Thoughts on Professional Supervision in the Helping Professions

Counsellors, Carers, Social Workers and other such professionals are subject to stresses that they often do not even recognise.  Debriefing becomes a necessity for most, if they are to sustain a career.

 

Qualities of a Professional Supervisor
Before elaborating upon the roles involved in being a professional supervisor, it is important to consider the personal qualities required by a supervisor if they are to be successful. You will note that many of these are the same or similar to the qualities required by a counsellor. These include:

• Openness
• Curiosity
• Investment
• Attention
• Genuine Concern
• Flexibility
• Warmth
• Self disclosure
• Genuineness/Congruence
• Unconditional positive regard
• Understanding
• Empathy.

Supervision, and the ongoing quality relationship between supervisor and counsellor, is central to both counsellor education and to the continuing professional development of counsellors. These two core areas are integral to supervision. Although skill development frequently is the specified target, the supervision process also encourages greater self-awareness and fosters and integrates professional and personal identity related to the roles and tasks of counsellors. It is essential to have a paradigm that can evolve with the clients, counsellors, and supervisors. These approaches will be looked at in more detail in chapter four.

Another avenue to be aware of is that it is imperative that the supervisor and counsellor be conscious of how counselling supervision can impact on the client. There have been studies conducted which have explored the counsellor's experience on this subject and the findings have contributed essential information to the discipline. The topic needs to be addressed in supervision by both the counsellor and the supervisor to ensure that the client's needs and welfare are being addressed holistically and sensitively.

Strategies need to be identified not only for monitoring, but also for enhancing, the growth and development of counsellors in training. In some cases, there may even be a need to facilitate interventions with counsellors in their own practice or when working as part of an organisation. Counsellor trainee development is integral in the creation of qualified counsellors for either private practice or for a position in an organisation.

It is important to remember that a supervisor’s role is NOT to become their supervisee’s counsellor or analyst. They are there to convey an understanding of the case in their role as supervisor only and they must be ready and willing to refer their supervisee to other professional assistants if these boundaries are compromised.

Best practice calls for emphasis on relationships, collaboration, and professionalism - and for de-emphasis of formal performance measures.

Supervision can take place one-to-one (individual), in a group setting, dyadically, or live.

Individual
Supervisory dyads are a common practice to evaluate the counsellor in training. Direct and personal feedback can be given by the supervisor and the use of one way mirrored rooms (subject to the consent of the participants) are an excellent means by which supervisors can observe counsellor interaction and expertise. Counsellors can be encouraged, engendered, and supported as they develop their independence in clinical self assessment and case planning, and as they generate professional activities related to counselling i.e. attendance at seminars and workshops to update their skills.

Group Training
Particular organisations (e.g. large telephone counselling establishments) may prefer their counsellors to undergo supervision in a group context to increase cost and time effectiveness and minimise the need to co-ordinate individual supervision for a multitude of counsellors. An added benefit of this is that professional peers are able to offer their input into the feedback process so that the views of many are aired and shared.

Dyadic
A dyad is the smallest unit of communication between two people. In dyadic supervision, the supervision is conducted in the same way as individual supervision however it also involves the supervisor having two supervisees instead of one. This may be more appropriate for cost effectiveness where the employing organisation is rather small or is a community sector (not-for-profit) organisation, or similar.

Live
This takes place as the supervisee is actually counselling a client. Supervisee’s may either remain in the ‘shadows’ (with the client's consent) or they may interact ‘in the moment’ with the supervisee and client and thereby directly affect the counselling process.

 

The relationship between counsellor in training and supervisor provides a context in which counsellors in training become more confident in professional risk taking behaviours (e.g. caringly confronting or challenging their client about issues or behaviour that appear incongruent). It also assists in the development of strategies which can be employed to deal with difficult aspects of counselling relationships (e.g. openly employing immediacy to curb transference or projection from a client etc) as well as being a platform from which to provide support and feedback in these situations.

Whatever form that the supervision takes, it will always be important to re-evaluate standards as well as to make sure that the necessary updates and revisions are done when necessary. It is also incumbent on supervisors to be abreast of the latest research and updates to information that should be incorporated into the supervision process and to make adjustments as and when required.

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