Personal transformation in clinical supervision

Abstract

The relationship between supervisor and supervisee may be understood as a means to enhance the supervision techniques, as the instrument of supervision itself and as a context that shapes the person of the therapist. The literature on supervision mentions  but  hardly  explores  this  third  aspect.  The  objective  of  this  study  was  to investigate the personal impacts of supervision. Ten supervisors and ten supervisees were interviewed. Data collection and analysis were guided by the tenets of grounded theory. The results show that supervision effects supervisors and supervisees similarly. Regardless  of  the  didactic  goals  and  the  treatment  model  adopted,  both  supervisee and supervisor learn about themselves, gain interpersonal efficiency, and deal better with  their  own  difficult  feelings.  For  supervisors,  supervising  is  a  path  of  personal fulfillment, being a source of incentive and joy.