Supervision for the Mental Health Professional - Assignment Example

The Tale of Two Supervisors Supervision for the Mental Health Professional is important. In most places, any mental health worker that does nothave a doctoral level education can not be licensed as a psychologist and only a psychologist can supervise mental health workers (APA). That is the legal reasoning supervision is needed but more importantly supervision is important because practitioners report that they feel the need for supervision and that they benefit from the right kind of supervision (Strong et. al., 2003, Sumerall et.al., 1999). The difficult part of supervision is the need for the practitioner to be comfortable with the supervisor's style. A study done by Allied Medical System showed that mental health workers said that they benefited from supervision and they wanted supervision to be provided to them by the employer. They also reported that there was a great need for standardization of supervision so they knew when to expect it and what to expect from their supervisor. They also noted that what they wanted from supervisors the most is support from their supervisors (Strong et.al.,2003). Graduate students were also poled about supervision in their graduate internship. The reported that the majority of supervisor's style included telling, teaching, supporting and delegating. Of these four, they found the supporting most valuable. They found teaching to be the least frequently provided piece in their supervision. Several of these graduate student noted that their supervisors appeared to be more managers than mental health providers. This may be their first taste of the real world of business but it appears that it was not helpful in the supervision session (Sumerall et.al., 1999). Long term professionals also stated in a study that they found the educational or teaching piece of supervision to be needed as it allowed them to keep up with new research and new techniques. Because of this teaching on a regular basis these practitioners felt they provided better treatments to patients and the practitioners felt better about their own competency (Kavanaugh, 2006). Teaching supervisors how to supervise is a new piece in mental health graduate training and it appears that standardizing how supervision is done and learning to do it well will be well received by practitioners (Naismith, Hickie & Wright 1996). Experience with Supervisors This student has experienced several supervisors. There are two particular supervisors, both of whom this student respected both personally and professionally, that stand out in this group of supervisors. The first was Dr. H. He was a young clinical psychologist. He was running a small counseling clinic within a larger health care organization. This student worked with this supervisor for about a year and a half. He was very knowledgeable and up to date in his knowledge. Clients appeared to like him and felt they was helpful to them. He did primarily marriage and family therapy and left the clinical cases to the practicum students. It was required that he meet with students, including myself, one hour per week on an individual basis and one hour per week in a group setting. This could be a whole department meeting. Dr. H. was very reliable about having monthly staff meetings not weekly staff meetings. These meetings included basic department business such as introducing new forms, billing information or staffing hours. There was also a teaching segment up-dating the department on a specific diagnosis or diagnostic category. These were very well done and updated everyone on the most recent research on the subject. Individual supervision sessions were not regular and not scheduled. If Dr. H. happened to have an hour free he looked around for a practitioner that was also free and called that individual in for supervision. That session included Dr. H. asking if there were any cases of concern. He wanted a quick rundown on the client's story and the treatment plan proposed. He would add his insights and generally find the things that the practitioner was doing well. He also always seemed to check files. He reported on a list of things that he thought were going well and one or two suggestions. He was always supportive of improvements that he noticed. He also spent a bit of time talking about personal matters. He shared daily struggles he may be having with anything from scheduling clients to difficulties with his parenting. He also showed concern about how the therapist was doing in managing therapy responsibilities along with their personal life. This was a time when this writer felt he was interested in each individual and wanted the personal lives of his employees to be well managed. Dr. H. was a warm individual who was easy to talk to and supportive of one's professional improvement and growth. Individual and group supervision wererelaxed and helpful. Assessment of this Supervisor This was a knowledgeable individual from whom this practitioner learned a great deal. However, his greatest contribution was that he fostered and nurtured my belief in my own ability (support). Certainly it was clear he intended to do exactly that but it was his short coming that also added to the growth of my self confidence. This was a very disorganized individual who forgot how long an individual had been there and who had forgotten the requirements a student had to comply with for graduation. He only provided supervision sessions when he had nothing else to do. At times, that was disheartening and this practitioner felt invisible. Despite all that he did manage to build a positive relationship with each employee and I soon learned that he had faith in my abilities so he did not feel the need to meet with me often. My concern is that every practitioner may not interpret this feeling of invisibly in the same way. I also would have liked more supervision as it created a great deal of anxiety to be on my own so much. The mistake I made was not to discuss this anxiety with my supervisor. So no changes were made. Supervisor #2 The other supervisor that stands out in this writer's memory is Dr. P. I worked full time under this supervisor for one year. She too was a very intelligent individual. She was more reserved and more