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A Flexible Pedagogy for Counseling Supervision

A program presented at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Conference, October 11-14, 2007, Akron, Ohio.

Jerry A. Mobley, Ph.D.

Fort Valley State University [email protected]

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Guiding Concept

The “art of counseling” can and should be simplified into teachable components that can be communicated between supervisor and supervisee. These components and their arrangement comprise a pedagogy that form a potential structure to aid counselor education and supervision.

Process Detailed Here

• Definition of terms

• Overview of CACREP expectations

• Review of Multi-dimensional Scaling research (Mobley & Gazda, 2006)

• Suggested counselor supervision model

• Applications in counselor supervision

Pedagogy

ped·a·go·gy n.

1. The art or profession of teaching.

2. Preparatory training or instruction. French pédagogie, from Old French, from Greek paidag gi, from paidag gos, slave who took children to and from school. (Harper, 2001)

Pedagogy

The Latin-derived word for pedagogy is used today in the English-speaking world to refer to the whole context of instruction, learning, and the actual operations involved with that process. In the English-speaking world the term pedagogy refers to the science or theory of educating.

CACREP Supervision Standards

CACREP Standards are general and structural and offer little assistance for pedagogy.

For example:

• “CACREP recognizes that alternative instruction methods (for example, distance learning) are currently used in many counselor education programs. . . [P]rograms that use alternative instruction methods will be evaluated with the same CACREP Standards for accreditation as programs that employ more traditional methods.”

• “Practicum and internship requirements are considered to be the most critical experience elements in the program.”

• “A clinical instruction environment, on- or off-campus, is conducive to modeling, demonstration, and training and is available and used by the program. Administrative control of the clinical instruction environment ensures adequate and appropriate access by the faculty and students.”

Multidimensional Scaling Results (Mobley & Gazda, 2006)

The Model

* Psychoeducational groups and family/ organizational consultation could be conducted by people who have not had Stage IV training, e.g. Master’s level counselors. MFT master’s students are also an exception.

Stage I—Connecting with Clients

Extrapolating from Rogerian Person- centered Therapy, post-Rogerian empathy and immediacy has been explained and researched by Carkhuff and Gazda (with a variety of colleagues). Gordon has provided the language to discuss these topics: active listening, I-messages and their related sentences.

Stage II—Problem solving with Cognitive Behavioral Techniques

Specific stages in the therapeutic process and techniques are detailed by each of four theories:

• Krumboltz can identify a problem and create a behavioral plan in four steps;

• Glasser can isolate what a client wants and generate a plan utilizing “radio station” W-D-E-P;

• Ellis disputes (D) faulty beliefs (B) to change clients’ feelings (F) in a straightforward A-B-C-D-E- F process; and

• Adler is more complex and abstract while identifying people’s goals and intervening with the C-A-R-E process.

Stage III—Resolving a Dichotomy

If the client wants two opposite goals, e.g., to leave the abuser but maintain the family intact, Stage II will not be successful. The client must integrate the opposing perspectives into a single one that can be problem solved. The techniques from Gestalt Therapy might be specific, but the issues they address, like energy, unfinished business, and dichotomies, are not concrete. Paradoxing clients’ divided issues are counterintuitive and abstract. Integration into a single resolved goal allows the counseling to return to Stage II and problem solving to again be applied.

Stage IV—Addressing Underlying Issues

Having established how to connect with clients (Stage I), problem solve client issues (Stage II), and resolve dichotomies (Stage III), the most abstract and complex therapeutic processes can now be engaged (Stage IV) . Freud and Jung can explore the less obvious and often important issues that impact the results of counseling. More Adlerian processes could be added. By exploring Beck’s Cognitive Therapy and Meichenbaum’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, more complex cognitive behavioral techniques can be applied to the existential core (particularly Stage II). Lazarus’ work might also be applied.

Stage V—Working with More Than One Person at a Time

The first stages can be performed with small groups and families. Each of these theories has been described with applications to both environments. While additional concepts like leadership styles and family systems are important in these applications, counselors can apply their integrated theories to working with multiple people at the same time. Additional skills are required to manage and utilize the other people in the sessions.

Stage I: Supervision Questions

Does the supervisee:

• bond with the client?

• understand the specifics of the client’s culture?

• recognize and respond to the counseling request?

The same questions might be posed for the relationship between the supervisor and supervisee.

Stage I—Supervision Examples: Advice

• Supervisee rushes to give advice. Supervisor says, “You seem eager to help the client solve his problem. I didn’t hear you and the client agree on what the problem was.”

Stage I—Supervision Examples: Misinterpretation

• Supervisee misinterprets (overshoots or undershoots) client. Supervisor says, “You said to the client, ‘You are overwhelmed with all you have to do and want to quit,’ but what I heard was more desperate and final—suggesting the possibility of suicide.”

Stage II: Supervision Questions

• Does the supervisee :

  • use the stages of the problem solving for the theory correctly?

  • apply any relevant cultural adaptations to the statement of the problem/goal/outcome?

  • establish a measurable plan to followed- through on?

Does the supervisor know the counseling approach that the supervisee is using?

Stage II—Supervision Examples: Advice

• Supervisee rushes to give advice without using steps in the process. Supervisor says, “I missed the part where you explored what sorts of things the client tried to do before coming to you. What might you have asked them about before you suggested what they could do?”

