LPC Core Issues in Effective Clinical Supervision

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Core Issues in Effective
Clinical Supervision
Glenn Duncan LPC, LCADC, CCS, ACS

What do Good Supervisors Do?
Reading – It is essential that supervisors keep up with the literature
and be prepared to guide supervisees to appropriate literature.
- practice specializations have exploded since the mid 1990’s
and it is very possible that you’ll have people with multiple
sub- specialties as supervisees.
- It is the supervisor’s responsibility to keep up with the
literature and the specialization of supervisees.
- It is the supervisor’s responsibility to keep up with practice
guidelines, and be knowledgeable about supervisee ethical
and legal guidelines.

Writing – this is writing other than the normal expected guidelines
of one’s job function. This could include drafting reports, grant
writing, writing articles for publication, or writing for presentation to
staff or others.
- Supervisors can be effective role models by recommending
things they have written to their supervisees.

Watching – Supervisors need to be keen observers, using the
same observational skills that are necessary for good clinical
practice.
- Not all observations need to become the focus of the
supervision, but supervisors need to be aware of more than what
their supervisees present to them.
- Supervisors who rely completely on input from supervisees for
judgments and decision making are at a disadvantage in the
supervisory process.

Listening – crucial for supervisors to possess. Supervisors need to
be active listeners who not only listen but are able to provide
enough direct information to help the supervisee.
Talking – this is usually done through discussions with the
supervisee. Talking about materials, talking about issues relevant
to the supervisee’s work with the client.

Rate Your Strengths and Weaknesses in
Each Area
Reading –
Writing –
Watching –
Listening –
Talking –

Exercise – Effective/Ineffective
• In a small group, get together and assign one person as the group
secretary in order to write down traits that the group comes up
with.
• Think back to previous supervisors. What traits did you find in
previous supervisors that made them effective/good supervisors?
• What traits did you find in previous supervisors that made them
ineffective/bad supervisors?

Traits of an Effective Supervisor
• Clinical knowledge, skills, and professional experience.
• Having been supervised and having had supervision of one’s supervision.
• Professional education and training.
• Good teaching, motivational, and communication skills.
• A desire to pass on knowledge and skills to others.
• A sense of humor, humility, limits and balance in life.
• A concerned, sensitive and caring nature.
• Good helping skills, observational skills, and affective qualities (empathy,
respect, concreteness, action orientation, confrontation skills, immediacy).
• Openness to fantasy and imagination.
• Ability to create a relaxed atmosphere.
• Willingness to examine one’s own attitudes and biases.
• Respect among peers and colleagues.
• Crisis management skills.

Traits of an Effective Supervisor
• Willingness to learn from others and introspectiveness.
• Good time management and executive skills.
• Familiarity with legal and ethical issues, policies, and procedures.
• Cognitive and conceptual ability.
• Physical, emotional, and spiritual health, with energy and ambition.
• A serious commitment with accompanying enthusiasm.
• Concern for the welfare of the client.
• Concern for the growth of the supervisee.
• A sense of responsibility.
• A non-threatening, non-authoritarian, diplomatic manner.
• Tolerance, objectivity, fairness, and openness to a variety of styles.
• Ability to convey professional and personal respect for others.
• Ability to advocate effectively on behalf of the counselor, the client, and the
agency.
• Survival skills and longevity in the organization.
• Decision making and problem solving skills.

Traits of an Ineffective Supervisor
• Poor Modeling of Professional and Personal Attributes
• Occurs when supervisors are untrained or poorly prepared to supervise.
• Supervisors who lack effective teaching strategies.
• Supervisors who are unavailable or lacked time for supervision (or while in
supervision allowed disruptions, or otherwise seemed distracted).
• Supervisors who lack expertise, or discussed their own work too much.
• Supervisors who are apathetic, lazy or uncommitted to the profession.
• Supervisees feeling that the supervisor did not trust them.
• Supervisors who ignore conflicts within the supervisee/supervisor relationship.
• Supervisors who are uninterested in self training to improve their own
supervisory skills.
• Supervisors who are morally and/or ethically corrupt.

