The Concept of Supervision - Case Study Example

THE ROLE OF SUPERVISION IN ADOLESCENT COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOLOGY Written by Presented to [mentor’s In partial fulfillment of the requirements of [program name] [date] THE ROLE OF SUPERVISION IN ADOLESCENT COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOLOGY The concept of supervision has been present for a long time in all schools and forms of learning. However, its breakthrough came when it was finally recognized as a distinct entity from other forms of professional activities (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). Supervision aims to teach younger professionals how to perform their professional duties better. Extensive research in the field of supervision has led to its own areas of expertise, its own set of theories and models, and its own styles and approach; depending on the type of professional field it is applied. This is especially true in the case of mental health care, where the care provision itself is a multidisciplinary process (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). Provision of mental health care and taking the correct decisions in this field is not as easy as in other fields of medicine. for there are no charts or laboratory findings, and no physical signs and symptoms that can lead one to the correct diagnosis. Therefore, here, the application of the theoretical models and correct diagnosis is the key to survival for a psychologist. This is no easy task, and requires much introspection and observation skills. This is where supervisors come in. In many ways, the process of supervision follows the principles of Kadushin’s model of supervision. This particular model addresses the administrative, educational and supportive functions in a supervision model, which can be applied successfully in mental health care provision (Erera and Lazar, 2010). All these three aspects of the Kadushin’s model are inter-related, for they help in creating competency in the other. Therefore, there is a large scope of applicability of Kadushin’s model in mental health psychology (Erera and Lazar, 2010, pp 119). However, this may be only one side of the total responsibilities in supervision. As will be discussed further, the supervisor-student relationship is much more complicated than a simple student teacher relationship, and like any other interaction, requires patience and hard work to make it a successful endeavor. The professional impacts are only one side of the story. Supervision is a much deeper and dynamic process. In other words, supervision leads to creativity in a field. The above model is also a representation of how supervision has evolved through the ages from a more self reflective observation found only in self journals, to a more organized systematic form of “systematic reflection” (Beekum, nd). The current supervision practice is able to provide theoretical, practical, ethical and moral and work related insights, something that cannot be found in text books. A teacher is only able to impart advice based on his own experiences. Therefore, a very simple definition of supervision would be a process of “experiential learning” (Beekum, nd). It is a one to one relationship between the supervisor and the subordinate, due to the highly demanding teaching environment that exists in between them (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). The supervisor is not only involved in providing the necessary clinical acumen, but is also in creating a full personality of the clinician in order to facilitate his ability to teach future students and treat patients (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). It may seem that supervision has only a clinical perspective and application. But it is mostly here that such intensive focus is needed. It is one of the only fields in the profession where the past experiences are used to create future directives in learning and teaching (Beekum, nd). This ability of the supervisor to learn from others and one’s own experience is what differentiates him from other professionals in the same field. Supervision has become such an integrated part of the learning experience in mental health that it has become a necessity in a student’s learning career (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). Therefore many of the applicants are asked to provide proper credentialing, licenses and accreditations from their supervisors in order to be considered for further learning goals. All of these systems of evaluations mentioned above, whether working or evaluating an individual or a group of supervisors, allows the professional development of the students (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). An interesting point to note however that is the art of supervision is a quality that not every professional possesses. Therefore, selection of a supervisor is also an important prerequisite and later on, determinant of the quality of the future professionals (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). Having said so, it is not essentially the case that each good supervisor has good clinical skills. Therefore, supervision is a rare entity, for it requires a combination of astute clinical skills, as well as the ability to lead and guide (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). The benefits of supervision also extend in the areas of research, where individual as well as group supervision can be used as a research ground of theories and models (Baruch, 2009). Mental health care is largely based on the conscious as well as unconscious thought patterns of the individual patients, and in the case of psychology, such patterns should be observed. Therefore, researches in this area help create ground for further research. BENEFITS OF SUPERVISION The main benefits of supervision is that the teachers and the senior professionals are able to help students in integrating theoretical as well as practical knowledge into one. This is the key to a successful clinical practice, and seniors with their supervision are