Effective and Ineffective Supervision

Nicholas Ladany, Yoko Mori, and Kristin E. Mehr
The Counseling Psychologist
January 2013 41: 28-47
First published on May 23, 2012

Abstract


Although supervision is recognized as a significant tenant of professional growth for counseling and psychotherapy students, the variability of the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of supervision has come under scrutiny in recent times. Our sample of 128 participants shed light on the most effective (e.g., encouraged autonomy, strengthened the supervisory relationship, and facilitated open discussion) and most ineffective (e.g., depreciated supervision, performed ineffective client conceptualization and treatment, and weakened the supervisory relationship) supervisor skills, techniques, and behaviors. Moreover, effective and ineffective behaviors, along with best and worst supervisors, were significantly differentiated based on the supervisory working alliance, supervisor style, supervisor self-disclosure, supervisee nondisclosure, and supervisee evaluation. Implications for supervision competencies and supervisor accountability are discussed.

The entire article can be found here.

A presentation by Nicholas Ladany on effective supervision can be found in the PowerPoint Vault on this blog.