Systemic–Developmental Supervision

Abstract

Supervision models for marriage and family counseling student interns primarily focus on the use of traditional systemic techniques. In addition, a supervisee’s level of development may not be considered when utilizing systemic tools. Furthermore, the supervisory relationship has been identified as a significant indicator of quality supervision, including characteristics such as warmth, empathy, and a nonjudgmental perspective from the supervisor. This article presents systemic–developmental supervision (SDS) to promote supervisees’ professional growth through self-awareness and skills acquisition. As such, a focus on the supervisory relationship through integration of two developmental models of supervision and systemic supervision techniques is discussed, along with the practical applications of SDS, strengths, limitations, and recommendations for future research.