Jeff Chang, Ph.D, R.Psych. Assistant Professor Graduate Centre for Applied Psychology

1. Developing Your Unique Approach to Clinical Supervision: The Contextual-Functional Meta-FrameworkAmerican Mental Health Counselors’ Association, Orlando, FL Jeff Chang, Ph.D, R.Psych. Assistant Professor Graduate Centre for Applied Psychology Athabasca University jeffc@athabascau.ca

2. Calgary, Alberta, Canada

3. Questions Show of hands: currently supervising? consider yourself a new-ish supervisor? consider yourself an experienced supervisor? had a course in supervision? read a book on supervision?

4. Think About Your “best” supervisee/supervision experience Your “worst” supervisee/supervision experience Constrains (formal and informal) of your setting/context Your biggest strength as a supervisor Your biggest weakness as a supervisor How this presentation can help Your best hopes for this presentation

5. The Contextual-Functional Meta-Framework: Developing Your Unique Approach to Clinical Supervision Developed inductively over 20 years of supervision practice in different contexts, supervising supervisees of different theoretical orientations, experience levels, and disciplines

6. Definition of Supervision Definition of supervision: Sustained, purposeful interaction between a more proficient practitioner and a less proficient practitioner undertaken to support the clinical and professional development of the latter, and directly and indirectly improve clinical effectiveness. • Supervision is a core competency in doctoral programs in professional psychology, counseling, MFT • I assert that one cannot be a fully effective clinician if one does not master basic administrative tasks

7. Definition of Supervision • This definition assumes that clinical and administrative supervision cannot be separated. • Tromski-Klingshirn & Davis (2007): Supervisees generally did not experience it as problematic when clinical and administrative supervision are conducted by the same person. • Those who did mainly said it was a function of the person. • Policies are ethical or accountability needs, operationalized.

8. Standing on the Shoulders of… I’ve been influenced by several approaches to supervision and therapist development. These provided ideas that I have used with more or less utility, and that have stimulated reflection. Developmental/stage models: • Most prominent (IDM) (Stoltenberg, 2005) has focused largely on the student and pre-licensure years • Three developmental stages in pre-licensed therapists, and a “Integrated” level that aggregates a wide range of career stages.

9. Standing on the Shoulders of… • Summerill (1998) found that supervisors do pretty much the same thing with all supervisees irrespective of supervisees’ purported developmental stage. • Themes and stages of counsellor development (Skovholt & Rønnestad, 1995; Rønnestad & Skovholt, 2003; see also see Goodyear, Wertheimer, Cypers, & Rosemond, 2003). • Take-away: supervisees have different needs over time.

10. Standing on the Shoulders of… Discrimination Model (Bernard, 1997) • Intervention, conceptualization, and personalization skills • Teacher, counselor, consultant • Parsimonious • Implicitly geared toward the student and prelicensure years Systemic Approach to Supervision (Holloway, 1995) • Tasks: counseling skill, case conceptualization, professional role, emotional awareness, self-evaluation • Functions: monitoring/evaluating, instructing/advising, modeling, consulting, supporting/sharing

11. Standing on the Shoulders of… • addresses the complexity of supervision, and administrative/organizational context Common factors approach: • Lambropolis (2002); Morgan & Sprenkle (2007) • The latter make three key distinctions: • Clinical competence vs. professional competence (emphasis) • Idiosyncratic vs. general (needs of supervisee or profession) • Collaborative vs. directive (relationship)

12. Standing on the Shoulders of… Model-based approaches • Using ideas from one’s chosen model of therapy has historically been an intuitively- supported modus operandi • Have had their historical moment, this has passed. • Don’t reflect typical community practice; most of our supervisees don’t come to learn a specific (“my”) model, little development in last 15 years.

13. Standing on the Shoulders of… • Watkins (1995b, p. 570): “Psychotherapy-based models of supervision have generally shown… stability over the last 25-30 years, with… no truly new therapy-based theories of supervision emerging and… existing therapy-based theories showing limited changes or revisions….” • One exception is the narrative approach to training and supervision (Winslade, Crocket, Monk, & Drewery, 2000).