Traits of an Ineffective Supervisor
• Unbalanced Supervision
• Supervisors not covering all elements of the supervisory experience such as
too much focus on administrative duties, not enough focus on clinical duties.
• Focusing too much on details to the exclusion of larger themes.
• Developmentally Inappropriate Supervision
• Not being sensitive to the developmental needs of the supervisee.
• Showing intolerance of differences.
• Not allowing the supervisee to have separate views or styles from the
supervisor.
• Supervisors who are authoritarian, encouraging conformity, punishing
divergence from the ‘party line’.
• Too much or too little affirming and corrective feedback.
• Overemphasis on the shortcomings of the supervisee without giving a balanced
approach.

Some Central Principles of Supervision
• Supervision is a central part of all social service programs and all
State licensure requirements.
• Supervision can help enhance staff retention & morale.
• Everyone has a right and a need for supervision (even if licensure
states you don’t need supervision anymore, i.e., end licensure
professionals).
• Supervisors need the support of agency administrators.
• The supervisory relationship is the environment in which ethical
practice is developed and reinforced.
• Supervision is a skill in and of itself that has to be developed.
• Supervision requires balance between administrative and clinical
tasks.

Central Principles of Supervision
 Culture and other contextual variables influence the supervisory
process.
 Successful implementation of EBP’s requires ongoing supervision.
 Supervisors are responsible as gatekeepers to the profession.

Suggestions For Novice Supervisors
 Learn the agency policy and procedures, as well as HR procedures
as quickly as possible.
 Request a 3 month “settling in” period in which you are allowed to
learn about your new role and develop your supervisory style.
 Learn about your supervisees during this time.
 Learn methods for assisting staff to reduce stress, resolve conflicts,
deal with competing priorities, etc.
 Obtain training in supervisory methods.
 Find a mentor.
 Shadow a supervisor you respect to help you learn the ropes.
 Ask often “How am I doing?” “How can I improve?”
 Have regular weekly meetings with your administrator.

Suggestions For Novice Supervisors
 Remember one of the principle reasons for supervision is to ensure
quality services are provided, “to protect the welfare of the client and
the integrity of the clinical services”.
 Supervision has a primary focus on the relationship.
 Utilize your sense of humor and to role model that everyone makes
mistakes.
 Model taking care of yourself spiritually, emotionally, mentally and
physically.

Factors involved in high-quality
Supervision
Disclosure with Supervisors
• Essential to effective supervision is the ability to establish a good supervisory
alliance, with trust and communication.
• Supervisory disclosures directly influence the emotional bond component of the
supervisory alliance by communicating trust.
• Supervisor self-disclosures may model and encourage supervisee self-disclosures.
• Common areas of supervisory non-disclosures: negative reactions to supervisors,
personal issues, evaluation concerns, clinical mistakes, and general clinical
observations.
• Common reasons given for non-disclosures: supervisee viewed the information as
unimportant, too personal, involving feelings that were too negative or feared that the
supervisory alliance was not strong.
• Most common area of supervisor non-disclosure – negative reactions to the
supervisee’s professional (clinical and/or administrative) performance. This is most
often withheld b/c of supervisee professional or personal readiness for the feedback.

Supervision
Mentoring
• Mentoring is usually a separate relationship from the supervisory relationship, though
it has been perceived by many supervisees as stemming from the supervisory
relationship.
• The mentor is somebody who provides the protégé with knowledge, advice,
challenge, counsel, and support in the protégé’s pursuit of becoming a full member of
a particular profession.
• The mentor serves as a teacher, adviser, and role model.
• Mentoring is distinguished from supervision by virtue of its volitional quality (i.e., it is
typically sought out by the protégé), lack of an evaluative or legal component
associated with supervision, and a longer duration.
• Supervisees who reported having mentors tended to advance more rapidly in their
careers, reported enhanced professional identity development and career satisfaction

Supervision
Conflict Resolution – three areas of conflicts:
• Conflicts over style of supervision – (direction and support given)
• Conflicts over theoretical orientation or therapeutic approach – (occurring
more often and not as easy to come to a resolution)
• Conflicts over personality issues between the supervisor and supervisee –
(most frequently reported and most difficult to resolve)
• Key element reported in high quality supervision was that supervisors
identified problems and initiated discussion of them.
• Another key element was how the supervisor responded to complaints,
responded to the supervisees raising issues of conflict, or responded to
negative feedback by the supervisee. Negative, angry responses from
supervisors = bad.

Exercise – Supervision Self
Assessment
Please answer the following questions as honestly as possible, and be
prepared to discuss your answers in the large group.
1. What do I believe about how change occurs for people?
2. What are the crucial variables in training and supervision?
3. How do I measure success in supervision?
4. How do I contribute to that success?
5. What is the hardest type of person to effectively supervise? Why?
6. What is the easiest type of person to effectively supervise? Why?