Stage II—Supervision Examples: Telling What to Do

• Supervisee tells client what to do. Supervisor says, “What are some other ways you could suggest alternatives to your client? Have you tried asking questions? What do you think their reaction would be to your posing a suggestion and letting them explore it?”

Stage II—Supervision Examples: Grilling

• Supervisee asks too many questions. Supervisor says, “You seem to need a lot of information from your client. You might want to consider two things: 1) when you ask a question, it means you do not understand what they are saying and decreases your connection to them, and 2) you might double-check whether you are curious about something or whether that information is actually necessary to create a plan."

Stage II—Supervision Examples: No Commitment

• Supervisee assumes client commitment. Supervisor says, “You seem to have understood what the client wanted, explored what they were doing, and suggested a plan of action. I did not hear the part where you asked and received a commitment to do the plan.”

Stage III: Supervision Questions

• Does the supervisee :

  • recognize that problem solving is NOT working?

  • define the client’s opposing issues?

  • avoid forcing a premature resolution on the client?

  • feel comfortable with a minimal level paradox?

  • return to problem solving IF the dichotomy is resolved?

Does the supervisor know Gestalt Therapy or some similar expressive treatment?

Stage III—Supervision Examples: “Yes, but . . .”

• Supervisee misses client ambivalence. Supervisor says, “It is confusing when the clients say, ‘Yes’—they want to change and then don’t do it. You nudge them to make a particular choice and see what they do with it or you can go back and start a new plan with the information you now have. Or you can explore the possibility of a dichotomy.”

Stage III —Supervision Examples: Pushes a Choice

• Supervisee pushes for a particular solution. Supervisor says, “You seem intent on her staying in school, but her intent is not as clear to me. She seems to be waffling between staying and leaving. Is it OK with you if she decides to drop out?”

Stage III—Supervision Examples: Cannot Tolerate Ambivalence

• Supervisee is uncomfortable with the client’s inability to go forward. Supervisor says, “Chances are the client has been doing this for a while—and is stuck. They do one direction; then un-do it and do something else. Your job is to help them hear both sides and then let them deal with the dissonance.”

Stage IV: Supervision Questions

• Does the supervisee:

  • recognize that historic issues are mitigating against the problem solving?

  • have the time to explore underlying issues and/or engage in a more complex treatment?

  • feel comfortable applying the level of treatment required in this situation?

Does the supervisor know the counseling approach that the supervisee is using?

Stage IV —Supervision Examples: Missed Pattern

• Supervisee misses a life pattern that the client is repeating. Supervisor says, “I wonder if your client is doing the same thing with his employer that he used to do with other powerful people? If so, what would happen if he had a plan of action to do something other than going passive and told himself, ‘My boss is not my football coach’? ”

Stage IV—Supervision Examples: Interpretation

• Supervisee could use an interpretation to help client to change. Supervisor says, “One explanation for anger is that it is a secondary emotion. The client feels hurt, helpless, or lonely but covers up those vulnerable feelings by becoming angry—and now seems to have power.”

Stage V: Supervision Questions

• Does the supervisee :

  • see the value in a group or family approach for this client?

  • operate in a context that allows for group or family work?

  • feel comfortable applying group or family processes to this situation?

Does the supervisor know group or family counseling?

Stage V—Supervision Examples: Lack of Training

• Supervisee wants to do couples work. Supervisor says, “If the situation does not get too complicated, I might be able to supervise you, but I have not had a lot of experience working with couples. I am not a marriage and family counselor.”

Stage V—Supervision Examples: Limit of Practice

• Supervisee wants to do group work. Supervisor says, “I agree with you that you have several clients who might benefit from a personal growth group. I could supervise you doing a psycho-educational group by yourself or you could co-lead with a more experienced person and use a less structured format.”

Practice Topics

• The Case of Conflict: The supervisor is into Expressive Therapy, likes Gestalt a lot, and the supervisee is developing cognitive behavioral skills.

Practice Topics

The Case of Conflict: The supervisor is into Expressive Therapy, likes Gestalt a lot, and the supervisee is developing cognitive behavioral skills.

• With their identified interest in two different Stages, they can explore what a person does if problem solving does not work (do Gestalt) or what occurs after the dichotomy is resolved (Problem solve).

Practice Topics

• The Case of the Ambitious Counselor: Supervisee is frustrated with her client’s lack of progress.

Practice Topics

The Case of the Ambitious Counselor: Supervisee is frustrated with her client’s lack of progress.

• Did the supervisee 1) bond with the client (Stage I); 2) do the steps in their problem solving theory (Stage II); and 3) uncover a dichotomy (Stage III)?

Practice Topics

• The Case of the Busted Couple: The supervisee’s client wants to reconcile with partner.

Practice Topics

The Case of the Busted Couple: The supervisee’s client wants to reconcile with his partner.

• After determining that the client’s partner might consider reconciling, the treatment of choice would be a marital therapy model (Stage V).

Practice Topics

• The Case of Rejection: The supervisee does not like his client.

Practice Topics

The Case of Rejection: The supervisee does not like his client.

• I don’t know if a counselor can connect (Stage I) with a client they do not like. Without a connection meaningful counseling will probably not occur. (Reframe: these feelings are about me— maybe I could learn a lot from this client.)

Summary Applications

• Notice how the supervision topic is connected to the particular stage in the pedagogy.

• Recognize how placing the issue at the particular stage helps to define the action to be taken by both the supervisee and the supervisor.

• Theoretical differences between supervisee- supervisor are quickly identified and alternatives are suggested.