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Article Excerpt
During periods of uncertainty or psychological distress, a supervisee may encounter or develop rigid or unhelpful thinking patterns that could delay development by promoting discouraging realities and experiences. Such cognitive experiences often are so subtle that they occur outside of the supervisee's immediate awareness. This article explores how the cognitive model of counseling could be used in supervision as a guide to help the supervisor and supervisee discover and modify negative thought processes.
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A principal component of counselor preparation is the supervision of counselors-in-training as they take their first steps into professional roles (Holloway & Neufeldt, 1995). Historically, supervision has been considered one of the most significant aspects in the training of professional counselors (Holloway & Wolleat, 1981). Perhaps because supervision is such an important part of training, professional interest persists in structured methods for the facilitation of supervisee development and, more specifically, in assisting supervisees in negotiating developmental challenges. This article explores how the cognitive model of counseling could be used as a map to guide supervisory conversations and facilitate scrutiny of previously unconsidered cognitive experiences that may hinder supervisees' development.
Exploration of supervisee cognitions is not new to the supervision literature. Previous research on supervision includes three themes pertaining to cognition: increasing supervisee cognitive complexity as it relates to skills such as case conceptualization, the supervision of supervisees who are using cognitive techniques with their clients, and the use of the cognitive techniques in supervision (Fuqua, Johnson, Anderson, & Newman, 1984). For the purposes of this article, we focus on the cognitive model as a tool for the facilitation of supervision and supervisee development.
Dodge (1982) was among the first to suggest that cognitive methods could be used to facilitate supervisee development. Specifically, Dodge indicated that supervision could reduce supervisee anxiety through steps involving the acknowledgment of supervisee anxiety, rational emotive disputation of irrational thoughts, and encouragement of new behaviors. Similarly, Liddle (1986) proposed techniques for working through supervisee resistance in response to performance anxiety that also called for, among other things, the use of cognitive restructuring.
Azar (2000) suggested that cognitive behavioral techniques could be used as burnout prevention strategies for supervisees working with child abuse cases. Specifically, Azar indicated that cognitive behavioral strategies could be used to assist supervisees in modifying maladaptive assumptions pertaining to their own capabilities and limitations involving abuse cases. Fitch and Marshall (2002) suggested that cognitive techniques could be used in a practicum setting during group supervision to assist supervisees in overcoming anxiety. Like Dodge (1982), Fitch and Marshall based their interventions primarily on Ellis and Greiger's (1986) ABCDE (activating event, belief about the event, consequence of belief, disputing belief, new effect) model of rational emotive counseling. Rosenbaum and Ronen (1998) indicated that the focus of cognitive behavioral supervision should be on the teaching of cognitive behavioral techniques to supervisees. They indicated that certain principles informing the practice of cognitive counseling also could inform supervision and called for a comprehensive model of cognitive supervision.
In this article, we expand on previous literature by discussing how the cognitive model could be used to facilitate supervisee development over time. Specifically, we focus on assisting supervisees with cognitive experiences that initially might be beyond their awareness. In addition, we elaborate on earlier literature that seems to suggest that cognitive-based supervision should follow sequential steps (Dodge, 1982; Fitch & Marshall, 2002; Liddle, 1986). Specifically, we suggest three distinct phases of the application of this model in supervision and describe supervisory tasks specific to each phase.
Supervisee Development and Cognitive Experiences
Since the 1970s, supervision models have attempted to describe stages of counselor development from the point when supervisees take their first awkward steps into the profession to the point when they are assumed to have achieved professional competence (e.g., Littrell, Lee-Borden, & Lorenz, 1979; Loganbill, Hardy, & Delworth, 1982; Stoltenberg, McNeill, & Delworth, 1998). Many of these models share common elements, such as descriptions of normative challenges that are a natural and expected component of supervisees' immersion into a complex and challenging profession (Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992, p. 505) and supervisory needs that change as supervisees gain experience (Stoltenberg et al., 1998). These developmental challenges involve fluctuations in motivation concurrent with changes in self-esteem, self-efficacy, anxiety, and other symptoms of psychological distress (Stoltenberg et al., 1998). During rocky developmental periods, supervisees may experience cognitive distortions that reflect their heightened vulnerabilities.
Cognitive distortions are subtle and often covert thought processes that limit or exaggerate reality in such a way as to engender negative emotional responses (J. S. Beck, 1995). During periods of uncertainty or psychological distress, supervisees may experience or develop rigid or unhelpful thinking patterns that might delay their development by promoting discouraging realities, experiences, and behaviors (Dodge, 1982).
The early part of a supervisee's career is a developmentally active period during which cognitive constructs regarding the profession are formed. If unaddressed, cognitive distortions experienced during the early stages of supervisees' careers may have lasting influences pertaining to their perceptions of themselves, the therapeutic process, their beliefs about themselves as counselors, their understandings of counseling as a profession, and their beliefs about clients (Howard, Inman, & Altman, 2006; Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992; Yourman, 2003).
The Cognitive Model
The cognitive model of counseling was developed in the 1960s as a method for assisting clients to understand and modify dysfunctional thinking habits that lead to uncomfortable emotional responses such as depression, anxiety, shame, and low self-esteem (A. T. Beck, 1964). The cognitive...
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