Essential Supervisor Qualities
• Clinical Skills and Expertise.
• Supervisors must believe they have something of value to impart
on others, and must possess the qualities of a good clinician.
• Those who stop seeing clients can: become too distant from the
action, lose their clinical edge, and can forfeit their credibility as
counselors.
• Through continued client contact, supervisors can stay up to date
on current clinical thinking and retain credibility among
supervisees.

Essential Supervisor Qualities
• Passion for Counseling
• Supervisors need a passion for the job … that is one needs to
continue to have the desire to help the person needing help and
the belief that one can make an impact on people’s lives.
• Passion brings out the following qualities in a supervisor: they
challenge, inspire, enable, model, and encourage more. This
passion inspires supervisees to exhibit the same type of passion
for their jobs.
• How to maintain one’s passion?

Organizational/Profession Qualities
• Does the organization you currently work for support the need for
clinical supervision?
• Is management supportive of the training/developmental needs of
their clinical staff and of their supervisory staff?
• What is the political milieu of the community in which you work?
The County? The State? Are their opportunities or obstacles that
come from these sources?

Program Development & Quality Assurance
• Program Development Methods
• Long Range Planning
• Goal of long range planning is to develop areas of program
development.
• Phase 1: Needs assessment. Brainstorming sessions that
should include all levels of staff board members.
• Phase 2: Organizing raw brainstorming data into aggregate areas
of programmatic and administrative focus for the organization.
For example at HDAP our Long Range Plan is culled into 7 areas:
1) Services Delivery; 2) Agency Operations: Personnel; 3)
Agency Operations: Financial; 4) Marketing and Communications;
5) Alliances and Affiliations; 6) Governance; and 7) Funding
Source. Development and Fundraising

• Program Development Methods
• Services Delivery
• Services Delivery should identify assessed program needs and develop a
long range plan to improve and monitor clinical services and overall
program development.
• Services Delivery should cover the agency’s for client engagement,
enhancing access, and retention in treatment. Outcomes measures for
these areas should be developed or, if developed, monitored by quality
assurance committee/personnel.
• Services Delivery should cover the agency’s clinical practice guidelines.
Which type of clinical services are offered, are they science based/best
practice services and methods of delivering services (e.g., utilizing
motivational interviewing).
• Clinical supervisor should understand concepts of clinical fidelity and
adaptability when running prevention/clinical services (how closely should
the programming be adhered to, how much flexibility do staff have within
a program to adapt to the original designer’s intended design).

• Quality Assurance
• Long Range Plan, QA guidelines and areas:
• Long Range Plan (and policies/procedures) should have the outline for
the development (and implementation of) professional quality assurance
guidelines.
• Quality assurance policies should outline guidelines, forms, and
instruments to monitor client outcomes, clinical performance, client
satisfaction.
• Samples of different QA policies could include, but not limited to:
Admission policy, Assessment tools, Client Care, Co-occurring Client
Needs, Discharge Planning, Medication, Urine Monitoring, Client
Satisfaction, Mission and/or Vision Statement, Sanitation and Infection
Control, Program Development, Staffing, Training, Treatment Philosophy,
Treatment Planning, Security, Staff Credentialing, Client Termination, just
to name a few. 

• Quality Assurance
• QA advocacy and affiliations:
• Supervisors must advocate for the target client population, which could
include advocating within the program and throughout the entire
continuum of care.
• Supervisors must maintain relationships with referral sources and other
community programs in order to maintain, expand, enhance, and expedite
services delivery.
• HDAP Long Range Plan Affiliation Statement Plan: “To maintain current
and develop new alliances and affiliations with other Hunterdon County
organizations in order to enhance service delivery and to maintain HDAP
as an integral part of substance abuse service delivery in Hunterdon
County. Such affiliations will also to eliminate any potential redundancy in
services offered, to maximize the effective use of public funds.”

SUGGESTED STEPS IN ESTABLISHING A
REFERRAL NETWORK
1. Identify all potential service needs of the client population and
categorize them. Be comprehensive.
2. Identify reliable resources within the region. Possible sources of
information include resource directories, referral lists from
community service programs, local health units, colleagues, etc.
3. Decide which agencies are appropriate to work with as referral
resources.

