get perspective and to try of a student who was a music therapist who had
to see some humor without being disrespectful, left a doctoral program because one of her pro-
to help both parties move past the seriousness of fessors had told her she needed to abandon all of
the situation as “disputants often approach their her previous experience and ideas if she was to
problems grimly” (p. 408). succeed. I embraced her previous experience
During the problem-solving stage of conflict instead and encouraged her to learn even more
resolution it is useful to break out outcomes and and complementary techniques so she could be
solutions into smaller parts that are easily accom- an even better music therapist, as well as a
plished. It is also useful to make problems into licensed counselor. I utilized her skills to encour-
solvable behaviors that can be tried out first age new learning. I know I routed potential con-
before committing to complete change. Finally, flict right out the door that day.
find a location that is common ground, rather Next, I have discovered that by naming poten-
than meeting in an office of one of the parties tial problems now and by dialoguing about them,
(The Carroll-Keller Group, n.d.). There is too we collaboratively create potential possibilities
much psychological baggage imbued with an and solutions ahead of time. I find it far better to
office where the conflict may have begun or head off problems that I see coming than to deal
where the power of the hierarchical relationship with them later. Conflicts and differences need
looms overhead. not be a problem, if supervisors anticipate, use
By taking a broader perspective you may be forethought and creativity to change them into
confronted with the enormity of the difficulties. opportunities.
Mary Jane and Conflict—An Example

