Post-degree clinical supervision for licensure: Occurrence of inadequate and harmful experiences among counselors

ABSTRACT

We assessed the occurrence of inadequate and harmful clinical supervision experienced by supervisees engaged in post-degree supervision for licensure. Among 310 supervisees receiving post-degree supervision for licensure in 16 jurisdictions in the US, we found that 77.7% were currently receiving inadequate supervision and 30% were currently receiving harmful supervision – using supervisee-protective approach, 62.3% were currently receiving harmful supervision. Supervisees often failed to identify inadequate and harmful supervision as such. We also found that the use of supervision contracts was inversely related to the occurrence of inadequate supervision. Considering these and other findings, we offer implications for supervisees and supervisors.

KEYWORDS:

• Inadequate supervision
• harmful supervision
• post-degree supervision
• supervisee
• clinical supervision

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Laura E. Welfare for her feedback on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.

Notes on contributors

Ryan M. Cook

Ryan M. Cook, PhD, LPC, ACS is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Counseling at the University of Alabama. His research interests include clinical supervision and counselor development.

Michael V. Ellis

Michael V. Ellis, PhD, a University at Albany Professor, is an experienced practitioner, clinical supervisor, and supervisor trainer, with teaching and research interests in multicultural clinical supervision, supervisor training, and research methodology, psychometrics, and statistics. He is an Approved Clinical Supervisor, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), a Fulbright Scholar, and a Distinguished Professional Achievement Award recipient (Supervision and Training Section, Division 17, APA, 2010). He conducts clinical supervision workshops nationally and internationally.