Exploring Supervisor's Experiences When Delivering Psychological Supervision: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Abstract

Objective

Although it is thought likely that clinical supervision places relational and emotional demands on the supervisor, supervisors' emotional and interpersonal experiences when delivering supervision are not well understood. This study investigated these ideas through interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

Method

Semi-structured interviews were used to explore eight registered psychologists' experiences of providing clinical supervision. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis.

Results

Group experiential themes included supervisor vulnerabilities, inter- and intra-personal processes and the importance of reciprocity. Supervising evoked a strong sense of vulnerability in the participants, something many attempted to mitigate through demonstration of their skill and competency or self-regulation. Participants also described the fundamental importance of supervisor–supervisee relationships to supervision processes. Positive supervisory relationships engender epistemic trust, where rupture repair can occur readily and reciprocal learning can happen.

Conclusion

The findings have implications for supervisor training platforms, highlighting the need to further consider interpersonal and relational elements of supervision and acknowledging the feelings of vulnerability that can be engendered, even in experienced supervisors. Interpersonal interactions in an emotive relational space like supervision could be understood through the lens of mentalisation theory.