14. Competency profiles: • MFT: • Nelson, Chenail, Alexander, et al. (2007). • Psychology: • Kaslow, Grus, Campbell, Fouad, Hatcher, & Rodolfa (2009); Rodolfa, Bent, Eisman, Nelson, Rehm, & Ritchie (2005) • Counseling: • CACREP (2009) • Task Group for Counsellor Regulation in British Columbia (2007)

15. The Meta-Framework • Orienting to six factors that I believe form the basis of supervision: • We attend to these six factors, explicitly, or implicitly already. It would be better if we attended to these factors intentionally. • Clarity and intentionality of functions • Premise: Clarify how you will operationalize each of these six factors and you will have your personal approach to supervision • To paraphrase Steve de Shazer: “I’m not here to teach you how to supervise. You’re already doing it. I’m here to help you be comfortable with, and understand what you’re doing.”

16. The Model

17. Six Factors • Administrative Context • Culture Infused Supervisory Working Alliance • Functions • Theory of Change • The Therapist-Client Supervisor System • Stage of Therapist Development

18. Administrative Context Orienting question: “To whom do I owe my allegiance?” • AGS Commission Model (Salamon, Grevelius, & Andersson, 1993) • Presented commission > hypothetical commission • Primary commission vs. secondary commission • Secondary commissions must fall within the primary commission • With whom have I contracted? • Who is paying the bill? • What do they expect me to do? • Does what I’m doing fall within my primary commission?

19. Administrative Context The AGS Commission Model impacts these areas: • Contracting for supervision goals • Informed consent • Confidentiality • Varying levels of vulnerability • A disclosure of interest While we, as supervisors, are always concerned with the development of supervisees, we must keep in mind where our primary allegiance lies

20. Vignette Keenan, a predoctoral intern in clinical psychology, was doing a rotation in a forensic assessment unit, where he was being trained to conduct assessments to ascertain if an accused is competent to stand trial, or make recommendations on sentencing. He felt his therapeutic skills were not being well-used, wanted to do more to develop them. He asked his supervisor, Dr. Law, if he could begin some therapy groups. She told him that that was outside of the mandate of the unit, but she would be happy to work with him to apply his therapeutic skills like engagement and questioning to his assessment work.

21. Administrative Context Discussion question: Consider a situation in which a supervisee required correction, or even dismissal. How did you balance your obligation to the supervisee, the profession, and your employer?

22. Culture Infused Supervisory Working Alliance Orienting question: “Can the supervisory relationship support the intervention?” • Conceptualizing the working alliance: • SFT’s ideas of “visiting,” “complainant,” and “customer” relationships… working alliance is the manifestation of an interactional pattern • Prochaska and di Clemente’s Transtheoretical Model of Change (stages of change) • Obtain feedback on the working alliance Discussion question: Reflect on a supervisee whose motivation was uneven. How did you “hook” his/her motivation? How did you learn what the supervisee was motivated for?

23. Vignette Lawrence, a clinical social worker, was supervising several licensure interns in a family service agency, using a combination of live supervision from behind a one-way mirror, and case consultation. He noticed that one of his supervisees, Anna, seemed to be simply nodding and agreeing with him a great deal, but did not seem to be engaged in the content of his feedback….

24. Vignette … Wondering if he was fitting his supervision practice with her needs, he asked her directly how she experienced their supervisory alliance. She replied, “It’s funny you should mention that. I’ve been a little frustrated with supervision lately – you are always so positive, and I need some concrete ideas about what to do a lot of the time.” Lawrence and Anna went on to renegotiate their supervision contract, based on specific skill development needs, including when she would find a call-in during live supervision helpful.

25. Culture Infused Supervisory Working Alliance • “Culture-Infused Counselling” approach (Arthur & Collins, 2010) urges counsellors to: • Be culturally self-aware. • Appreciate the cultural identity of supervisees • Develop a culturally competent working alliance • In this model, culture is not a theoretical abstraction; the rubber meets the road in the supervisory relationship • An ecology of ideas (beliefs and world view) and interaction between supervisor and supervisee

26. Vignette Dr. Khalil is a Jordanian-Canadian Muslim MFT supervising Kelly, a master’s practicum student. At their initial meeting, Dr. Khalil stood up, placed his hand over his heart, and graciously bowed toward Kelly. He explained that it is contrary to his religious convictions to shake hands with women, and that his gesture is a way for him to express his respect for women. This opened a conversation about how they each position themselves culturally, and conceptualize gender in their respective approaches to therapy.