SUGGESTED STEPS IN ESTABLISHING A
REFERRAL NETWORK
4. Approach each agency:

• Identify the appropriate person to contact.
• Find out if a letter of introduction is appropriate.
• Set up a meeting, if appropriate.
• Learn the agency's policies and procedures, i.e., know their norms
and forms. If an initial meeting is not appropriate, simply visit the
agency and observe.
- Select agencies which are sensitive to clients' gender,
race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc., and the financial
needs of the client population.
- Discuss the specific needs of the client which have to be
met and the demographics of the client population.

SUGGESTED STEPS IN
ESTABLISHING A REFERRAL
NETWORK
5. Each agency selected for the referral network should be listed with
similar, standard information.
- Name, address, hours of availability, phone numbers
- What services are provided
- Experience with special populations (e.g., developmentally
disabled, PLWA, MICA)
- Appointment needed; waiting list
- Cost, e.g., sliding scale for self-pay, etc.
- Insurance accepted
- Staffing - MDs, RNs, counselors, etc.

SUGGESTED STEPS IN
NETWORK
6. Upon follow-up, evaluate the agency's ability to help the client.
Answer the following questions:
- Did the agency meet the client's needs in a timely fashion?
- What obstacles hindered the agency from assisting the client?
- What were the results of your advocacy efforts?
- Was the client satisfied with the service?
7. If possible, develop a system for periodic visits, literature
exchanges and on-going monitoring and evaluation of services.
Also, insure that the referral list information and contact people are
current. The referral list should be updated periodically.
Adapted from DOH/AIDS Institute Pre-and Post-Test Counselor Manual.

SUGGESTED STEPS IN
NETWORK
 Developing Contacts
- Every meeting, conference and training is a networking
opportunity.
- For every agency to which you routinely refer, you should
identify and develop a personal relationship with one
contact person. That is the person you call when a client is in
need of that organizations’ services.
- Take every opportunity to meet people in the field, and ask
for their business card. Always carry your business cards
on you.
- After you meet someone and get their card, give them a call
within a week to get some information about their agency.

Networking at Work
Networking at Work
 Build outward, not inward. Don't waste time deepening connections with people
you already know. Get in touch with people in other teams or business units.
 Go for diversity, not size. Rather than aiming for a massive network, build an
efficient one. This requires knowing people who are different from you, and from one
another.
 Go beyond familiar faces. Identify the "hubs" in your company—people who've
worked on a variety of teams and projects—and ask them to connect you to others.

Social Networking – Why Do It?
Here are a few reasons that come to mind around why therapists might be socially
networking.
 Reconnect and stay connected to friends.
 Get connected to other therapists to share resources.
 Expand your network and resources for your clients.
 Help develop a secondary business alongside your private practice.
 Help build your private practice.

Social Networking – Policy Decisions
 Feel free to be on social network like Facebook or Twitter. But do not “friend” your
clients and do not allow your clients to “friend” you.
 Develop a social media policy. Share it with your patients and ensure they
understand its highlights in session. Even if you don’t use or intend to use any of
these tools, you should nonetheless have a social media policy that states as much.
 Anything that is publicly available online is food for thought. If a client has a public
blog or journal, the client should be aware that their therapist may be reading it.
 Setting and maintaining clear boundaries is always the hallmark of a professional
therapeutic relationship. Let such boundaries always guide your decision making
with any new online tool or technology.
 Share your decisions with your patients up-front.

Social Networking – Large Group Exercise
 What are your thoughts on social networking?
 Are you on Facebook, if so what is your Facebook address … ah just kidding!
 Are you on Twitter, why/why not?
 Are you on Linkedin, why/why not?
 Have you had any problems with social networking as it relates to your clients, if so
how did you handle the problems?
 My social networking: http://www.linkedin.com/in/glennduncan
 http://www.twitter.com/hdapnj
 http://www.facebook.com/hdapnj
 1 personal/profesional, two business related.

Advocacy
 Advocacy is the logical extension of quality treatment planning,
linking, coordination and monitoring in that these four functions
provide the case manager with the information to determine what
barriers and gaps in services are encountered by the client when
"choosing, accessing or using service providers."
 Two categories of advocacy are common in case management
practice: client or case advocacy and class advocacy.
- Client advocacy refers to those activities that are undertaken
on behalf of a specific client.
- Class advocacy refers to those activities that demand changes
in "systems or service programs" to meet the needs of the
larger consumer population.

