Expectations of the Onsite Supervision Program
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In order to enable both our supervisors and supervisees to be successful, we have laid out the expectations for both on this page.
Counselors help individuals change their lives. They work in school and community settings to advocate for individuals, and work to advance social justice. To read our most recent statement of student outcomes filed with CACREP, please click the button below.
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Please review the internship manual to learn about specific experiences needed by interns, examples of learning contract formats, and supervisor evaluations of interns. Note that the site supervisor (or another experienced clinician) must remain on-site when supervisee is present.
What is Clinical Supervision?
Clinical supervision is "an intervention that is provided by a senior member of a profession to a junior member or members of that same profession. This relationship is evaluative, extends over time, and has the simultaneous purpose of enhancing the professional functioning of the junior member(s), monitoring the quality of professional services offered to the clients, and serving as a gatekeeper for those who are to enter the particular profession" (Bernard & Goodyear, 2013).
As You Get Started:
- Within the first week of the internship placement, co-develop an Internship Contract with your intern. The contract should include specific intern experiences (i.e. number of individual clients, groups, consultations, etc), as well as site-specific expectations and procedures. An example contract is included in the Internship Manual.
- Provide an orientation to the site and staff for the student, including policies, structure, personnel, and resources.
- Provide a minimum of one hour of individual supervision each week. Best practices for supervision can be found in the “How to Provide Supervision” section of the website.
- Conduct an interim and final formal evaluation.
The Motivations of our Supervision Programs:
Continual conversations with counselor trainees regarding their goals, clinical skills, and identity development should transcend their learning contract discussion. Beyond gaining the required hours, it can strengthen the supervisee-supervisor relationship to regularly conceptualize the counseling trainees professional identity development. Our students may greatly appreciate hearing your story of how you got to this point in your career. Additionally, it would be helpful to engage in conversations that elicit their ideal work within the profession, encouraging them to think about how they can achieve their goals (Surette & Brenton, 2021). As our students continue to become deeply familiar with what the field can offer, their curiosities will continue to be sparked. We thank you for the role you will play in supporting that light!
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.
References and Resources
Gibson, D. M., Dollarhide, C. T., & Moss, J. M. (2010). Professional identity development: A grounded theory of transformational tasks of new counselors. Counselor Education and Supervision, 50(1), 21-38.
Lile, J. J. (2017). Forming a professional counselor identity: The impact of Identity Processing Style. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 9.
Moody, S. J., Lauka, J. D., & McCarthy, A. K. (2022). From Readiness to Action: Social Justice Training in Practicum. Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 15(2).
Surette, T., & Brenton, K. (2021). Reflection and readiness: Shared benefits of using an oral final evaluation to assess counselor competency. Teaching and Supervision in Counseling, 3(3).
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In compliance with CACREP standards, we require our interns to complete 600 hours at internship sites (300 hours/semester). Specific requirements include:
- Interns attend a university group supervision seminar each week in which they will be required to show digital recordings (including both visual and audio elements) of counseling sessions, and most participate in individual or triadic supervision (two supervisees meeting with one supervisor) during their internship as well. This method allows for the most effective feedback to enhance the learning experience of the developing intern.
- Interns must maintain logs of their time spent at the site, keep ongoing journals of their experiences, and develop a learning contract approved by both on-site and university supervisors. A foundation for these learning contracts can be accessed in the internship manual.
- Perhaps most importantly, interns are required to receive weekly on-site supervision for one hour. This supervision takes place continuously throughout the duration of the internship.