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The supervision It is considered an essential element in developing a therapist’s skills and providing effective psychotherapeutic support to their patients. For many psychotherapists, it is considered an indispensable tool for optimally practicing their profession and represents one of the most important phases.
“Any treatment intended to penetrate deeply consists at least half of the therapist's self-examination.”Jung - “Fundamental Questions of Psychotherapy”
Wanting to give a literal interpretation, for supervision It can be understood as the activity carried out by the person controlling and directing an activity, and which is concretely realized through the careful observation of the processes and dynamics of a specific and well-defined situation. It is compared by many to a third eye that can notice aspects that might otherwise go unnoticed and which helps in managing specific or problematic situations.
The supervision in psychotherapy It should therefore be understood as a space in which a therapist brings to the attention of a more experienced colleague one or more clinical cases with which he or she is encountering difficulties. Regarding timing, it should be noted that there is no standard duration defined, but rather it is the therapist’s responsibility: he or she must know how to manage time and recognize an obstacle and work to resolve it. supervising therapist It is therefore an external point of view that helps in the analysis of the situation, the facts and any critical issues.
The contexts of reference are multiple.
The request for supervision, in fact, it can be addressed to a psychotherapist who has gained a certain experience, it can be requested by companies, family homes, hospitals, reception facilities (when the staff m(It highlights the need to address difficulties that arise with users or colleagues and that cannot be overcome with one’s own resources.).
The prerequisites for good supervision
Supervision is a path that a therapist decides to undertake not because he or she has to but because it is useful and essential to improving his or her profession.
We can identify some essential points from which it would be appropriate to move to achieve a good level of supervision:
Identify the problem
In most cases, those who wish to begin supervision do so because they have identified a problem and wish to clarify it. Examples include difficulties with diagnosis, addressing certain issues, or using certain techniques. Therefore, it is important to clarify the problem, motivation, or focus of supervision at the outset, before beginning the process.
Define the required skills
It’s crucial to analyze the skills required of the supervisor and whether the chosen supervisor possesses them. Each supervisor may or may not possess up-to-date knowledge and skills related to the areas supervised (e.g., psychotherapy models, research, diagnostic assessment). These skills will be certified by years of experience, as well as by specific recognition from industry organizations. All of this must be evaluated and taken into due consideration. The supervisor doesn’t necessarily have to be competent in every area, but may have developed specific skills over the years that a particular therapeutic setting requires..
Form an alliance
The supervisory working alliance is an essential element in the therapeutic relationship.. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore the role that the supervisory working alliance plays in the formation of this type of collaboration and its relationship to the professional development of therapists in training. The results of several types of analyses suggest that the supervisory working alliance plays a crucial role in the training experience.
Ensure ethics and core values in supervision
The values that guide the supervision are: integrity, honesty, concern for the well-being of others, and ethical knowledge of one’s profession. Ethics in supervision certainly leads to reference to psychologists’ code of ethics, which refers to supervision in Article 28: the invitation is clear and aimed at avoiding any confusion in order to avoid exploitation of the acquired role. As expected, Supervisors must be able to maintain a positive and constructive relationship, allowing them to express their emotions and opinions, especially given their diverse backgrounds. Excellent management of criticism and its formulation is expected..
The functions of the supervisor
The fundamental functions of the supervision activity are carried out inThe relationship between supervisor and supervisee is usually understood as a “learning agreement” (Fleming and Benedek, 1983) and a growth agreement. In this process, skills and techniques of the psychotherapeutic profession are acquired and taught..
The supervisor, therefore, must know:
- evaluate and monitor
- offer support and advice
- train and advise
- provide templates and tools
These functions will be managed in a therapeutic supervision path that can be identified in three constituent phases:
- the initial phase:
in which knowledge begins and the fundamental assumptions of the therapeutic relationship, the critical points and the strengths are identified; - the advanced stage:
where trust, as well as personal and professional resources, are consolidated; one then begins to acquire a certain independence from the supervisor; - the final stage:
in which one’s autonomy is defined, one’s professional skills are confirmed and the connection between theory and therapeutic practice is established.
The theoretical-conceptual and methodological approach of supervision practice has followed that of therapeutic approaches and, consequently, there are different identifiable supervision models that characterize particular forms of psychotherapy.
Supervision: an ever-evolving path
The need for a supervision, as a specific part of the clinical training path, established itself in the psychotherapeutic world around the 1920s: although there had been, before then, informal groups of professionals who met to discuss various aspects of the work with patients, the personal analyst was, for the students, the true point of reference for the guidance and evaluation of the technical-professional development process (Abadi; in Benvenuto and Nicolaus, 1990).
Only in 1920, the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Vienna established that the two roles, that of analyst and that of supervisor, are assumed by two different people: the first is considered more closely related to therapy, while the second is closer to teaching. Thus, the psychotherapist’s education takes place alongside formal teaching and personal analysis (Dazzi and Migone; in Pazzagli, 1990).
Traditionally, it is meant by supervision the exposure, by a student to a more experienced colleague, of clinical material from one or more sessions with the aim of being supported and helped in the conduct in that case and, more generally, in the acquisition of therapeutic and analytical skills (Barnà; in Marinelli and Sbardella, 1995).
Ekstein and Wallerstein (1958)(1973: p. 14).They described supervision using a ‘clinical diamond’, which highlights the relationships between four entities: S (supervisor), T (therapist), P (patient), A (institute) and argued that:
“supervision is a new growth process which may be limited by irrational attitudes and resistances in both the student and the supervisor, but which is analogous to the process of psychotherapy through which one hopes to help the patient achieve independence and insight”
Here, the indispensable tool becomes an opportunity: for growth, improvement, support for oneself and one’s patients..
This confirms how important psychotherapeutic support is for everyone.
Even the therapist can’t do without it.
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