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Article Excerpt
Interest in the role of supervision in counselor training has increased concurrent with the interest in effective strategies for developing multicultural counseling competency. L. D. Borders (1991) proposed a model of group supervision appropriate for use with supervisees of differing skill levels; however, the model does not overtly provide for supervisees' development of multicultural awareness and skills. This article presents a format of peer group multicultural supervision in which supervisees work to increase their multicultural competencies while engaging in helper roles important for working with culturally diverse clients.
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In the past 2 decades, interest in the role of supervision in counselor training has increased steadily (Arredondo & Arciniega, 2001; Granello, 2000), and, consequently, the number of models proposed for the supervision process has multiplied. The models align with a variety of theories. Psychodynamic models of supervision focus on the client-supervisee-supervisor relationship (Ekstein & Wallerstein, 1972; Frawley-O'Dea & Sarnat, 2001). Developmental models assume that supervisees progress through stages and that their supervisory needs change along the way (Loganbill, Hardy, & Delworth, 1982; Ronnestad & Skovholt, 1993; Stoltenburg, McNeill, & Delworth, 1998). Social role models emphasize supervisees' relationship mastery in personal and professional contexts (Bernard, 1997; Hawkins & Shohet, 1989; Holloway, 1995). Peer supervision models focus on professional growth of supervisees in a peer group context (Borders, 1991; Tuckman & Jensen, 1977; Wilbur, Roberts-Wilbur, Hart, Morris, & Betz, 1994). Regardless of theoretical context, models of supervision tend to arise from the need to foster supervisees' skills development efficiently and effectively.
For example, Borders (1991) noted the need for guidelines for organizing, structuring, and managing peer group supervision in a model appropriate for use with groups of supervisees of differing skill levels. She conceived that such a model would facilitate the objective exchange of feedback, foster development of cognitive counseling skills, and encourage self-monitoring. Based on her assessment of needs, Borders developed a structured peer group supervision (SPGS) format that has been favorably received by the counseling profession (Gainor & Constantine, 2002; Starling & Baker, 2000). This model, however, does not overtly provide for supervisees' development of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills (Arredondo et al., 1996).
Addressing the need for multicultural models of supervision, Stoltenberg et al. (1998) suggested that adapting existing models to encompass supervision of multicultural growth is preferable to developing new models. The Borders (1991) SPGS model lends itself especially well to adaptation that could provide a practical, vital multicultural focus in supervision.
Multicultural Supervision: A Literature Review
The need for multicultural models of supervision is supported by a burgeoning body of literature exploring social change, identity development, and professional interest in understanding and meeting diverse needs. Brotherton (1996) emphasized the significance of multiculturalism by explaining that it "has become recognized as a powerful force that is essential for understanding persons of color, and also for comprehending ourselves and our interrelationships in a complicated social context" (p. 3). The literature discussing the importance of multiculturalism in counseling describes the potential benefits of multicultural models of supervision.
According to the literature, multicultural models of supervision are needed to prepare school counselors for their work with student populations that are becoming increasingly diverse (Gainor & Constantine, 2002). Education and supervision in multiculturalism are critical to school counselors' development of the competencies and expertise necessary for meeting the standards of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA; Holcomb-McCoy & Myers, 1999). These standards require counselors to assure that students of diverse cultural backgrounds receive services and are provided opportunities that optimize the students' personal development (ASCA, 1999). In preparation for attaining this goal, school counselors can benefit from supervised opportunities to explore their cognitions about diversity and expand their multicultural sensitivities.
Multicultural supervision has the potential to foster supervisees' effectiveness in working with clients whose sexual orientations differ from their own (Israel & Selvidge, 2003). Multicultural supervision provides a context in which diversity mindfulness in its broad, inclusive sense is not only encouraged but expected. In this context, supervisors are expected to model the use of affirming counseling skills with gay, lesbian, and transgender clients (Carroll & Gilroy, 2002), and supervisees are expected to examine their biases and beliefs about gender and sexual orientation to the same extent that they examine their presuppositions about race and ethnicity (Israel & Selvidge, 2003). Israel and Selvidge noted that despite "unique differences between sexual orientation and ethnicity, the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for competent counseling [in both areas] have a great deal in common" (p. 87). Multicultural supervision must encourage supervisees to become increasingly mindful of the impact a specific cultural identity is likely to have on a client.
Multicultural models of supervision can address the need of White supervisees to develop their understanding of minority cultures and awareness of their own identities (Fong, 1994). Opportunities to gain such insight are critical to the development of supervisees who are able to perceive their own stereotypical thinking and grow beyond such thinking to value diversity. Multicultural supervision can foster dissolution of personal biases as it helps supervisees to comprehend the harm of perpetuating erroneous assumptions (Brotherton, 1996). Through the initiative of the supervisor (Cook, 1994), supervisees are prompted to explore not only the power inherent in the dominant social group (Bernard, 1997) but also the effects of this power on identity development among both the dominant and minority cultures.
Research supports the benefits of multicultural supervision. According to Steward, Wright, Jackson, and Jo (1998), White counselors who report having the most extensive multicultural supervision receive higher ratings on cultural sensitivity than do White counselors who report having less extensive multicultural supervision. These findings may be a factor of multicultural supervision's capacity to address and minimize perspectives that promote the traditional values of the dominant culture, which is distinctively white, middle class, and male (Leong & Wagner, 1994). As Nwachuku and Ivey (1991) observed,...
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