Advocacy Tactics
Adversarial tactics may result in:
 A disruption of service to the client which would jeopardize the
treatment plan.
 Loss of a beneficial working relationship between providers.
 Loss of any special considerations that may have been formally or
informally negotiated in the past.

Advocacy Tactics
Collaborative tactics may result in:
 Collaborative working relationship between providers.
 Less stress and a more pleasant work atmosphere for case
manager and clients.
 Services for clients which may be more integrated and smoothly
functioning.
 Sharing of needed resources among providers.
The ability to educate, persuade, bargain and negotiate
in a non-confrontational manner is integral to quality
advocacy.

Implementing Clinical Supervision vs.
Organizational Readiness
• What are the goals of the organization? To what extent does staff
understand and match these goals?
• What is the organization’s formal and informal hierarchical structure? Who
makes decisions? How are these decisions made? How open is the
organization to ensure that all staff are respected and treated as valuable
members of the clinical team?
• What systems for continuing staff education and training are in place? How
sound and effective is the staff performance appraisal system? What are
staff’s opportunities for growth and professional development?
• What are the organization’s current challenges (staffing, management,
financial)?

Implementing Clinical Supervision vs.
Organizational Readiness
• What are the staff’s current levels of proficiency (attitudes, skills, and
knowledge)?
• What resources (time, financial) are available to implement a clinical
supervision system? What additional resources are needed?
• What are the State licensure regulations regarding the minimal
requirements for supervision and how do these regulations compare to
what exists within the organization?
• How aware is the organization of the need for clinical supervision? To what
extent has management considered this need? Has a plan of action been
designed as yet? What stage of implementation is the plan? What
resources are available/needed to maintain the implementation plan?

Clinical Practice Improvement
Steps to ensure continuous improvement in clinical practice and supervision
• Improvement Cycle. Have supervisors and clinical faculty teams take a look at what
areas of clinical and supervisory practice needs to be improved. Areas deemed
weak are areas where improvements can start. The areas identified will go through
process guidance, process monitoring, and outcomes management.
• Process Guidance. The development of clinical and supervisory practice guidelines
in the areas deemed as clinical and/or supervisory weaknesses.
• Process Monitoring. Developing structured process monitoring methods. These
methods must be specific to the needs of the weaknesses and allow for feedback, so
that when fed back, prompt adjustments to supervision and clinical practice can
occur.
• Outcomes Management. Standardized methods of performance benchmarks which
are upheld by supervisors and administration consistently, for the most effective use
of empirical data.

SWOTT Analysis
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats
• Trends

SWOTT Analysis Group Exercise
1. How does Clinical Supervision look at your organization currently?
2. How would you like to change this current status?
3. Utilize a SWOTT Analysis on an organization of one of your group
members. You will cover the strengths that exist currently, the
weaknesses that exist, the opportunities exist, the threats to
implementing change, and any general trends that exist in the
milieu of our field.
4. Using this SWOTT analysis, what sticks out as an outline to
potential change within your organization?

How to Maintain One’s Passion
1. Stay focused on the client: remember that the client is the whole
reason we are in this field, and the whole reason for all counseling
and most supervisory activities.
2. Find Balance and Variety in Life: by taking care of oneself, by
having interests outside of work, we can maintain a perspective on
our work so that it is not so consuming and setbacks are not so
devastating.
3. Provide for diversity and fun on the job: Everyone needs to take
risks, seek out new challenges, take on different types of cases,
learn through study, reading and training experiences. Maintaining
fun on the job is also an important characteristic.

7 Suggestions for Maintaining Passion and
Stamina
1. Selectivity: Selectivity refers to the practice of intentional choice and focus
in daily activities and long-term endeavors. It means setting limits on what
one can and cannot do and, in the process, being deliberate in one's tasks
and purposeful in one's mission. Careful choices about what is and what is
not possible or doable in client scheduling and treatment planning,
therefore, assist in cultivating and maintaining counselor stamina.
2. Temporal Sensitivity: This implies that time is not only something to be
managed or manipulated well (e.g., working within deadlines, arriving to
and ending counseling sessions "on time"), but also something that is
viewed realistically and respectfully. This means viewing time as a precious
commodity as well as a collaborator rather than as an adversary. Stamina is
promoted and maintained when counselors are sensitive to the realistic or
natural limits of time and seek to work cooperatively and respectfully within
such limits.

