Supervisory Focus on Strengths: Perceptions of Supervisees and Supervisors

Supervision is an integral part of counselor development and is a requirement for training according to licensing boards, credentialing agencies, professional organizations code of ethics, and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). With the expectation of supervision by these entities, universities and counselor training programs must require students to be actively engaged in supervision while learning to become counselors. Instructions for supervision are clearly articulated in policies and procedures of that counselors must follow (ACA, 2014; CACREP, 2016; Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors, 2013) including qualifications for supervisors, sexual relationships, frequency of supervision, gatekeeping, and remediation, etc. While the guidelines for supervision are clearly stated, there are no expectations for how supervision is to be presented. The how of supervision is left to the selection of the supervisor including structure, focus, procedures, framework, model, expectations, etc. Keywords: Clinical supervision, professional development, Strengths-based supervision