Effective supervision is recognized as essential for achieving client, worker, and organizational outcomes. Clarity about how supervisors engage in supervision toward these outcomes, however, is needed to inform practice. Using reflexive thematic analysis of interview data from 18 supervisors in human service organizations in Ontario, Canada, this study explored their understanding of supervision impact and their intentional use of supervision strategies. Identified themes included promoting staff well-being and thriving, fostering work engagement, enhancing practice competence, cultivating work performance, and building confidence and trust. These findings, including specific strategies, offer further insight to support practice, training, and policy for effective supervision.
In a Consensual Qualitative Research design, the authors explored Black doctoral psychology trainees' experience with race and culture in individual and group supervision with Black and White supervisors. Nine students (six women, three men; mean age = 27 years, range = 24-30) were interviewed. Five themes emerged: I.) Concerns about a safe space to discuss race and racism, II.) Racial strategies of supervisors, III.) Avoidance of discussing racial issues by supervisors, IV.) Racial/Cultural competence of supervisors, and V.) A need for refuge - creating a Black space. Findings suggest that White supervisors must better address cultural and racism-related issues.
Counselor evaluation is a primary supervision function within preprofessional training, though little is known about the evaluation of practitioners once they enter the field. A survey of counselor evaluation practices was developed using the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Supervision Best Practice Guidelines and was completed by independent samples of 307 rehabilitation counselors and 152 supervisors working in field environments. Results revealed that counselors perceived significantly lower use of evaluation best practices than supervisors. Additionally, the use of supervision best practices had significant relationships with counselor job satisfaction and counselor role ambiguity, with supervisory alliances mediating these effects.
We used structural equation modeling to examine supervisor cultural humility (CH) and the supervisory working alliance (SWA) as predictors of supervision outcomes (i.e. supervisee clinical and multicultural competence) and therapeutic working alliance (TWA). In a sample of 186 supervisees engaged in supervision for licensure, we observed significant direct relationships between CH and the SWA. Further, we found a significant relationship between the SWA and supervision outcomes; however, the relationship was not significant between CH and supervision outcomes. Both CH and the SWA were indirectly associated with the TWA through supervision-related variables. We offer implications for supervisees, supervisors, and supervision researchers.
Clinical supervisors play a critical role in home visiting programs. Using an exploratory, qualitative design, we examined supervisors' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in late 2020, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 supervisors about challenges in leadership resulting from the pandemic, adaptations to virtual service delivery, support needs, and insights they gained. Supervisors were concerned about meeting families' increased needs and supporting home visitors. Supervisors creatively connected with families and staff and juggled their increased work and home responsibilities. They acknowledged support from organizations and the importance of self-care but expressed the need for more formal support.
Research has not explored clinical supervision in child life, including virtual opportunities. This qualitative study examined the experiences of child life specialists from the United States who participated in a virtual group clinical supervision program. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six child life specialists, and interviews were coded using thematic analysis. Participants noted the need for consistent clinical supervision and felt the program provided that support, potentially decreasing burnout. Identified benefits included opportunities for professional growth, protected time for supervision, and community. Child life programs and professional organizations should consider offering or encouraging participation in virtual group clinical supervision.
In this study, the authors present an empirical investigation of the experiences of racism in clinical supervision as informed by a sample of 80 mental health trainees undergoing clinical supervision. Participants responded to the modified version of the Race-Based Traumatic Stress Symptom Inventory in which they described a memorable racist incident and responded to accompanying items outlining emotional and psychological reactions. Most participants endorsed exposure to a racist event, including such categories as invalidation and/or dismissal of racial experiences and tokenization. Participants also endorsed race-based traumatic symptoms associated with the event. Implications for clinical supervision and future research are discussed.
Although sexuality is a core dimension of the human experience, sexuality has been relegated to the margins of clinical practice, training, and supervision. We argue that clinical supervisors must develop the comfort and competence to engage with themes of sex and sexuality. We review the need for and deficits in sexual competence in clinical supervision. Further, we define the foundational aspects of intersectional sex positivity and offer an intersectional sex-positive theoretical framework to clinical supervision. Using a case vignette, we illustrate and offer best practices to operationalize intersectional sex-positive clinical supervision. Implications for implementation and research are provided.