7 Suggestions for Maintaining Passion and
Stamina
3. Accountability: Accountability-and credibility-refers to respecting
and working within professional guidelines, upholding ethical
standards, and the ability to explain and defend one's actions based
on practice consistent with theory and research findings. Without
the use of such maps or compasses, the practitioner relinquishes
his or her professional competence and jeopardizes client welfare.

7 Suggestions for Maintaining Stamina
4. Measurement and Management: This ingredient of counselor stamina stipulates that
the counselor makes conscientious, careful, and ongoing efforts to conserve and
protect those resources he or she values. In addition to time, these resources might
include:
- objects (e.g., certificate, award, books)
- conditions (e.g., rewarding work, quality intimate relationship, ethical
boundaries)
- personal characteristics (e.g., thoughtful, hopeful, assertive, leadership skills)
- energies (e.g., income, specialized knowledge, stamina)
• Stress can occur when these resources are threatened or lost, or when investments
are made that do not reap the anticipated level of return.
• One method for cultivating and preserving resources is to identify and consult with at
least one trusted colleague on a regular basis, one who can serve as a confidant and
supporter.
• In addition to seeking on-the-job support, measuring and managing off-duty time and
activities seems to be crucial for enhancing stamina. One Study reported that 64% of
the mental health professionals who responded to a survey stated that focusing their
attention on family and friends or hobbies rather than on the job was the primary
coping strategy used to combat job stress and burnout.

5. Inquisitiveness: A certain degree of inquisitiveness concerning the
complexities of human configurations and a desire to participate in
meaningful conversations with others are regarded, by some, as essential
for helping professionals.
• Cultivating and sustaining stamina, therefore, involves a disposition of
wonder or curiosity about human behavior and the unique experiences of
individuals.
• A second dimension of Burnout, as defined by the Maslach Burnout
Inventory (MBI) is depersonalization. This refers to "an unfeeling and
impersonal response toward recipients of one's service, care, treatment, or
instruction".
• In addition to being curious about client experiences and the adventure of
counseling, counselor stamina involves a curiosity about developments in
the profession of counseling and the general psychotherapy field, and an
intentional pursuit or study of such developments.

6. Negotiation: One’s ability to be flexible, to engage in give and take,
without "giving in."
• In addition, clinical and other professional decisions and actions are
purposeful (or well grounded); informed by standards of care,
theory, and research; and not conducted haphazardly or arbitrarily.
• Understood in another way, counselors need to be responsive to
and cooperate with others, while simultaneously remaining
steadfast to and upholding certain values, guidelines, or standards.

7. Acknowledgment of Agency: In this context agency refers to something
much different: an intangible, dynamic force; the "life blood" of a person;
and the trait or condition whereby instrumentality (or one's purpose) is
manifested.
• In this sense, agency may be likened to intrinsic motivation, "the inherent
tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise one's
capacities, to explore, and to learn”.
• A counselor's acknowledgment of agency, therefore, suggests that in the
midst of challenging and often stressful work, the practitioner is able to look
for, catch sight of, and make use of the undeniably persistent strength,
resourcefulness, and will of the human spirit (within the practitioner and
within his or her clients).
• Acknowledgment of agency, therefore, honors, affirms, and cultivates the
common and ordinary adaptive resources within clients and uses
practitioner self-efficacy.

The MBI Surveys address three general scales:
• The MBI-Human Services Survey measures burnout as it manifests itself
in staff members in human services institutions and health care occupations
such as nursing, social work, psychology, and ministry.
1. Emotional exhaustion measures feelings of being emotionally overextended and
exhausted by one's work.
2. Depersonalization measures an unfeeling and impersonal response toward recipients of
one's service, care treatment, or instruction.
3. Personal accomplishment measures feelings of competence and successful achievement
in one's work.
If you (the supervisor) feel burnout in any of these areas, you
should immediately seek supervision and/or consultation in order
to evaluate one’s personal needs for training/education, receive
and discuss feedback on supervisory job performance, and
implement your own professional development plan.

Turning Stress into an Asset
 Recognize worry for what it is. Stress is a feeling, not a sign of
dysfunction. When you start to worry, realize it's an indication that you care
about something, not a cause
for panic.
 Focus on what you can control. Too many people feel bad about things
they simply can't change. Remember what you can affect and what you can't.
 Create a supportive network. Knowing you have somebody to turn to can
help a lot. Build relationships so that you have people to rely on in times of
stress.

