Supervision styles are as unique as you can imagine. My goal as a supervisor is to guide clinicians to work creatively with their clients, respond with imagination, embody genuine empathy to the relational complexities that compose human dilemmas, and consider the common psychotherapy factors and outcomes that guide a therapeutic relationship.

 

To accomplish this I must position myself toward the learning capacity, developmental level, and desire of each clinician. Given the recursive nature of interaction, learning often benefits from a tailored experience. Therapists at different levels of clinical development may have different needs and wants. For example, MFTs in the beginning stages of doing therapy may desire more guidance and direction around treatment planning, assessment, and general case management. Others may desire less direction and more focused attention on the formulation of specific questions, relational interventions, or theoretical ideas. Both, however, necessarily require us to be vulnerable to cultivate mutual trust in one another. 

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For it is only through the roots of this trust that will enable us to learn together and communicate complex ideas and emotions in a caring way—especially when those ideas and emotions arise from divergent experiences and backgrounds. Nurturing this kind of learning atmosphere requires that I model inclusive and affirming relational practice, as well as gently re-indicate the contextual distinctions that are presently working for both supervisees and the systems of which they are a part.