Effective Clinical Supervision for Adolescent Residential Treatment Centers: An Exploratory Outcome Study

Adolescent residential treatment centers (RTCs) serve high-risk, high-need adolescent populations. A sound clinical supervision approach helps improve counseling skills and can increase the overall effectiveness of clinical assistance to youth. This study evaluated the use of a unique clinical supervision approach in an adolescent RTC setting. The approach was constructed based on Walborn’s process variables, Ivey’s skills and stages of the counseling process, and Bernard’s Discrimination Model. These concepts were used as the tools for supervision planning and outcome evaluation. The participants were 16 clinicians working in a residential treatment site for adolescents. The participants were assessed over at least a 1-year period and were supervised by one of two clinical supervisors at least bi-weekly. The results of the outcome study indicated that there were significant outcome improvements in six of seven areas among clinical staff.