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| Fostering an Effective Learning Environment |
| Columns - Clinical Supervision | |
| Friday, 31 May 2002 | |
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Early in my career I had the rare opportunity of having two different supervisors at the same time, one supervising my graduate school practicum and the other at an outpatient clinic where I was employed at the time. My practicum supervisor sat in on sessions, took the time to process them afterwards, gently addressed what I could have done differently, and gave me an opportunity to watch her work with my clients. On the other hand the supervisor where I worked listened to my self-reports, never observed my sessions, assumed that I was ready to take complicated risks with clients and offered little guidance. He gave me far more autonomy than I was ready for while my practicum supervisor, through encouragement and support, guided me through a learning process that gave me a growing sense of self-efficacy. These two scenarios demonstrate the importance of creating a supervision environment that is conducive to learning. My practicum supervisor paid attention to my developmental needs and presented an atmosphere that was optimal for my professional growth. She was following what is now known as the developmental approach to supervision by taking time to understand my stage of professional development and meeting me at my level of learning. Her supervisory stance took into account factors that significantly influenced my developmental position such as my motivational determinants, knowledge level, and competence.The developmental approach to supervision is understood in terms of cognitive theory that defines professional growth as a continuous process that evolves in three stages: cognitive, associative, and autonomous. As the counselor moves along a developmental continuum, he or she learns skills (cognitive), receives feedback in order to begin to master what is learned (associative), and becomes proficient to the point where performing the skill becomes second nature (autonomous). As counselors travel along a linear developmental path, they tend to develop expertise over time while acquiring new information and skills. Stoltenberg, McNeill, & Delworth (1998) categorized this progress into four stages of professional development each with distinctive growth characteristics. Furthermore, these characteristics are differentiated for each stage by a counselor's level of development in each of three overriding structures: increased autonomy, greater awareness of self and others, and increased motivation. The key to effective supervision is to understand the optimal supervisory environment that best meets the needs of each counselor. The developmental model recognizes, for instance, that offering instruction, interpretation, and structure for the entry-level counselor can lead to increased autonomy while overcoming categorical thinking, a lack of self- or other-awareness, and high-dependency needs. At the other end of the continuum is the advanced counselor who benefits more from a collegial relationship marked by mutual sharing and anticipated autonomy (Bernard & Goodyear, 1998). This is a counselor who is differentiated, motivated, and not likely intimidated by confrontation and catalytic questioning. In the context of the developmental model, moving a counselor from one stage to the next is a goal of supervision. To that end the supervisor fosters growth for the supervisee toward independent functioning. One sign of a counselor's success in attaining independence is an ability to sift through vast amounts of client data and make decisions quickly with limited cognitive processing. Where the trial and error approach may be more typical for the novice, the advanced counselor has a store of knowledge from which to access. A process of pattern matching occurs for the experienced counselor who, while collecting client data, will do a memory search, match concepts from prior experience and training, and quickly reach a diagnosis (Stoltenberg, McNeill, & Delworth, 1998). This type of independent functioning can result from a supervision environment that cultivates a counselor's ability to organize information and concepts into recognizable patterns while making linkages between learned concepts and client data. Significant to the supervision environment is the supervisory relationship that typically passes through several stages commensurate with the counselor's progress. For the entry-level counselor, the onset of the relationship tends to be very hierarchical, with the supervisor as the expert and the supervisee as the student. The likely result is a high level of anxiety for the supervisee coupled with dependence on the supervisor. In time, however, the relationship will change as the counselor makes developmental progress. The relationship will eventually lose its hierarchical distance and become more collegial. As the counselor's autonomy and self-efficacy increases, the relationship between counselor and supervisor evolves to where the supervisor is seen less as an expert and more as a consultant. Creating a supervisory environment that best meets the counselor at his or her developmental level is a significant factor in one's professional growth and identity. This approach recognizes that learning new skills and gaining insights, when nurtured in the supervisory relationship, will help the counselor successfully advance on a continuum of professional growth Twenty-three years ago, a practicum supervisor who understood my conceptual level, motivational needs, and learning style appreciably influenced my professional growth. Her skill at utilizing all the ingredients in the mix that were conducive to meeting my unique needs, enabled her to effectively join with me on my developmental journey. The fact that I write about it today underscores the significance of that supervisory relationship and its impact on my clinical developmental well beyond my practicum experience. References Bernard, J. M. & Goodyear, R. K. (1998). Fundamentals of clinical supervision (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Stoltenberg, C. D., McNeill, B., & Delworth, U. (1998). IDM supervision: An integrated developmental model for supervising counselors and therapists. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Thomas G. Durham, MA, LADC, is the director of corporate support at ETP Inc. (www.etpinc.org) in East Hartford, Conn., where he coordinates a worldwide program of clinical supervision to alcohol and drug counselors throughout the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. A certified clinical supervisor with more than 25 years of experience, he frequently conducts training workshops and is a part-time faculty member at Tunxis Community College in Conn., where he teaches courses in counseling. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .              |
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