Utilizing an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, we examined 11 seasoned supervisors' cognitive structures while supervising licensure-seeking counselors in Virginia. Concept mapping revealed five supervision areas: supervisee's counseling skills and clinical practice, supervisee's reflexivity for personal and professional growth, supervisor's preparation and intentional reflection on their practice, supervisory relationship and professional practice and housekeeping. These areas reflected systematic thinking aligned with prior findings on expert supervisors and highlighted practical nuances specific to advanced supervisees. The findings correspond closely with the cohesive model of supervision, supporting its relevance across training levels and utility as an empirically grounded framework for supervisory practice.
Trauma-informed supervision provides a way for supervisors to create environments and interactions in support of a workforce that is managing realities of individuals' trauma histories, overdoses, and increasing pressures from a changing service delivery landscape impacted by collective trauma and a more affected client population. Yet, discussions on trauma-informed supervision remain largely conceptual, are broadly defined, and often provide limited practical guidance or evidence of effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Trauma-Informed Supervision Framework (TISF) as a practical framework for supervisors, and to provide concrete examples of application for supervisors in addiction settings.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns in 2020, supervision of practitioners across health and social care became even more critical to support an increasingly burnt-out workforce responding to crisis and sickness. Supervisors entered a new age of working remotely online while facing increased demands to support practitioner wellbeing and resiliency. Supervisors across disciplines in Aotearoa New Zealand participated in an online survey and semi-structured interviews regarding how they sustained their own wellbeing, resilience, and professional development. This article explores the challenges and resiliency of supervisors post-pandemic, the versatility of online supervision and potential barriers, and solutions for sustainable supervision practices.
Group supervision is increasingly recognized as a useful tool for enhancing child protection services and supervisee well-being. However, there is still some uncertainty regarding this process. A qualitative study explored how 13 child protection workers define successful group supervision, using a questionnaire and focus groups. Reflexive thematic analysis was used with both inductive and deductive methods. Results propose that group supervision in child protection services can benefit from being a clinical and collaborative process, guided by an external supervisor, and aimed at helping supervisees conceptualize cases and define intervention plans to contribute to the quality of services provided to families.
This study qualitatively explored experiences of interprofessional supervision among allied health professionals within the context of disability services. Multiperspectival interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to examine the perspectives of two groups: those impacted by recent systems change (n = 4), and those not (n = 4). Context played a role in participants' experiences; however, several common factors influenced the suitability and efficacy of interprofessional supervision, including understanding of its purpose and limitations, levels of supervision training, and power dynamics. When these issues were addressed, interprofessional supervision supported the development of interprofessional competencies. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) contains a weekly consultation team meeting that provides DBT to DBT therapists. While adherence to the treatment manual has been measured in individual therapy and skills training classes, this is the first study measuring adherence in consultation team meetings. The authors hypothesized that 1) it is feasible to apply the DBT-Adherence Coding Scale (DBT ACS) and DBT Adherence Checklist for Individual sessions (DBT AC-I) to evaluate DBT model adherence of consultation teams and 2) that provision of a brief intervention focusing on shaping model adherent behavior would move consultation team processes closer to adherent DBT. DBT adherence rating by a calibrated DBT adherence rater suggests that adapted versions of the DBT ACS and DBT AC-I can be applied to measure model adherence of DBT consultation teams. Implementing a non-concurrent multiple-baseline single-subject case design, this study illustrates that some behaviors in consultation team meetings were more adherent than others after the intervention.
Best practice guidelines recommend practical experiences for supervision training. However, there is a paucity of implementation research, and training opportunities are limited across many mental health disciplines. Incorporating existing guidelines, we conducted a case study using a participant-observer approach to examine participants' experiences of supervision training in the context of an extramural practicum in a psychiatry outpatient clinic. Observer-ratings of recorded supervision meetings showed trainee supervisor competence gains at 4 and 10 months. Student therapists also reported high levels of supervision satisfaction. We also present qualitative results of participants' experiences of the training and provide recommendations for future research.
This study examined the relationships among racial microaggression in supervision and different training and supervision variables in 175 Supervisees of Color in cross-racial supervision. The results indicated that Supervisees of Color working with White supervisors, compared to Supervisors of Color, reported more racial microaggression in supervision, a weaker supervisory working alliance, and perceived their supervisor as less multiculturally competent. Racial microaggressions correlated with supervisory working alliance, supervisor multicultural competence, and multicultural counseling self-efficacy. Both supervisor multicultural competence and supervisory working alliance moderated the relationship between racial microaggressions and counseling self-efficacy for Supervisees of Color. Limitations and implications are addressed.
