The Supervisory Relationship
This is the quality most essential for building trust between a supervisor and supervisee.
What is rapport?
This is the process of providing constructive, specific, and regular information to the supervisee about their performance and progress.
What is feedback.
This is the teaching tool most supervisors use first with brand new supervisees.
What is direct instruction?
When a supervisor supports a supervisee in requesting reasonable accomodations, they are acting in this role.
What is advocate.
This therapist like-skill allows supervisors to hear both what's said and what is unsaid in a supervisory session.
What is reflective listening? Like therapy we can watch body language and other somatics to determine what we are reflecting back to our supervisee.
This is a core function of the supervisory relationship which requires the supervisor to set boundaries around entry into the field of counseling.
What is gatekeeping?
This intervention invites the supervisee to explore their own feelings about a client before jumping to conclusions.
What is processing countertransference? This can also show up in the supervisory relationship as well.
When a supervisor assigns a book, article, or video, they are doing this.
What is providing resources?
This type of advocacy may include ensuring supervisees have equitable caseloads and support.
What is advocacy in the workplace. This can also show up as helping a supervisee determine a client is not a good fit for them at this time.
This supportive behavior reassures supervisees when they feel insecure about their skills.
What is normalization or validation? This is key in helping supervisees reduce imposter syndrome, as is self disclosure from the supervisor.
This is an unconscious phenomenon where the dynamics and emotional patterns of the therapist-client relationship are mirrored in the supervisor-supervisory relationship.
What is parallel process?
When a supervisor role plays a session with a supervisee, they are using this kind of intervention.
What is modeling.
This kind of teaching strategy asks supervisees to analyze their own sessions step by step.
What is a guided reflection?
Supervisors model this skill when they speak up for their supervisees cultural perspective.
What is cultural advocacy?
Providing examples of Supervisor experience with their own clients and how they navigated these situations.
What is self disclosure?
Like self disclosure in therapy, this is done for the benefit of supporting the supervisee, validating and normalizing their experience, and reducing imposter syndrome.
This concept emphasizes that the relationship itself can be as important as the therapeutic skills that are taught.
What is the supervisor alliance?
This type of intervention ensures ethical standards are being met while guiding supervisee practice.
What is a corrective intervention?
This type of questioning leads supervisees towards their own answers rather than simply telling them.
What is Socratic questioning?
This type of advocacy extends beyond the supervisee, promoting systemic change in the profession.
What is professional advocacy?
This therapeutic stance involves holding space for supervisees anxieties without rushing to fix them.
What is containment? Except in the case of ethical responsibilities, the supervisor should work to allow the supervisee to work out their own challenges. We are not providing solutions as much as helping supervisees find their way.
This is the invisible dynamic that must be acknowledged due to the supervisors evaluative authority over a supervisee.
What is the power differential.
This high level intervention involves shifting between consultant, teacher and counselor roles as needed.
What is role flexibility?
This teaching role asks supervisors to demonstrate the 'why' behind their own clinical decisions.
What is modeling professional reasoning?
When supervisors address institutional barriers or biases that affect supervisees, they are practicing this.
What is structural advocacy.
This delicate balance requires supervisors to support supervisees emotionally while remembering they are not the supervisees therapist.
What is maintaining boundaries? The "therapy" aspect of supervision is about how the supervisee meets their own clinical goals, rather than being a personal growth tool. One indicates the other but the challenge lies in maintenance of the focus.