Clinical supervision manual: for the supervisor of the paraprofessional counsellor

Abstract

Clinical supervision has moved to the forefront of research as its value has become recognized. However, the practice of competent supervision is only recently become operationalized and many counsellors still receive inadequate supervision by wellmeaning supervisors. The purpose of this project is to provide both a resource for supervisors of paraprofessional counsellors who do not have master level education, and for counsellors who are unregulated. Five questions are addressed: (a) What are the key elements of competent clinical supervision? (b) What do novice supervisors need to know about clinical supervision? (c) What are the ethical implications of clinical supervision? (d) What should be included in clinical supervision training process? (e) How can clinical supervisors incorporate multicultural competence into practice? The first section of the project addresses these questions by examining recent research. The applied portion of the manual operationalizes the seven domains of supervision practice that includes professional preparedness, structuring the supervisor relationship, relational supervision, assessment, evaluation and reporting, ethics, diversity and social justice and professionalism.