27. Functions Orienting question: “When should I do what?” • Some functions will not be used with some supervisees: determined by context. • Morgan & Sprenkle’s (2007) three key distinctions: • Clinical competence vs. professional competence (emphasis) • Idiosyncratic vs. general (needs of supervisee or profession) • Collaborative vs. directive (relationship) • Not a bad way to think about things, but finer distinctions are required to ensure that supervisors are clear as to where their primary allegiance lies

28. Functions Clinical educator: • Teaching concepts and theories (conceptual skills; Tomm & Wright, 1979) • Assisting supervisees to clarify their theories of counselling and them to make their practice consistent with their theory • Challenging supervisees’ assumptions, deconstructing supervisees’ theories • Teaching supervisees to “know what to look for” (perceptual skills; Tomm & Wright, 1979) • Utilizing ideas outside of “therapy” – art, literature, philosophy Discussion question: What are some of your best practices to encourage theoretical clarity in your supervisees?

29. Vignette Leo, a student in Dr. Jessup’s internship seminar, was a risk of failing because he could not articulate his theory. An addictions counsellor for 25 years before entering a Master’s program, he denigrated the need to identify a theory, proclaiming that he “just wanted to help people.” Rather than “just buying into an established theory,” Leo marched to the beat of his own drum. He seemed unable to connect his clinical work, which seemed to be quite effective when he showed his videos in class, to any coherent way of thinking….

30. Vignette … Dr. Jessup saw Leo’s promise and thought he was a sensitive, effective, and intuitive counselor, but could not pass him in the internship seminar unless Leo articulated a coherent approach to counselling. He challenged Leo to develop the “Leo Smith model.” Dr. Jessup supported Leo to figure out, inductively, “why he was doing what, when” in his sessions via videotape review and live supervision. He was able to articulate a coherent approach to counseling, and even sheepishly admitted that he was “a cross between CBT and reality therapy, with a little bit of inner child work thrown in” by the end of the internship.

31. Functions Ethics/Risk Management Consultant • Supporting the application of ethical principles in practice • Moving beginning supervisees from “ethics as a theoretical abstraction” to applied practice outcomes. • Supporting novice supervisees from a fear-based perspective to a realistic outlook. • Warning supervisees of risky situations • Moving supervisees from a risk management, defensive practice outlook to an aspirational outlook Discussion question: How do ethical the dilemmas your supervisees face change as they develop?

32. Functions Skill Development Coach: • Demonstrating and giving feedback on supervisee skills (executive skills; Tomm & Wright, 1979): • Generic (e.g., attending, questioning, reflecting, summarizing, information-giving, structuring) • Model-specific: How to use generic skills in the service of the specific procedures in accord with a theory of counselling • Encouraging self-observation of skills development Discussion question: What are some favorite ways to teach and/or model specific skills?

33. Vignette Kelsey is a Master’s student in counselling who has previously worked as a rehabilitation worker, developing behavior management plans for children diagnosed with autism. She had had extensive training in applied behavior analysis. She was pleased to have obtained a practicum in a local clinic that was well known for solution-focused training. Her supervisor, Liz, found that Kelsey’s skill at asking for specific behavioral descriptions and sequences could be easily transferred to the process of shaping her solution-focused questioning skills.

34. Functions Catalyst: • Tracking patterns of supervisee response to particular client situations (“countertransference”). • Raising these patterns with the supervisee • Supporting the supervisee to find the correct (for him/her) way to manage the issue • The supervisee’s view will depend on the theory of counselling he/she espouses, and personal beliefs/values Discussion question: How can we nudge at supervisees’ “blind spots” without bashing them over the head?

35. Vignette Sandy is a divorced 46-year-old MFT working in a community counselling agency. She has young adult children and a mother in failing health, who was struggling to stay in her own home. Sandy referred to herself as a “sandwich generation” woman, and spent many hours supporting her mother’s independence. Her supervisor, Carol, knew of her personal circumstances….

36. Vignette … At one of their regular supervision sessions, Sandy mentioned to Carol that her work with Amy, who had a similar life circumstance, but had moved her widowed father into a nursing home, was not going well. Sandy admitted she thought Amy had not tried hard enough to keep her father at home. They seemed to be talking in circles. Carol wondered whether the therapeutic impasse was related to Sandy’s personal situation. She gingerly self-disclosed how she felt stuck, or less than objective, occasionally at different points in her life journey, and asked if this might be behind Sandy’s therapeutic impasse with Amy.

