Select Page

5 Main Influences in Clinical Supervision
Instructor: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, PhD
Executive Director: AllCEUs.com, Counselor Education and Training
Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox & Happiness Isnā€™t Brain Surgery

CEUs are available at https://allceus.com/member/cart/index/product/id/514/c/

Objectives
~ Explore the 5 Main Influences in Clinical Supervision
~ Philosophical foundation
~ Descriptive dimensions
~ The supervisorā€™s stage of development
~ The superviseeā€™s stage of development
~ Contextual factors including personal characteristics and setting/environment

Answer The Following Questions
~ How do I believe change occurs?
~ What are the crucial variables in training and supervision?
~ How do I measure success in supervision?
~ How do I contribute to that success?
~ What learning objectives do I have for supervision?
~ What techniques will I apply to measure/ensure learning objectives are met?
4 Factors That Affect Change
~ Extra therapeutic factors which are all factors related to client (supervisee) and not the actions of the therapist (supervisor)
~ Relationship factors, the single most significant issue in the therapy outcome, including caring, empathy, warmth, acceptance, mutual affirmation, and encouragement of risk taking
~ Placebo factors, such as hope and expectancy
~ Technique factors, account for only 15% of therapeutic change
Supervision Layers
~ Supervision will be impacted by 5 main influences:
~ Philosophical foundation
~ Descriptive dimensions
~ The supervisorā€™s stage of development
~ The superviseeā€™s stage of development
~ Contextual factors including personal characteristics and setting/environment
The Philosophical Layer
~ Basic beliefs about how we know what we know, what motivates people and how people change

~ How do you know what you know?
~ Where does mental illness come from?
~ What do you believe motivates people?
~ How does change occur?
Descriptive Layer: 10 Dimensions
~ Influential
~ Symbolic
~ Structural
~ Replicative
~ Counselor in treatment
~ Information gathering
~ Jurisdictional
~ Relationship
~ Strategy
Descriptive Layer contā€¦Influential
~ Determines whether the client and supervisee are influenced at an affective or cognitive level

~ What does this mean? (Thinking vs. Feeling)
~ What does it look like/sound like if they are being influenced at an affective level? Cognitive?
~ Are you typically influenced at an affective or cognitive level?
~ How do you keep supervisees motivated who are influenced at an affective level? Cognitive?
Descriptive Layer contā€¦Symbolic
~ Deals with whether latent or manifest content is addressed in counseling and supervision

~ What do you typically focus onā€”the seen or the unseen
~ When Sue gets frustrated with a client it manifests in lack of attention and irritability.
~ Do you help Sue learn to deal with her frustration and identify it as possibly a projection?
~ Do you teach Sue that she will get frustrated, but she has to learn to control how it manifests
~ Do you do something else?

Descriptive Layer contā€¦Structural
~ Describes whether therapy and supervision are spontaneous or planned
~ Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of daily, brief supervision
~ Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of weekly hour-long supervision
Descriptive Layer contā€¦Replicative
~ Refers to the extent to which the supervisor sees observed interactions as representations of isomorphic processes
~ What the client does in counseling, she does in ā€œreal lifeā€
~ What the supervisee does in supervision represents what she does in session and in real life
Descriptive Layer contā€¦Counselor in Treatment
~ Has to do with whether training and personal therapy are viewed as related or unrelated activities

~ What is the purpose of therapy?
~ What is the purpose of training?
Descriptive Layer contā€¦Information Gathering
~ Contrasts indirect methods of obtaining information with direct observation of therapy sessions
~ Indirect
~ Process notes
~ Supervisee reports
~ Client interviews
~ Direct
~ Live observation
~ Co-Facilitation
~ Video observation
Descriptive Layer contā€¦Jurisdictional
~ Concerns who is responsible for client care
~ Supervisor
~ Supervisee
~ Client
Descriptive Layer contā€¦Relationship
~ Determines whether the counselor or supervisor functions at the facilitative or hierarchical role with respect to the client or supervisee

~ How do facilitative and hierarchical differ?
~ Discuss the benefits of facilitative
~ Discuss the benefits of heirarchical

Descriptive Layer contā€¦Strategy
~ Highlights the teaching of theory versus technique in supervision
~ Theory teaches when and why
~ Technique teaches how

~ How much theory do you teach?
~ How much technique do you teach?
The Stage of Development Layer
~ Includes the development (Child, Adolescent, Adult) of
~ The supervisee
~ The supervisor not only as a clinician, but also as a supervisor

~ We will discuss this next session
The Contextual Factors Layer
~ 5 Categories
~ Training: How and where training occurs
~ Out of client and supervision sessions (homework, case preparation)
~ In client sessionsā€“ Learning what works and how to present it
~ In supervision sessions
~ Modeling/experiential
~ Direct instruction
~ Role playing
~ Philosophy:
~ Of counseling
~ Of recovery/mental health
~ Of training
The Contextual Factors Layer
~ 5 Categories
~ Demographic characteristics of supervisor, supervisee and clients
~ Ethnicity
~ SES
~ Age
~ Gender
~ Setting
~ Rural/Urban
~ Clinic/home
~ School
~ Clinical issues

Summary
~ 5 main influences on supervision
~ Philosophical foundation
~ Basic beliefs about how we know what we know, what motivates people and how people change
~ Descriptive dimensions
~ How you describe the therapeutic/supervisory process
~ Influentialā€“ What influences change/behavior
~ Symbolic- Latent or manifest content
~ Structural- Spontaneous or planned
~ Replicative ā€“ is therapy/supervision a replication of ā€œoutsideā€ life
~ Counselor in treatment- Are supervision and therapy related
~ Information gathering- Direct or indirect
~ Jurisdictional-Who is responsible for client care (client, counselor, supervisor)
~ Relationship- facilitative or heirarchical
~ Strategyā€”Theory (why) or technique (how)
Summary
~ 5 main influences on supervision
~ The supervisorā€™s stage of development
~ The superviseeā€™s stage of development
~ Contextual factors including
~ Personal characteristics
~ Setting/environment