Some doctors smoke, some physiotherapists are overweight, and some therapists are assholes. Some of those assholes are supervisors. Maybe you’ve had one. Maybe you are one!

There are some people that we just don’t click with, or they’ve got personal issues causing them to be difficult to be around, burned out, irritable, etc. Sometimes the clinical supervision we get is inadequate and there isn’t much we can do to change it with that person. Don’t get me started on the Peter Principle and the ubiquity of poor leadership!

Regardless, as adults we are responsible for our own growth. It’s up to each of us to take ownership for our learning, of which our supervisor at that point in time is only one aspect. Ask for what you need, ask for feedback and give feedback, ask them what they think the time should be used for and how you can get the most out of it.

My top suggestion is to improve the quality of supervision is simple: maintain a running list of “to do’s” between supervision times that you add to as things come up. Review and put it in priority sequence before the supervision time and be very purposeful to use their time well. 

Yes this is basic, but very few people do it. More often than not, we get what we give. Other suggestions for good use of time in supervision are to review video of sessions with them frequently, counsel clients ‘live’ with your supervisor observing (one way mirror, video etc) and leave the room near the end to get intervention ideas, and engage in deliberate practice activities such as rehearsing challenging microskills, practicing interrupting and so on. Be as honest and open as you’re able to, show up having reflected on themes and areas for development. Enthusiasm is one of the most valuable things you can show up to a situation with.

The times I’ve had supervisees use my time poorly it was because they didn’t organize themselves (which I helped them remedy), though once a student didn’t know what a clinical supervisor was for.

While it differs by ideological camp, generally the purpose of supervision is to protect clients and improve the ability of therapists to provide value to clients. More specifically:

• Facilitate reflective practice

• Case consultations

• Identify training and development needs and help implement ways to address those needs

• Teach professionalism, depending on the context 

• Safe environment for trainees to explore personal and emotional responses to sessions

• Give and receive feedback

• Evaluation and ‘gatekeeping’ sometimes

Haynes et al. (2003) summarized that students seem to want the following in a supervisor, in order of importance: openness to discussion, availability, ability to offer support, understanding, ability to provide meaningful feedback, expertise, flexibility, empathy, and ethical practice. The top faults were basically the inverse. 

A minor point that may be of use is the idea of “managing up”. You should google this, but it’s a way of being more thoughtful in how you approach interactions with your supervisor. For example, pay attention to what they ask about, especially if they ask about it more than once. You should pay attention to what they pay attention to (aka finish those tasks promptly). It’s best done subtly, and it can build your ‘social credits’ with the person. Anyway, don’t get caught doing it.

If you’ve tried doing these things and the supervisor isn’t responding, I feel for you. This does happen, and larger workplaces often have some recourse for a third party to mediate. I say, be organized and insistent on getting good supervision. If you can’t get much from your official supervisor, seek consultation groups of peers, or just any peers or mentor type figures you have and take your more interesting questions to them (while maintaining ethics of course).

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