Mary Jane was the director of clinical experience at a large mental health agency, and she
was having difficulty with her boss Paul, as many people have had before her. Paul, a rather
newly hired CEO, had been experienced by staff as someone who was dictatorial, ran a top-
down hierarchical organization, and “bullied” people into submitting when he wanted his
way. Mary Jane was just like her boss; she didn’t give an inch but she was also on the board
of directors, and so she had some leverage. Paul demanded a face-to-face meeting in his
office to settle their conflict, and she had put him off saying she wanted to think about their
situation and her options. She asked me to consult to see if there might be a way of leveling
the playing field. We talked about options, and she wanted to go after him, invoking the
support of friends on the board of directors, to give Paul his walking papers. I suggested
that they were not about to run him out of town, but she might gain some leverage by doing
three simple acts. First, she needed to stop being so reactive to what Paul did, and think
logically. Next she needed to prepare for any meeting, and bring along an advocate so that
Paul’s usual bullying would either be corroborated by another or would not happen. And
finally, she needed to have the meeting on neutral grounds, rather than in Paul’s office. As
a good consultant, I talked with her about this, attempted to get a commitment from her to
follow through on my suggestions, and let her go to work on this plan. She was able to
complete two of the three, but Paul was adamant about meeting in his office. The meeting
terms were negotiated and she met with a list of complaints, which included conditions for
other workers; she also requested that he stop his bullying behavior or she would bring it to
the board of directors. All conditions were documented, because her advocate was present,
and Mary Jane felt satisfied. Although she did not get everything she asked for, the meeting
was productive, and the organization began to run better.
Promoting Counselor Self-Efficacy (e.g., “I have the skills and knowledge to set a
and Personal Agency: A Core goal, begin working toward that goal, and com-
plete a task”). Personal agency is directly linked
Executive Skill
to the person’s belief in his or her ability (self-
An individual’s beliefs about their ability to efficacy). Personal agency is characterized by
carry out behaviors, and their beliefs about the a number of core features, including intention-
connections between their efforts and the results ality, forethought, self regulation, and self-
of those behaviors to affect motivation, behav- reflectiveness about one’s capabilities, quality
iors, and the persistence of effort, are called self- of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of
efficacy (Bandura, 1977b). Self-efficacy is the one’s life pursuits.
belief in one’s capability to organize and execute Counseling self-efficacy (CSE) and the per-
the sources of action required to manage personal agency that goes with it are key to both
spective situations (e.g., “I know I can do it”; basic and strengths-based clinical supervision
Bandura, 1986). Personal agency is the ability to principles (Daniels & Larson, 2001). But where
originate and direct actions for a specific purpose does it come from? How do counselors obtain or
learn to have agency? They gain agency every included intentionality (a representation of a
time they have a mastery experience in the field. future course of action to be performed), fore-
Watching new counselors realize that they can thought (setting goals, creating a course of action
make it through a session with a new client and likely to produce desired outcomes, while avoid-
noticing that they don’t stall, or that they ask the ing detrimental ones), self-reactivity (in order
right questions and noticing that their client to self-motivate, and give shape to the course
smiles when they are leaving—that is a mastery of action), and self-reflectiveness (Larson, &
experience. Each time puts more experience in Daniels, 1998). This becomes perceived self-
their bank. Clinicians gain agency when they efficacy, and it can influence whether people
watch their supervisor actually do a live clinical think pessimistically or optimistically—and are
session and know that they can replicate a tech- self-enhancing or self-hindering. None of the
nique or skill they watched, again adding to their components of agency are more central than the
bank. As supervisors encourage their supervis- belief in one’s capability to exercise a measure of
ees, they are persuaded to try new things or take control over his or her own functioning and envi-
stock in how far they have come. ronmental events. To be efficacious, counselors
To have personal agency is to intentionally must orchestrate and continuously improvise
make things happen through one’s actions. The multiple subskills to manage ever-changing cir-
core features of agency enable people to play a cumstances in the session. It is one’s perceived
role in their own self-development, adaptation, self-efficacy and personal agency that allows one
and self-renewal with changing times. Personal to make judgments of how well one can execute
agency comes from several sources: mastery the actions and make corrections to shape the
experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal per- future. The use of agency questioning has been
suasion, and personal psychological states. As used in both Solution-Focused Therapy as well as
supervisees try out their new learning, they Narrative Therapy. Questions that ask people for
receive internal (and perhaps external) feedback their input into their own positive processes help
of their successes, adding to their fund of agency them to interpret and restory their events in a way
regarding a specific task (mastery experiences). that illuminates their own successes in some
Vicarious experiences as well as verbal persua- endeavor, in this case success in a clinical ses-
sions from their supervisor can increase their sion. Questions such as “How do you think you
agency; as they are asked questions regarding were able to do that?” or “Given your struggles to
their own views of their behavior—meaning- achieve a more successful outcome with that cli-
making questions—supervisees begin to inter- ent, in what part of the discussion (with the client)
nalize their successes. According to their own did you find you were playing a more useful role
internal psychological state, supervisees will with your client, and how were you able to do
include these skills as their own, value them, and that?” play an important role in helping clinicians
evaluate them. Some supervisees have a greater see their growth and successes during a part of
capacity to look at their own skill levels and their own development, when they might be
learn with optimism, while others do not learn prone to look in the other direction.
self-efficacy and may need more time to begin Several behavioral components are important
changing their internal views. It is useful to see to following through with one’s personal agency:
these psychological traits as learned, rather than people must have forethought; their behavior must
as personality traits. Optimism has been shown have directionality and intentionality; they must
to be a learned phenomenon (Seligman, 1996). be able to self-regulate their actions, rather than be
In my experience, CSE is cocreated by, and cast to random thoughts and feelings; and finally,
includes the use, of strength-based clinical values, they must be self-reflective, using eva luative
supervisory forethought, and finding and using feedback, correcting their efforts back toward
one’s own voice (Covey, 2004). Others have also their goals should they error. What determines
forethought’s direction, however, are the per- basic creator of our personal and professional
sonal standards and values of the agent. This is a lives and our ability to produce quality work; at
circular process and an evolving process. the same time we learn from our mistakes with-
According to Bandura (2001), people check on out being overly upset by them. Agency is recog-
their actions through what he called performance nizing that we can create our own way, not as
comparisons with one’s own goals and stan- something perfect, but with excellence—with
dards, all of which are imbedded in our personal elegance. As Michael J. Fox has said, “I am care-
value system or what he believed to be our ful not to confuse excellence with perfection.
“moral agency.” Self-efficacy is far easier to Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s
explain than it is to teach rationally. One can, I business” (Fox, n.d.). Personal agency also
believe, facilitate the building of someone else’s means knowing how to pick one’s self up and
self-efficacy through modeling, giving praise, move on, learning from our efforts, so we might
and positively punctuating when someone is on adapt and be resilient. This is the most critical
track by our discussions, but for the actual learn- piece of supervision we can provide—to our
ing, the self-feedback must come from and be supervisees, our clients, ourselves, and to others.
internalized by the person living the experience
of growing self-efficacy.
This personal feedback process, which others Session Management
call second-order cybernetics (Bateson, 1979), or Many of the clinical mechanics are the same
the newer term top-down metacognition (Siegel, for both clinicians and supervisors. When and
2007), is the internal guidance system that keeps how do you start a session? Do you contract for
us on track but that is always inputting new, goal-oriented outcomes or do you just open the
novel information, thus learning. The interesting session up to listen and talk? How do you termi-
part of this concept, now proven through brain nate supervisory contact? Do you do it when they
research, is that it filters out “negative” informa- retire or graduate or never? What happens when
tion (information that doesn’t fit with what one your supervisee is cranky or angry? How do you
already “knows” to be true or believe) and only de-escalate the process, and how do you bring the
attaches meaning and interest in change (learn- session and the relationship back to a working
ing) when presented in a way that allows for productive venue? Session management includes
adaptation. In other words, we attempt to main- those behaviors and processes that we all do and
tain what we already believe to be true, while mostly do well. My take on it is that we as super-
canceling out what we believe to be false, even visors should consider what we do from the begin-
when presented with evidence to the contrary. ning of a contact—opening moves with first-time
Learning is homeodynamic. supervisees—to the ending. I also think we should
not only model these for our supervisees, we
Thoughts on Self-Efficacy and should ask them to consider how they want to run
their sessions with their own clients and help them
Personal Agency develop their own operating principles for session
In my opinion, one of the most important management. After all, it is not our session, but
components of supervision is the continued they may pick up the fact that we trust them but
imparting of our belief in our supervisees and the want them to consider how to have a session that
development of their own agency. It is my opin- has forethought and alternatives for potential
ion that supervision—as in clinical work— problematic situations. I want my supervisees to
should be agentic in all we do. I believe it is the have back doors of escape (sometimes literally)
crux of strengths-based work. Agency helps us to and a thought-out plan for session management
have voice, morality, and a sense of self as a that will provide comfort and structure for both
them as well as their clients. I cannot tell them float in the flotsam of the events, conflicts, and
how to do it, but I can have a discussion about processes that occur while helping supervisees
how I have done specific things that work for me. work in their area of expertise. In clinical work,
So, I end this chapter here and suggest that you this means that developing executive skills are as
outline potential sessions’ management from necessary for clinicians as they are for supervi-
beginning to end, right now. sors—the processes are isomorphic.
It is the executive skills that transcend the
models, clinical beliefs, and dilemmas that clients
The Relationship Between come with. Seeing one’s supervisee—covisee or
Supervisor and Supervisee— stakeholder—as the main person the supervisor is
Personal and Professional responsible for places the supervisor in a position
to be most helpful to the supervisee’s growth and
development, rather than as a super astute man-
Reflections ager of someone else’s cases. These executive
The novice as well as a seasoned supervisor skills allow the clinical supervisor to move ahead
needs to hone his or her executive skills, which I with what Covey (2004) believes is a change from
laid out earlier. Without them, supervisors will effectiveness to excellence.

The History & Tranditions of Clinical Supervision

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1

The History and Traditions

Substance Abuse founded on fundamental concepts of organiza-

Table 1.1 Basic Principles of Integrative Family Therapy Supervision

1. Supervision must be respectful.

Source: Adapted from Lee and Everett (2004, p. 4).

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.

Personal Care for Personal Agency

Cross-Cultural and Drs. Anita Thomas and Sara Schwarzbaum,

I. Counselor Awareness of Own Cultural Values and Biases

A. Attitudes and Beliefs

II. Counselor Awareness of Client’s Worldview

A. Attitudes and Beliefs

III. Culturally Appropriate Intervention Strategies

A. Beliefs and Attitudes

Further Discussion on Focus Areas and

Figure 2.2 Isomorphic Structure

The more commonly understood concept of recognized in conjunction with psychoanalytic

Isomorphs in Practice—An Example

Marie and Strengths-forced Supervision: An Example

Muriel and her Beliefs—An Example

Mary Jane and Conflict—An Example

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Table 1.1 Basic Principles of Integrative Family Therapy Supervision