Exercise – Maintaining One’s Passion
• What steps do you take to “take care of yourself”, what are some of
your other interests outside of the job?
• What are some of the things you do to prevent burnout?
• How do you contribute to providing a fun atmosphere on the job?
If you don’t, why not?

Learning Objectives for Supervisors
1. Advanced knowledge in mental health, alcoholism/drug abuse,
demonstrated by completion of advanced training or academic
study in a graduate degree program in the behavioral sciences.
2. Familiarity with a variety of treatment approaches used in the
mental health, alcoholism/drug abuse field.
3. Operational experience with a variety of treatment approaches used
in the mental health and alcoholism/drug abuse field.
4. Operational knowledge of emerging technologies as they impact
and can be used in the therapeutic and supervisory relationship.
5. Familiarity with models of clinical supervision and ability to compare
these models.

5. Ability to articulate one’s own model of clinical supervision and to relate it
to one’s model of counseling.
6. Knowledge and skills in clinical supervision, demonstrated by a statement
of philosophy of clinical supervision, attendance at training in supervision,
and familiarity with a variety of models of supervision. Skills to be
demonstrated include familiarity with various methods of oversight and
intervention (such as phone-ins, audio or videotaping, bug-in-the-ear, or
one-way mirror).
7. Affective qualities necessary to establish an educational, consultative,
supportive, and therapeutic relationship with a supervisee.
8. Ability to deal with a supervisee’s psychological and emotional issues,
especially with respect to recovery and personal growth processes, as they
relate to the supervisee’s work.

8. Advanced skills in the evaluation of supervisee’s skills and in the ability to
communicate that evaluation to supervisees. Providing criticism in a
constructive, educational, and therapeutic manner is an essential skill in
supervision.
9. Understand and use of pharmacological interventions and interactions for
both mental health and substance related disorders. Understanding
which pharmacological interventions could have a negative
synergistic impact with clients who have co-occurring problems (e.g., the
use of addictive benzodiazepines by a client with co-occurring anxiety and
substance use issues)
10. Understand the limitations and appropriateness of assessment and
evaluation tools utilized in the mental health and addiction fields.

Leadership vs. Management vs. Supervision
• To establish trust with co-workers and subordinates
• To serve as the team leader.
• To define and set departmental and organizational goals and communicate
these goals companywide.
• To inspire staff by encouragement and motivation.
• To communicate enthusiasm and capability.
• To keep up staff morale, including one’s own.
• To take appropriate risks and to be decisive in action.
• To possess the ability to change in response to the needs of the
organization and marketplace.
• To have vision, drive, clear judgment, initiative, poise, and maturity of
character.
• To command enthusiasm, loyalty, sincerity, courtesy, and confidence.
• To exercise control through inspiration rather than command.

• To get work done through staff.
• To make effective use of departmental resources.
• To get results in achieving stated goals and objectives.
• To control through command.
• To identify, analyze, and solve problems.
• To adapt to change and the growing needs of the organization.
• To organize work as needed to get the job done.
• To intervene to bring about positive results.
• To see all aspects of operations.

• To know the responsibilities of staff.
• To communicate clearly these responsibilities to staff.
• To utilize effectively the performance appraisal system to get
maximum productivity of staff.
• To write clear job descriptions for all staff.
• To manage time effectively for oneself and staff.
• To delegate responsibilities of all staff.
• To promote employees’ professional development.
“The superior leader gets things done with very little motion. He imparts instruction
not through many words but through a few deeds. He keeps informed about
everything, but interferes hardly at all. He is a catalyst, and although things would
not get done as well if he were not there, when they succeed he takes no credit.
Because he takes no credit, credit never leaves him.” – Lao-tsu, 6th
Century B.C.

• Grade your Leadership Style, Management Style, Supervision Style by
giving each point on the previous 3 slides a numeric grade for each bullet
point on that slide.
• A = 5 B = 4 C = 3 D = 2 F = 1
• Add these numbers up and divide by the number of bullet points on
each slide.
• Leadership Slide (1st
Slide of 3) = 11 Bullet Points
• Management Slide (2nd
• Supervision Slide (3rd
• You do not have to share this grade with anybody else.
• Write down one point from each slide that you need to improve on (if more
than one, choose the one you need to improve the most). Be prepared to
discuss why you chose this point, and what steps you can take to start
improving on this skill.

