What is it about?
The American Psychological Association Supervision Competencies (APA, 2015) have been the guidepost for supervisors in psychotherapy practice. Utilizing the seven areas of competence that focus on individual supervision, the current article expands each of these areas to include group supervision. Supervision in a group typically includes a supervisor who provides clinical oversight and guidance to a group of trainees or practitioners and is widely practiced in internships, psychology graduate programs, and clinical settings. Group supervision offers important benefits and growth experiences different from what might occur in individual supervision. Because group supervision is much more than individual supervision conducted en masse, the supervisor must consider a multitude of important complexities to conduct effective and ethical group supervision. Group supervisors must be skilled in recognizing and navigating such challenges as group dynamics, the supervisor and member relationships, microaggressions within the group, and member-to-member feedback, to name just a few. This article addresses the uniqueness and intricacies of group supervision and provides examples to highlight and address difficult situations that can occur in this modality. More emphasis is needed to spotlight group supervision, including the articulation of best practices and a new or expanded set of guidelines that center on group supervision.
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Why is it important?
Although group supervision is practiced extensively across many different types of training sites and practice settings, there has been little attention to group supervision and its unique characteristics that go beyond those in individual supervision. Conducting ethical and effective training in group supervision is essential. The APA Supervision Competencies (2015) provide an excellent starting point to expand the multitude of additional complexities included in group supervision.
Perspectives
This article was a great experience as the authors are equally passionate, knowledgeable, and experienced in group supervision and we have witnessed first hand, in our training and teaching, the multitude of ethical and competency difficulties that occur in group supervision . We hope this article provides group supervisors with information that will benefit them in facilitating supervision that occurs in a group.
Maria Riva
University of Denver
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Beyond the dyad: Broadening the APA supervision guidelines to include group supervision., Psychotherapy, March 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/pst0000525.
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