able to help students reach this milestone earlier (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). The importance of clinical and educational supervision has been documented through many researches. Studies have shown that students are not likely to gain much learning and experience if they progressed through clinical practice alone. However, in any progressive clinical learning, the presence of supervised learning ensures that they gain more in their experience and become proficient in further teaching those who are junior to them in the profession (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). For those professionals who may be lacking in skills but have not found the opportunity to improve, supervision may help gain this objective (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). The benefits of supervision are also extended to patients. Patients are protected from malpractice due to lack of experience of the learning professional. The patietns are assured that there is a hierarchy of professionals who will provide proper care and management of the various mental illnesses when needed (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). Furthermore, the presences of the supervisors help instill confidence in the patient that they are in good hands. In the case of mental health counseling and psychology, such supervision programs help professionals become proficient enough to practice on individual basis, something that is very difficult in this particular area of medicine (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). Other researches state that taking a supervisor position leads to an improvement of the supervisor himself. It helps in creating better awareness and understanding of one’s self and persona, as well as the professional approach the supervisor applies. This concept is very easily identified in psychotherapy practice when considering it within the Holloway’s systems approach model. Based on this model, a supervising relationship involves six areas which combine together to give the final supervision relationship. This “container” of the supervision relationship is essentially composed of the contract, phase and structure (Relational Supervision- Heather Fowlie, nd). These in turn are shaped by the people and situations such as the supervisor, the institution, and the functions of supervision in a particular setup, the client, the trainee and the tasks of supervision respectively (Relational Supervision- Heather Fowlie, nd). When viewed from this perspective, the different influences such as those of culture, gender, class etc. can be easily identified within a supervisor relationship (Relational Supervision- Heather Fowlie, nd). The Holloway model therefore, creates a more humanistic approach towards the supervisor role, and creates a more complete picture of the supervisor and his or her actions (Relational Supervision- Heather Fowlie, nd). HOW SUPERVISION IS APPLIED AND PRACTICED IN PSYCHOLOGY When comparing different teaching and learning models from a psychological perspective, it is a common method to view any psychological situation in comparison with the basic relationships. In the case of supervision, the most common theme discussed is that of a parent with a child. In many ways the parent is a supervisor of the child as he or she crosses the various stages of growth and development. But this relationship is far more complex, and simply defining it as supervisor may seem inappropriate. A parent is more likely to be a mentor, a guide, and teacher, a friend, a supporter and a critic, all in one. In many respects, one can see the analogy between the parent and the supervisor, and it is this fine line that has led to the creation of many models of supervisor learning. This concept has been further discussed in the Miller concept of supervision and the different effects of the person’s own experiences and relationships with their own parents in their role as a supervisor (Beekum, nd). Therefore, in a mental health setup, in order to learn, supervision should be carried out in combination with client-contact experiences. According to the Erskine model, the process of supervision involves three distinct stages. The beginning stage involves attempts by the supervisor to create a relationship with the student. The intermediate stage involves focusing on the professional development of the student through provision of knowledge and experience (Beekum, nd). The final or the advanced stage involves helping the student utilize the skills learned and integrating them in more complex theoretical frames and researches (Beekum, nd). There are seven components of supervision, all of which are closely integrated to yield the final effect. These include creating a relationship of a teacher and a student, actual and active teaching, evaluation of the material taught, monitoring the ethical issues involved in a particular profession, counseling, consultation, and the monitoring of the administrative aspects (Carroll, 1996). However, these components are not as simple as they seem. Supervision is a dynamic system of learning, teaching, evaluating and then changing to gain the final result (Carroll, 1996). Therefore, this relationship is constantly changing itself according to the needs of the profession. This makes it all the more challenging, for in each change, the central element of teaching remains (Carroll, 1996). CASE EXAMPLE OF APPLICATION OF SUPERVISION IN ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY My first experience as an intern was addressing cases in adolescent psychology. The child that I came across with was a 15 year old male from a middle class family, who was taking drugs. He was caught taking drugs at the school and his parents were informed. Both parents came to me for the consultation, and brought the child along with them. It was a complicated case, as the child refused to discuss the matter with me. He was not answering any questions at the interview, and simple sat there through out the course of the interview without saying anything. I