The Four Pillars of Psychotherapy Supervision

Abstract

Effective supervision is essential for monitoring, improving, and advancing the field of psychotherapy. The two primary goals of supervision involve protecting the welfare of the client and fostering the professional development of the supervisee. The four pillars of effective supervision include developing a positive working alliance in supervision, providing directive guidance as needed, using a Socratic dialogue to explore key issues that arise in psychotherapy, and customizing the supervision to match the needs of the trainee. The present manuscript explores these guidelines and provides several recommendations for effective supervision.

Key Words:

• Psychotherapy
• supervision