Review

Review

A Call for More Inclusive Models of Supervision

An Article Review

Singh, A. & Chun, K. Y. S. (2010). “From the margins to the center”: Moving towards a resilience-based model of supervision for queer people of color supervisors. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 4, 36–46.

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Few articles discuss the presence of such dynamics in the supervisee/supervisor relationship. As the number of psychotherapists who identify with multiple minority identities grows, the need for more inclusive models of supervision increases. Through the use and integration of the authors’ narratives of personal experiences, the current article addresses supervision issues for queer people of color.

For instance, the authors describe challenging and formative experiences with supervisors that call for supervision models that are more culturally sensitive. The authors’ make the argument that the intersection of all minority identities must be acknowledged in the context of therapy and supervision in order to understand the full impact of bias experiences for queer people of color. Specifically, greater attention should be give to the implications of how racism and heterosexism both may influence the supervision process. These experiences certainly complicate the supervisory relationship in ways that extend beyond most current supervision training models.

The authors give specific focus to resiliency that may develop as a byproduct of minority experiences. Frequently, experiences of oppression and discrimination of minority individuals is the focus of models and conceptualizations, however, the development of resiliency is often forgotten or overlooked. Both, oppression and resilient experiences indeed shape the perspective and growth of a future supervisor, with resiliency becoming a tool and strength of the supervisor.

Grounded in the Multicultural Supervision Competencies and the Integrative Affirmative Supervision Model, the authors propose a resiliency-based model of supervision that explores the ways in which supervisee experiences shape future supervisor development.

Six components are offered as integral pieces of the self-reflection and supervision process:

  1. Supervisor-Focused Personal Development,
  2. Supervisee-Focused Personal Development,
  3. Conceptualization,
  4. Skills,
  5. Process, and
  6. Outcome.

Within each of these domains, questions for thoughtful reflection are offered pertaining to ‘awareness of privilege and oppression’, ‘affirmation of diversity’, and ‘supervisor empowerment’. To fully illustrate the use of these questions, a case study is offered with a complete walk-through of how each domain pertains to the presented situation.

The current model clearly augments existing models by insisting on the importance of fostering empowerment, affirmation of sexual orientation and the formative implications of homophobia, transference/counter- transference, and the coming out process. These complex experiences most certainly shape supervisors who have had aspects of their identities affirmed while others are more privileged. Awareness of these dynamics and subsequent implications are at the crux of the foundation of the current supervision model.

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Cite This Article

The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy Education and Training Committee. (2011, April). A call for more inclusive models of supervision: An article review [Web article] [Review of the article “From the margins to the center”: Moving towards a resilience-based model of supervision for queer people of color supervisors, by A. Singh & K. Y. S. Chun]. Retrieved from https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/notes-from-the-education-training-committee-examining-therapist-training-in-ebp/

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