Preparing to Be a Clinical Supervisor: Avoiding a “Trial by Fire” and Using Reflection

Abstract

Clinical supervision is a distinct skill and role for psychologists, and providing supervision to psychology trainees is foundational to the field. While there is significant attention paid to the progression from trainee to competent therapist with this supervision, there appears a need to articulate models that foster growth from trainee or licensed clinician to effective clinical supervisor. Within psychology, data from the perspectives of trainees, licensed clinicians, and patients/clients have depicted the importance of high quality clinical supervision. These data also illuminate the need for potential models to teach the clinical supervisory role. This paper describes two Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) clinical training models that offer frameworks and processes for learning a new clinical role. Importantly, the frameworks utilize reflection, from both the medical student and motivational interviewing traditions, which aim to instill confidence and enhance quality as one utilizes new clinical skills and takes on the supervisory role.