Two sides to every story: a phenomenological exploration of the meanings of clinical supervision from supervisee and supervisor perspectives

Abstract

This study addresses the question of what clinical supervision or CS means. Twelve supervisees and their clinical supervisors were asked the question: ‘what does CS mean to you?’ Inspired by Clarkson and Aviram's phenomenological study, the aim of this research was to compare and contrast the perspectives of clinical supervisors and their supervisees. The responses to this question from the supervisors' and supervisees' perspectives highlight differences and similarities in the way the term CS is understood and what ‘good’ CS is like from each group's viewpoint. The results reveal congruence in some areas of understanding, but also difference in the terms used to express the priorities of each group. For clinical supervisors ensuring ‘safe practice’ with clients was seen as the primary goal of contact with supervisees. For supervisees, ‘trust’, ‘support’ and having a ‘safe place’ to discuss problems was discussed as the priorities. The implications of these findings for social work practice are suggested.

Keywords:

• clinical supervision
• phenomenological perspective
• social work practice
• reflection