Purpose and Goals of Supervision for Counselors

According to the AMHCA Code of Ethics, 2010, Section III.9, Commitment to Students, Supervisees and Employee Relationships, "the primary obligation of supervisors is to monitor services provided by supervisees to ensure client welfare." (p. 16) According to the AMHCA Code of Ethics, 2010, Section I.A.1.a, “the primary responsibility of mental health counselors is to respect client dignity and promote client welfare.” (p.2) Both codes of ethics have parallel stances when it comes to acting ethically in the benefit of the client’s interest. Supervisory roles are crucial in the development of counselors and ensuring the welfare of clients.

My supervision is always held in a confidential setting, between myself and my Manager. My Manager records details of what has been discussed, targets identified, and achievement target dates to be met by me and my Manager. This is my personal development plan, and helps me to record training received, training identified, and knowledge gained. My supervision is my opportunity to discuss issues I am concerned about. Sometimes prior to my supervision, I write down notes on issues I want to raise, so that I do not forget whilst in my supervision.

The key principle of supervision is for the worker to be able to carry out their job role as effectively as possible. Enhancing their understanding of their own practise.

Kadushin describes a supervisor as someone "to whom authority is delegated to direct, coordinate, enhance, and evaluate on-the-job performance of the supervisees for whose work he/she is held accountable. In implementing this responsibility, the supervisor performs administrative, educational, and supportive functions in interaction with the supervisee in the context of a positive relationship" (Powell, 1993).

The nature of therapist-client relationship and understanding the therapist’s role is vital in making sure that the client’s rights are not jeopardized. The client must be willing to trust the therapist. The therapist can earn the trust of the client will confidentiality guidelines that are established by requiring informed consent. The therapist-client relationship is based on counseling approach as well as relationship with the client. The therapist’s role is to understand the client’s needs, help them get their needs met mentally, and to develop the proper plan that fits the client’s needs. The therapist must fully

Thus, there is a continuous flow of terminology, focus, and technique from the counseling session to the supervision session, and back again. Several illustrations of specific psychotherapy-based supervision models

Supervisors’ provide effective formative and summative feedback, promote growth and self-assessment in the trainee, and they also have to be able to conduct their own self-assessment. These skills encourage the trainee in the process of supervising. Clinical supervision is defined as: “An intervention that is provided by a senior member of a profession to a junior member or members of that profession. This relationship is evaluative, extends over time and has simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional functioning of the junior member(s), monitoring the quality of professional services offered to the clients she, he or they see(s) and serving as a gatekeeper for those who are to enter the particular profession” (Bernard & Goodyear,

I would like to add to your findings concerning your responsibilities as a student and the obligations of supervision. Kiser (2012) explains that effective supervisors are knowledgeable, supportive, and skillful in giving feedback. They must be willing to address difficult issues as they arise, teach their supervises important information and skills, model high standards of professionalism and expertise. I agree that social workers advocate for person or persons with mental illness. Involvement in policy practice is widely regarded as an important means for social workers to contribute to the development of policies that promote social and economic justice, improve the well-being of social services users, and provide opportunities for self-determination (Colby, 2008; Haynes & Mickelson, 2009; Hoefer,

Therefore, the definition of counselling supervision according to counsellingresource.com (2014) is a counsellor or psychotherapist that reviews their employee’s work for the beneficial of their client. Also, discusses about their professional and personal development. Supervisor does not act as a boss, but as a consultant who gives the counsellor further guidance about how they could overcome their issues.

To make sure that the highest standards are met it is crucial for the practitioner to have personal and professional supervision. Having personal supervision will help the practitioner to stay emotionally stable and well-balanced, safeguarding practitioner will not cause any damage to a client through their emotion state. Professional supervision allows the practitioner to discuss the client’s case, ensuring that the identity is not disclosed with a supervisor. The supervisor can overview the cases and provide a feedback. Supervision helps the practitioner to identify and resolve the problems if occurred. A supervisor can be used as a mentor or independent third party to give an non-biased opinion if anything improper was done or the practitioner has become emotionally or personally involved or whether the arrangements made are working and are of high standard.

Additionally, research has been done that examines the perceptions of school counselor effectiveness, as well as the usefulness of available supervision (Borders & Usher, 1992; Henderson & Lampe, 1992). During a school counseling master’s education program, there is ample supervision, both on-site and through the university, during the practicum and internship field experiences (Peterson & Deuschle, 2006; Studer & Oberman, 2006). However, it has been noted that clinical supervision of school counselors post-graduation has not been utilized in the most effective way (Linton & Deuschle, 2006). Several studies have examined the reason behind the lack of effective supervision within a school setting. Some researchers suggest that there is incongruence between the daily tasks of school counselors and models of clinical supervision most often utilized (Luke, Ellis, & Bernard, 2011). There also appears to be limited research on whether school counselor directors are being provided “best practices” methods of formal education and training for their positions.

The discrimination model of supervision developed by Bernard & Goodyear, (1998) has three primary focus areas in training novice counselors these include use of intervention, what the supervisee is doing in the session that is observable, conceptualization or how the session work is being conducted and the level of understanding the supervisee has regarding client themes and application of specific counseling session interventions, and personalization, the supervisors own approach or method. This model embeds three essential supervisory roles, teacher, counselor and consultant in providing effective supervision. The teacher's primary

In order to pursue my dream career in being an addictions counselor, I require a higher level of schooling to ensure that I will be doing a good job and be the perfect fit for my clients. There is a lot of courses that one can take in order to be an addictions counselor, but for me I got my eye on three. Firstly, I will need to have more studies in maths, this can be about any high level math class like algebra or business mathematics. For example, Indeed shares that you need to use math to understand how to build successful statistics (Ring). Thus, as an addictions counselor, I must be able to calculate factors like a drugs dosage and what it means to my client quickly in my head. Secondly, I will need to know about alcohol and drug abuse to be an effective counselor, this class is essential to be an addictions counselor.

Counseling is a relatively young profession when compared to other mental health professions. In my brief personal and professional experience with the field, I have come to define counseling as a process of engagement between two people, both of whom are bound to change through a collaborative process that involves both the therapist and the client in co-constructing solutions to concerns.

Counseling supervision, the ethical and legal issues, and the multiple relationships that result is a dynamic topic that presents numerous complex issues. The important functions of the supervisory relationship are to teach counseling through a hands-on process, assess, inform, implement, and evaluate the application of theories, ethical and competent practices to prepare the supervisee for their future profession in the counseling field. However, while supervisors play multiple roles in the supervision process, there are situations and times when the boundaries between therapy and supervision are not always clear. During the supervisory relationship it is vital and of the upmost importance that the supervisor model’s ethical behavior and implements the ethical standards of the counseling profession.