Contribution of supervisor interventions to client change: The therapist perspective

Abstract

We interviewed 15 advanced doctoral students about their experiences with a supervisor who had helped them help a client change. Analyses of interviews, using consensual qualitative research, suggested that therapists/supervisees viewed their supervisors as having helped them by providing guidance, facilitating case conceptualization, focusing on the person of the therapist, supporting the therapist, providing performance feedback, helping to set realistic expectations, and disclosing. We consider the implications of these findings for clinical supervision, supervisor training, and research on how the supervision process contributes to therapy outcomes.

Keywords::

• Psychotherapy supervision
• therapist development
• psychotherapy process
• client outcomes

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Clara E. Hill

Clara E. Hill, Robert W. Lent, and Dennis M. Kivlighan, Jr. are Professors in the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Robert W. Lent

M. Ashley Morrison and Kristen Pinto-Coelho are doctoral students in the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

John L. Jackson

John L. Jackson is a Staff Psychologist at the Wellness Center at Sewanee The University of the South.x