Supervision Discussion Document
SUPERVISION SUPPLEMENT 2004
Questions about supervision are frequently raised by members and we hope to provide a forum for discussion about these through the Magazine and website. This supplement looks at the issue of supervision contracts and provides a template for such contracts which members are free to use or adapt if they wish.
One issue which regularly arises is that of supervision between people who have another relationship with each other apart from supervisor and supervisee, e.g. marital partners. The Accreditation & Registration Committee have considered that where there is supervision by partners, it is not ideal and efforts should be made to seek out another supervisor locally. Sometimes this is not geographically convenient and so other alternatives should be sought to supplement the partner supervision, e.g. email, telephone, video supervision. It would be useful to hear members views on this issue by email, jiscmail or other means and then, if necessary, a formal policy on this can be formulated and included in the Accreditation criteria.
Supervision Contracts in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy
Michael Townend
Senior Lecturer and Programme Director MSc Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy Unit for Psychotherapeutic Practice, and Domestic Abuse, University of Derby
Introduction
In a paper published in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (Townend, Iannetta and Freeston 2002). It was highlighted that dual role relationships - defined as a relationship that co-existed alongside that of the supervisory alliance - were very common occurrences amongst Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapists e.g. a person being both the supervisor and manager or close friend. In order to address this it was recommended that supervision contracts be developed so that boundaries within the supervision alliance were clearly maintained with relative responsibilities being kept clear and explicit.
- At the present time, it is not BABCP policy to prescribe to its members, accredited or otherwise, that they have a supervision contract, this is left to the individual discretion of the member.
This article aims to raise awareness of the topic, consider the advantages and disadvantages, and provide information for the use of members.
Arguments in favour of supervision contracts
Supervision contracts are usually recommended in books and manuals on supervision. The main reasons for this recommendation are the perceived need to:
- prepare for a situation where supervisee and supervisor have different desires and expectations of supervision., with consequent fracturing of the supervisory alliance.
- negotiate mutual expectations at the formative stages of supervision to help avoid problems later in supervision.
- ensure the style of working in supervision is structured, collaborative and begins to establish a pattern of attention in supervision to process, content and relationship in order to be reflexive with the actual practice of Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy.
- establish professional boundaries through making explicit the developmental, professional and legal functions of supervision.
- create an underpinning foundation so that both supervisee and supervisor feel safe and supported.
Arguments against a supervision contract
There are also a number of reasons why some professionals might prefer not to use a supervision contract. These include:
- the lack of research evidence that the routine use of supervision contracts ensures better supervision.
- making professional and legal responsibilities and accountabilities too clear.
- formally agreeing a contract would add nothing to an already effective supervisory relationship.
- the process of setting up a contract feeling false or in the wrong hands, being false.
- the process of setting up supervision contracts being difficult to manage.
- supervision contracts being time consuming to establish.
What to consider in a supervision contract
If you are going to use supervision contracts to support your supervisory work then the following might serve as a suitable starting point for discussion and agreement:
- The type of supervision offered e.g. peer, one to one.
- Ground rules and policy regarding confidentiality.
- Suitability of the type of supervision to the supervisees current needs.
- The theoretical orientation, methods and techniques that will be used.
- Emphasis of supervision e.g. process, content and relationship (or their relative weighting).
- Practical considerations e.g. private quite room, frequency, duration, note taking, fees.
- Goals, aims and objectives of supervision - making them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Limited).
- Discussion of prior experiences of supervision, in order that supervision can be promoted as a positive developmental experience.
- Expressing anxieties.
- Work through the rights and responsibilities of both the supervisee and supervisor.
- How the effectiveness of supervision will be measured/evaluated.
- How any problems or fractures within the supervisory alliance will be handled from both the supervisee and supervisor perspectives.
- How will issues that are outside the competence of the supervisor be handled.
- Anti-discriminatory policy and practice statement.
- The Code of ethics that will be used.
- How poor or incompetent practice (s) will be addressed from both a supervisee and supervisor perspective.
- Process of review and renegotiations of the supervision contract.
- In the case of group supervision the following may also need to be considered:
- Size of group and experience mix
- Clinical mix e.g. psychosis vs anxiety problems etc
- Allocation of time
- Who facilitates the group
- Responsibilities for handling group processes.
Reference
Townend, M., Iannetta, L.E. and Freeston, M. (2002) CLINICAL SUPERVISION IN PRACTICE: A SURVEY OF UK COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL PSYCHOTHERAPISTS ACCREDITED BY THE BABCP. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 30, 485-500.Magazine Supplement August 2004