Psychotherapy Supervisor Training: Differences Between Psychiatry and Other Mental Health Disciplines

Clinical supervisor training in Australia: A review of current problems and possible solutions

“…More than 15 years have elapsed since Watkins decried the mismatch between the importance of clinical supervision and the attention to supervisor training, in his memorable quote, ''something does not compute'' (Watkins, 1997, p. 604). A similar period has elapsed since Hoffman talked about ''psychology's dirty little secret'' (Hoffmann, 1994), and close to a decade has elapsed since Whitman et al (2001) described the state of clinical supervision as ''the persistent paradox.'' In the case of standards for clinical supervision, we may have forfeited the right to take the high moral ground.…”

“…Bernard & Goodyear, 2004;Borders & Brown, 2005;Milne, 2009;Watkins, 1997). In fact, inadequate attention to supervision outcomes, training, and research has raised serious concern in other non-psychology disciplines, including psychiatry (Whitman, Ryan, & Rubenstein, 2001), occupational therapy (Gaitskell & Morley, 2008), and other allied health disciplines McMahon & Simons, 2004). Possible consequences of poor or absent supervisor training include a reduced readiness to supervise and unhelpful supervisory styles ranging from extreme passivity to excessive authoritarianism (Hoffman, 1994).…”

“…However, the professional literature does not endorse such a position (e.g. Whitman, et al, 2001). Although many authors acknowledge that some competencies required to practice psychology may overlap with and/or have similar elements to supervisor competencies (Milne, 2006), a careful scrutiny of the necessary competencies and capabilities suggests that additional training is required, specific to supervisors' roles and responsibilities (Milne, 2009;Roth & Pilling, 2008a).…”

“…Some of these have been more guarded, but it should be stressed that this is largely because of the paucity of training evaluations, rather than the rigor of the extant literature. For instance, Whitman et al (2001) noted that there was little empirically based research, and in relation to medical education, Kilminster and Jolly (2000) guardedly concluded that there was no more than modest evidence that training had a positive effect on supervisors. In Australia, Spence et al (2001) reviewed the evidence from occupational therapy, social work, speech pathology, and clinical psychology, concluding that ''although there is some tentative evidence to suggest the training supervisors can produce a change in supervisor practices and supervisee subjective ratings of the benefits of training, it remains to be demonstrated conclusively that such training achieves long-term impact on supervisee clinical practice and client outcomes'' (p. 149).…”

The LGBTQ Responsive Model for Supervision of Group Work

“…While individual differences and preferences may influence the selection of role across different supervisors in similar situations, it in turn may have the potential to impact the supervisory alliance. Therefore, it is of no surprise that effective supervision has been associated with the supervisor's flexibility in intervening across all supervisory roles (Falender & Shafranske, 2004;Ladany, Marotta, & Muse-Burke, 2001;Whitman, Ryan, & Rubenstein, 2001). Using the example of the male supervisee raising concerns about the language use of his co-facilitator, the supervisor could intervene from the teacher role by assessing the frequency of such occurrences within the supervision group itself.…”