difficult to get to know from a personal perspective. She had been working in her position at least 15 years longer than Dr. H. She was very organized and she scheduled regular weekly individual supervision sessions as well as group sessions. She followed the teaching, telling, supporting and delegating model of supervision. This model requires more from the supervisee. Dr. P. went through each new client with me each time we met. She listened to the client's story and the requested my plan for working with this particular issue. She always asked why I chose that plan and then asked what the outcome studies indicated was most or less appropriate approach. I soon learned not to go to supervision without knowing what the literature said about each issue I presented. As a result, supervision was more anxiety producing but I learned a great deal. Dr. P. then suggested alternative ideas to consider. She carefully left them as ideas to consider and did not make me feel that my plan was wrong. She often gave examples from her practice to explain her thinking (telling). However, more than once I did leave her office thinking her suggestions were better and I would indeed use them in the future. Dr. P. also did a teaching segment in each supervision session. As questions came up, she assigned that subject to me or to herself to research and report back the things we did not know the next session. She worked every bit as hard as I did on broadening our knowledge. She stated that this was how she kept up on the new research in the field. It was clear she truly enjoyed this part of supervision. As the year went by, she assigned harder and harder cases carefully managing my education and my belief that I was learning and able to handle much more when I left than when I came. I left feeling ready to "fly" on my own. Her group supervision was different. This was a more relaxed time. She asked about our fears and struggles and shared he own experiences and how she managed some of the same things. Again she used part of the time to teach a new treatment theory. She was Particularly interested in new treatments and their outcomes. She often brought experts from the community that were doing research in an area or who had developed new treatment methods. Writing about her, I realize she must have spent a great deal of time preparing for supervision sessions both individual and group. Dr. P. was not trained in how to supervise but she continued to educate herself in the new teachings on the subject and she chose the teaching, telling supporting and delegating model. While it was rigorous for both of us the learning and self confidence this writer gained was enormous. Assessment of this Supervisor This writer and student would say that this is without a doubt the best supervision I have ever had. The only thing I would change is I would have liked here to be a little more personal early in the relationship. In my judgment, she could have accomplished just as much with less anxiety for both of us being more personable. I do believe I played a role this anxious environment. Dr. P. has such a great reputation as being a great but demanding supervisor I was scared of her. I was afraid I could not measure up. We talked about that later and she was not aware of my feelings . She said she is very nervous when starting a new supervision relationship as she has had years with a student that did not go well and those were very hard years for her. She always fears that will happen again. I may be clear to the reader that I have great respect for this supervisor and we maintain a relationship to this day. Insights The literature shows that supervision is valuable to the practitioner. Governments are requiring more and more supervision of professionals in the mental health and or professionals in any helping professional. Graduate schools have learned that supervision skills need to be taught as it is difficult for the professional to knot know what to expect from a supervisor. Good supervision also leads to better care (Clark, 2006). Certainly those of us who have experienced multiple supervisors understand how valuable supervision can be and how different styles do help make supervision more valuable. Points to Remember 1. Supervision is best when a style of supervision is adopted by the supervisor. Dr. P. demonstrated the importance of learning how to supervise and then following all aspects of the plan. For her it was teaching, telling, supporting and delegating. 2. Supervision involves work on the part of the supervisor and the supervisee. Dr. H. just gave his off hand knowledge when ever he had time and at other times the supervisee struggled on her own. Dr. P. prepared and supervision was much more valuable. 3. The Supervisee has a responsibility to be prepared and work toward the supervisor's expectations. One can not expect to be spoon fed. Further if the supervisee is not getting what she needs they should speak up. 4. Supervision is a relationship. When both parties can share their humanness it reduces anxiety and allows for better communication. While this can depend on personality styles, both parties must understand they have a responsibility in the relationship and work on the relationship. Dr. P. quietly hopped the relationship would work out well. The supervisee did not communicate clearly her respect and concerns about not measuring up. Communication was slow to happen so anxiety arose. References Clark, D., Smith,G., Peake, J., Trauer, T., McCall, L., Blashki, G. & Piterman, L. (2006). Psychiatry and General Practice. Bulletin of the royal Austrailian and New Zealand College of Psychitriats 14(1), 76-80. Kavanaugh, D., Strong, J., Wilson, J., Worrall, L. & Crow, N. ( 2003). Supervision Practice for Allied Health Professionals Within a Large Mental Health Service: Experiencing the Phenomenon. The Clinical Supervisor.22(1),1910210. Naismith, S., Gorman, L. & Wright, E. (2001). The Effects of Mental Health Training and Clinical Audit on General Practition's management. Medical Journal of Australia, (Suppl.): S42-S47. Summer, S., Eisenhower, D., Rarke, C., Timmins, P., Lopez, S. & Trent, D. (1999). The Adaptive Counseling and Therapy Model and Supervision for Mental Health Care. The Clinical Supervisor 17(2). Read More