attempted several interviews with him, both in the presence of the family, as well as alone, but with no outcomes. Upon interviewing the parents I learned that he was one of the three siblings, with an elder brother and a younger sister. He went along well with all the members of the family, and never had any relationship issues. He was however, as reported by the principal of the school, was having problems with his classmates. The principal told them that he was being bullied due to his smaller than average built, which led to fights. He was otherwise healthy and a good student, however, recently due to his problems, was beginning to slip in his grades and was becoming reclusive. Even with this background information, I was having problems in connecting with my patient, who despite repeated appointments was not interested in discussing his problem. I went to my supervisor and told her about the boy’s case. She listened intently without interruption, and looked over my notes. Then she pointed out that I had missed an important piece of information. I had not asked if there were any hobbies of the boy apart from his school. I found out about this in an indirect way from his parents. His parents stated that he likes hiking. I still did not know what to do of this information, for I had no idea about hiking and I did not know how to use it to approach him. My supervisor then told me to do some research on the local hiking spots, and try to get some pictures of these. I found some interesting information and pictures, which I put on my walls and my desk. The next time my patient came to me, he was surprised to see the picture. I pretended that I was talking to someone on the phone, giving him plenty of time to look at the changes in my room. As soon as I finished my pretend call, the boy asked me how I came to get these pictures. I pretended that I was planning to do some hiking, but am not sure where to go or how to go about it. At this the boy opened up and talked excitedly about his hobby. This continued for two or three visits, after which I was able to create a rapport with the child. This finally helped me in creating to the core concerns of the boy, which I had already found out about indirectly. But the biggest achievement for me was that I succeeded in helping the child open up to me and thereby accept my offer to treat him. I would not have been successful if my supervisor had not given me this valuable piece of information or how to use all the information as a tool. It also taught me the value of history taking, and doing a proper follow-up on the patient. I had full knowledge of the importance of history taking, but through my supervisor’s guidance, I was able to finally grasp this importance, and in the future use it appropriately. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT IN SUPERVISION IN ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY The mental health care provision is subject to most kinds of therapy breaches and violations. This is not because all mental health care providers are incompetent; rather, the type of scenarios and patient reactions can lead to breaches in therapies (Feltham, 2007). When viewing from this aspect, the area of supervision has an added responsibility to observe any forms of breach in therapy that may be taking place either intentionally or unintentionally (Feltham, 2007). A good incentive in supervision would be to give professionals some opportunity to carry out supervision themselves. Many professionals feel that they are able to better analyze and evaluate a situation when they are in a more senior supervising position. They state that it helps them in evaluating the situations clearly and helps build their confidence (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998). Another possible option in supervision is provision of group supervision. Through a fine process of balance of responsibilities, combined work ethic and respect of the individual’s points of views, group supervision may become one of the most rewarding experience, even for the supervisor’s themselves (Baruch, 2009). This form of supervision can take place in one of the four forms. These include authoritative group supervision, participative group supervision, co-operative group supervision and peer group supervision respectively (Baruch, 2009, pp 74). Creating a group dynamic is likely to help students how to manage working in such cooperative ventures, and help improve their inter-professional skills as well. In conclusion, the benefits of supervision not only extend towards the students, but also towards the supervisors, who are as actively involved in a learning process as their students. Supervision provides a very valuable resource of experience and learning, and is therefore, used extensively in the field of psychology. REFERENCES Baruch, V (2009). Supervision Groups in Private Practice: An Integrative Approach. Psychotherpy in Australia Vol 15, No. 3, pp 72-76. Beekum SV, nd. Supervision from Shame to Curiosity. Site last accessed on November 27th, 2010 from http://www.acissydney.com.au/pdf/Supervisionfromshametocuriosity.pdf Bernard, M. J., & Goodyear, R. K. (1998). The importance, scope, and definition of clinical supervision. In Fundamentals of clinical supervision (2nd ed., pp. 1-14). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Carroll, M. (1996). The seven tasks of supervision. In Counselling supervision - Theory, skills and practice (pp. 52-87). London: Continuum Erera, Irit P. and Lazar, Amnon(1994) Operationalizing Kadushins Model of Social Work Supervision, Journal of Social Service Research, 18: 3, 109 — 122 Feltham, C. (2007). Ethical agonising. Therapy Today, 18(7). Retrieved August 28, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=9&sid=5c740ea7-837b-4dd2- 8e4d-7dfa18f1aa95%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=p bh&AN=27007211 Relational Supervision- Heather Fowlie, nd. Site last accessed on November 29, 2010 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/24167416/Philosophy-of-Relational-Supervision-Fowlie Read More