Supervision in Counseling

Supervision is a very important part of becoming a licensed counselor. It has been noted that internships (because of the supervision) are where future counselors gain the skills needed to be effective counselors and therefore, internships are the “primary training ground for mental health counselors” (Nelson et al., 2000). There are advantages to both group and individual supervision although neither has been proven to more effective at counselor development (Ray & Altekruse, 2000). In their article, Ray & Altekruse point out that while individual supervision is generally the primary method of supervision, group supervision has proven itself to be a cost-effective, time-efficient, and clinically rich alternative (2000). They further point out that through group supervision counseling students “can gain a stronger sense of self by testing reality and letting go of negative perceptions and intellectual isolation” (2000). That quote seems to address the only concern I have with group supervision, namely stage fright in front of groups of people. I did find it interesting that group supervision cannot be used alone. According to CACREP, group supervision can only be used in tandem with individual supervision. Some key elements to supervision are the supervisor is the supervisee’s teacher, counselor and consultant depending on the stage of supervision. As discussed above, this supervision period is the time where the student counselor will learn most of their skills. I think (hope) I will see some of the developmental and discriminate models of supervision. The developmental model makes a lot of sense to me and sounds a lot like any good on-the-job- training only much longer. First the supervisor teaches you. Here I would like to see some the discriminate model teaching intervention skills, conceptualization skills, and personalization skills. The supervisor then assists trainee when the trainee is faced with issue unfamiliar. From there the supervisor