Attending to Nuanced Emotions: Fostering Supervisees' Emotional Awareness and Complexity

Abstract

There is limited supervision research exploring how supervisees learn emotional awareness and complexity. In this article, the 5 levels of emotional awareness and 3 aspects of emotional complexity are explored in light of the supervision enterprise. In addition, 2 supervision intervention guides and a case example are provided.

Preliminary Validation of the Feelings Experienced in Supervision Scale

“…Although there is wide acknowledgment that supervision can be an affectively activating process (Brown, 2010; Cooks & Ciesla, 2019; Klein & Robinson, 2018)—and that supervisee feelings may be indicative of salient developmental, temperamental, and clinical variables related to the supervisee, the client, the supervisor, the alliance, and/or the process—the basis for these conceptualizations has been primarily theoretical (Bernard & Goodyear, 2014). Increasing supervisees' emotional awareness and complexity is an important supervisory goal (Tangen, 2017). The FESS may provide a tool for supervisors both to gain knowledge of their supervisees' affective responses to feedback and to create here‐and‐now opportunities (through in‐session discussion and processing) for supervisee growth related to emotional self‐awareness, complexity, and regulation, as recommended by previous scholars (Prikhidko & Swank, 2018; Tangen, 2017).…”

“…Increasing supervisees' emotional awareness and complexity is an important supervisory goal (Tangen, 2017). The FESS may provide a tool for supervisors both to gain knowledge of their supervisees' affective responses to feedback and to create here‐and‐now opportunities (through in‐session discussion and processing) for supervisee growth related to emotional self‐awareness, complexity, and regulation, as recommended by previous scholars (Prikhidko & Swank, 2018; Tangen, 2017).…”

“…The emotions of guilt, anger, and anxiety among counselors have been described as theoretically tied to clinician impairment, burnout, and problems with ethical decision‐making (Prikhidko & Swank, 2018). The importance of fostering development of emotional awareness and both cognitive and affective complexity among counselors has been noted in the supervision literature (Tangen, 2017). Assessing for supervisees' emotional awareness and complexity includes examining awareness of their own emotions with the assumption that increased levels of emotional self‐awareness are tied to an increased ability to identify, tolerate, and intervene around clients' emotions.…”

Emotion Regulation for Counselors‐in‐Training: A Grounded Theory

“…Researchers have examined the relationship between cognitive and emotional phenomena, social functions of emotions, mood, and ER with clients (D'Agostino, Covanti, Rossi Monti, & Starcevic, 2017; Gross, 2015; Hofmann, 2014; Linehan, 2015; Phelps, 2006). Additionally, scholars have focused on four areas of research with counselors and CITs: (a) emotional intelligence (Easton, Martin, & Wilson, 2008; Gutierrez, Mullen, & Fox, 2017; Olry‐Louis, 2018), (b) affective experiences (Melton et al, 2005), (c) emotional awareness (Skovholt & R⊘nnestad, 2003; Tangen, 2017), and (d) emotion‐focused coping (Pow & Cashwell, 2017). However, researchers have not focused on the integration of ER development within the counselor training process.…”

Promoting Cognitive Complexity in Counselor Education: Constructivist and Phenomenological Practices

“…The focus on developmental perspectives in counseling and counselor education has led researchers to design various pedagogical and supervisory practices that enhance cognitive development (Glosoff, Durham, & Whittaker, ; Owen & Lindley, ; Tangen, ; Welfare & Borders, ). In particular, the notion of cognitive complexity as “the ability to absorb, integrate, and make use of multiple perspectives” (Granello, , p. 92) has been closely examined in recent decades as a means to promote counselor development (Castillo, ; Little, Packman, Smaby, & Maddux, ; Owen & Lindley, ).…”