Parallel Process
• Parallel process, a concept borne out of the psychoanalytic movement,
becomes evident in that the transference-countertransference
interaction that takes place in the therapy session, reoccurs in the
transference-countertransference interaction between the supervisor
and supervisee.
• For example, a supervisee comes into supervision feeling powerless to
help the client enact any change. After discussion of the client the
supervisor finds out that the client recently has told the counselor that
he is more depressed, and has hopeless that his situation will ever
change.
• Parallel process is seen as a two way concept, in other words, the
process could start in the supervision dyad and transfer to the therapy
dyad by means of the therapist acting out situations in supervision in the
therapeutic process.

Parallel Process Exercise
You are the clinical director in the agency described in the consultation
exercise. You and your executive director have decided to hire back
this employee (Frank, the one who felt discriminated against and who
felt abused by the former clinical supervisor). This worker has taken on
a coordinator position within the company and now has a supervisory
capacity within the program in which he works.
After 8 months on the job, a staff member approaches you stating that
she has concerns about Frank. This staff member also had problems
with the previous clinical director and felt abused by this previous
clinical director, the same way Frank did. Given this employee’s hyper-
sensitivity to abusive supervisory relationships, she feels compelled to
tell you about Frank’s supervisee who has come to her with allegations
of abuse by Frank.

The staff person stated that this supervisee (whom that staff person
has befriended and sees outside of work) has come to her and told
her that Frank is an abusive supervisor. This staff person has grave
concerns about Frank and wants the situation resolved, especially if
Frank is to supervise other people in the future.
You finally speak to the supervisee Ellen (as she has hesitated to
come to you even though you have given her an open door policy).
She comes to you alleging abuses of power (stating that she
sometimes feels like an intern or a client, and Frank often comments
that he has the ability to control the destiny of her future employment),
and abuses of trust (Frank will change rules set up between them, will
dismiss her point of view). Ellen stated that on a scale of 1 to 10, she
feels the abuse is a 9. She stated supervision is traumatic, and Ellen
is feeling anxiety and depression in supervision with Frank.

Besides your initial reaction of wanting to shoot yourself for making
the decision to hire Frank back in the first place, you start to see the
parallel process happening in this situation, occurring on 2 different
levels. The first level is Frank, sensitive to being in an abusive
supervisory relationship has apparently helped to recreate a
perceived supervisory relationship. The second is the organizational
process of repeating the trauma that has occurred in the past.
Fighting your desire throw up your hands to say “ah just forget it” and
start perusing the Sunday Star Ledger, you need to take action on
this situation.

Parallel Process Exercise Questions
1. What actions need to be taken with Ellen and Frank?
2. Are there any other actions that need to be taken with other staff
members, or within the organization as a whole? If so what would you
do at this point?
3. How can you avoid repeating the process that played itself out
previously in this organization?

Bibliography
• Bernard, J. M. & Goodyear, R. K. (2009). Fundamentals of Clinical Supervision, 3rd
Ed. Allyn
and Bacon, Boston, MA.
• Brooks, L. (2011). Therapists, why are you social networking? Pychcentral.com
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/05/15/therapists-why-are-you-using-social-networking
Accessed 09/16/11.
• Cape, J. & Barkham, M. (2002). Practice improvement methods: Conceptual base, evidence-
based research, and practice-based recommendations. British Journal of Clinical Psychology,
41, pp. 285-307.
• Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. (2009). Clinical Supervision of the Substance Abuse
Counselor. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 52. (HHS Publication No. SMA 09-
4435). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
• Falender, C. A. & Shafranske, E. P. (2004). Clinical Supervision: A Competency-Based
Approach. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
• Grohol, J.M. (2011). Google and Facebook, Therapists and Clients, Pychcentral.com
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/03/31/google-and-facebook-therapists-and-clients
Accessed 09/16/11.

Bibliography
• Hepworth, D., Rooney, R. H., & Larsen, J. A. (1996). Direct Social Work Practice:
Theory And Skills (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
• Maslach, C. & Jackson, S. (1986). Maslach Burnout Inventory. California,
Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Osborn, C. J. (2004). Seven salutary suggestions for counselor stamina. Journal of
Counseling and Development, 82(3), pp. 319-328.
• Powell, D. J. (2008) Implementing a Clinical Supervision System, Counselor
Magazine.
http://www.counselormagazine.com/columns-mainmenu-55/44-clinical-supervision/791-imp
• Powell, D. J. & Brodsky, A. (2004). Clinical Supervision in Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Counseling. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA.

LPC Core Issues in Effective Clinical Supervision

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