37. Functions Professional gatekeeper: • Entering, formative, and summative evaluation • Monitoring and giving feedback to supervisees re: educational program policies and licensing requirements • Reporting to educational programs and licensing boards • Resolving performance issues, if present • Out-counselling supervisees unsuitable for the profession Discussion question: Have you ever had to out-counsel a supervisee? Describe the experience.

38. Functions

39. Functions Personal supporter • Listening respectfully to events/struggles in supervisees’ personal lives • Providing personal support, within the bounds of professional boundaries • NOT THERAPY: performance vs. personal Discussion question: When providing personal support to a supervisee, what indicates to you that you should make a referral for therapy?

40. Vignette John, a pre-licensure psychologist in a private practice, was uncharacteristically late getting assessment reports completed. Most of these were parenting assessments done at the request of the local child protective service (CPS), necessitating postponement of court dates. CPS workers were calling John’s clinical supervisor and the owner of the private practice, Dr. Kelly, to complain. When Dr. Kelly asked John about this, he tearfully blurted out that his wife had been having an extramarital affair, which preoccupied him day and night. He felt unable to concentrate on work, and profusely apologized for letting things slip….

41. Vignette … Dr. Kelly listened carefully and empathically to John. Together, they negotiated a plan to manage the incomplete and late work, and address the concerns of the CPS workers, who were a prime referral source for the practice. They also negotiated a reduction in John’s workload so that he could manage adequately, including John’s request to decline any marital therapy cases from an EAP contract the practice served. Dr. Kelly and John also discussed whether John required a referral to therapy, and what modality (couple or individual). Finally, Dr. Kelly recommended some readings on therapist impairment.

42. Functions Professional mentor: • Providing advice and support about: • Further graduate education or continuing education • Self-care and workload management • Research vs. practitioner track • Starting or enhancing a private practice • Work-life balance

43. Vignette Dr. Kennedy, an MFT, had supervised Lana, a licensed counsellor, for eight years. Dr. Kennedy had supervised Lana as a licensure intern, and was her administrative supervisor at the family service agency where they both worked. Although they were still required to review cases, the vast majority of the time, Dr. Kennedy found that Lana’s clinical work was excellent, and Dr. Kennedy’s ideas were mostly enhancements of sound treatment plans that Lana developed on her own….

44. Vignette … Lately, the conversation had turned to Lana’s desire to return to school for a doctorate. They discussed what discipline (psychology, counselor education, or MFT) would provide the best fit for Lana, whether she wanted to seek a leadership position or an academic one after the completion of her degree, and various options of how she would balance family, work, and school.

45. Functions Advocate/system change agent: • Advocating for policies, organizational structures, and clinical practices, etc., that make the delivery of services more effective.

46. Vignette Craig was contracted by a children’s mental health agency to provide clinical supervision to licensure interns and licensed clinicians. He found that, to a person, they felt overwhelmed with paper work and case management demands that they did not feel were useful. They were either working overtime (unpaid) to keep up, or dropping necessary documentation, thus exposing the agency to liability…

47. Vignette … Craig carefully worked his way into to position of trust with both the clinical staff and the senior management of the agency. He suggested some modest changes to reduce the duplication of forms, some small tokens of appreciation the agency could make to improve staff morale. He also explained to the clinical staff how documentation would help treatment consistency and were legally and ethically necessary.

48. Theory of Change Orienting question: “Is there a clash of ideas, or an ecology of ideas?” • Supervisor and supervisee must the clear about: • How clients change in counselling • How supervisees change in supervision • Not just counselling theory, but implicit beliefs and world view • Almost all the time, the supervisor’s view is better elaborated than the supervisee’s view

49. Theory of Change • The supervisor’s primary model of therapy will always “leak out.” • Gregory Bateson: “Your epistemological slip is always showing” • Not indoctrination, but clarification and deconstruction • When theories are too divergent… • The limits of competence Discussion question: What is the philosophy of your setting/you when it comes to theory of client change? Do you take a position of teaching or assimilating a supervisee’s theoretical approach, or accommodating it?

50. Vignette Lenora, a MFT master’s student, was quite taken with emotionally focused therapy (EFT), but became quite worried when she ended up being supervised by Consuelo, who was well-known for practicing narrative therapy. Lenora privately confided to a fellow student her worry that “narrative would be shoved down my throat.” Consuelo, who had an adequate understanding of EFT, invited Lenora to think in a way that was consistent with EFT’s assumptions and practice….