Overview of Counseling Supervision

Counselor supervision is arguably the primary way in which educators facilitate or inhibit counselor competence (Ladany & Inman, in press). Supervision comes in many shapes and sizes and reects many of the chapters in this book (e.g., individual supervision, group supervision, supervision of family counseling, etc.). e most common form of supervision is individual supervision and it is here where we start with a denition. Ladany and Inman broadly dene individual supervision as a dyadic activity whereby the supervisor facilitates the provision of feedback to the supervisee, which is based on the interpersonal communication between both members of the dyad and can pertain to the work in supervision, the supervisee, the supervisee’s clients, or the supervisor. (Ladany & Inman, in press) We can expand this denition to encompass all types of supervision in the following manner: Counselor supervision is a didactic and interpersonal activity whereby the supervisor facilitates the provision of feedback to one or more supervisees. is feedback can pertain to the work in supervision, the supervisee(s), the supervisees’ clients, or the supervisor, and can positively or negatively inuence supervisee counselor competence and client outcome.