Experiential Counselor Supervision for Rehabilitation Counselors-in-Training

Abstract

Background:Preprofessional training for rehabilitation counselors necessarily includes experiential components designed to develop the clinical skills of trainees. Though there are a broad range of supervision models and modes of delivery available, thorough descriptions of supervisory practices are rare, particularly for existential and experiential approaches.Objective:The purpose of this article is to describe an approach to experiential rehabilitation counselor supervision (ERCS) which orients counselors-in-training toward heightened awareness of the clinical environment and being fully present within their counselor–client interactions. Within this existential approach, the depth of focus on the interpersonal counseling experience is offered as a counterbalance to an overemphasis on technical proficiency and procedural fidelity.Framework:The ERCS process exposes students to counseling and supervision in intensified experiential forms within: (a) the counseling session, (b) individual supervision, and (c) group supervision. The supervision format and mode of trainee observation of the counseling session may vary, though in each case, the focus is on awareness and presence above techniques. During individual supervision, the emphasis on awareness is maintained, though precedence is given to supervisee anxiety, supervisee countertransference, and parallel process. In group supervision, trainee and group process dynamics may initially escalate anxieties, but this format opens opportunities for insight through sharing of experiences, facilitated feedback, and activation of therapeutic factors.Conclusion:The ERCS approach is intended to emphasize the primacy of relational components of counseling and to promote interpersonal learning that will be useful for trainees in their direct client work in internship and future employment.