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Article Excerpt
This article presents research methodologies and findings from a qualitative practitioner study that examined initial constructs of a new model of counseling supervision, tentatively named the Regenerative model (R. Neswald-McCalip, J. Sather, J. Strati, & J. Dineen, 2003). Findings include the emergence of cultural and spiritual awareness and expression as important constructs in the supervision process.
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The importance of establishing supervision environments that address the diverse needs of counseling supervisees has been discussed in the literature (Bernard & Goodyear, 1992; Carifio & Hess, 1987; Holloway, 1995; Ronnestad & Skovholt, 1993; Watkins, 1995a, 1995b). A number of supervision models have been designed to assist supervisors in framing their supervision environment to best meet the needs of their supervisees. Developmental models, social role models, integrative models, and therapeutic models provide supervisors with a diverse array of frameworks with which to structure their supervision. For example, supervisors who work from a developmental model assume that supervisees move through specific stages of development throughout the supervision process. These supervisors structure their supervision to match the supervisees' skill and confidence levels. Beginning supervisees generally receive more structured supervision and support, whereas advanced supervisees experience a more consultative environment and collaborative supervisor and supervisee relationship (Watkins, 1995a, 1995b)
Some supervisors choose role models of supervision, such as Bernard and Goodyear's (1992) role discrimination model. Supervisors who apply the role discrimination model focus on the acquisition of supervisee skills within three areas: intervention skills, conceptualization skills, and personalization skills. The supervisor assumes a supervision role that best meets the supervisee's skill area of focus. For example, the supervisor may work within a teaching role when providing the supervisee with didactic information, a counseling role when focusing on the supervisee's reactions to session content, or a consulting role when engaging in case conceptualization (Pearson, 2001). The role discrimination model represents a fluid process of supervision with the supervisor focusing on multiple skill areas and assuming multiple supervision roles between and within each supervision session (Polanski, 2003).
Recently, integrative models, such as Holloway's (1995) systems approach, have appeared in the literature. Some integrative models support an integration of developmental and social role models (M. D. Nelson, Johnson, & Thorngren, 2000; Pearson, 2001), a specific framework (Edwards & Chen, 1999; Morran, Kurpius, Brack, & Brack, 1995), or learning theory (Villani & Ward, 1999; Ward & House, 1998). Other supervision models are based on one or more counseling theories (Wisemen, 1998). These models are referred to as therapeutic supervision models (Bernard & Goodyear, 1992). Models that are grounded in counseling theory vary widely because they are based on the theoretical orientation of the supervisor.
This article focuses on the development of a new model of counseling supervision that integrated expressive arts within the supervision process (Neswald-McCalip, Sather, Strati, & Dineen, 2003). The model was developed during a master's-level counseling practicum when several practicum students requested an adjunctive supervision group in addition to their required practicum duties. After meeting as a group for several weeks, the students coined the phrase "creative supervision" to denote their adjunctive supervision experience. Creative supervision involved engaging the students in a number of experiential exercises and expressive arts activities that they used to verbalize the dynamics of their counseling sessions. This process often involved intense self-examination of the students' biases and assumptions in addition to their intersession roles and processes.
THE PILOT STUDY
An initial pilot study of the creative supervision process indicated that creative supervision occurred within a specific framework tentatively named the Regenerative model (Neswald-McCalip et al., 2003). The word regenerative referred to a cycle of supervisor and supervisee interactions indicating a continuous and dynamic process of supervisee self-reflection and learning. The structure of the Regenerative model was described by participants in the pilot study as similar to a tree, including three, if not four, process dimensions. The first dimension or structure of the pilot model corresponds most accurately to Dimension 1: Foundation of the current refined model (see Figure 1). Dimension I of the pilot model contained four elements that participants believed were essential for establishing the creative supervision environment: (a) a limited size or number of participants, (b) student direction of the supervision process, (c) students' choice in their level of participation, and (d) a willing facilitator who engaged students in the process. In between Dimension I and Dimension 2 was an additional category named collaborative dynamics. It was uncertain whether collaborative dynamics represented a dimension of their own. Future research is needed to clarify the importance of collaborative dynamics and their place within the model. Qualities identified within the structure and collaborative dynamics were described as "necessary and sufficient conditions," which must be in place if creative supervision is to occur.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
The second dimension, characteristics, was conceptualized as the personal and professional characteristics of the supervisees as well as characteristics of the supervision environment. Characteristics identified in the pilot model correspond most accurately to Dimension 2: The Essence of Being in the current refined model (see Figure 1). Characteristics included (a) academic baggage or the students' background in theory, (b) a spontaneous/exploratory process, (c) an experiential focus, and (d) an emphasis on addressing students' emerging needs.
The participants in the pilot study identified the third dimension, confluences, as the outcome of their supervision sessions. Confluences included the following elements: (a) journey of meaning, (b) power/empower, (c) self-understanding, (d) circle of life and development, (e) ideas/techniques, (f) ethics, (g) effectiveness, and (h) colleagues. Confluences correspond most accurately with Dimension 3: The Process of Becoming in the current revised model (see Figure 1). For a complete description of the initial research findings, the reader is referred to the pilot study (Neswald-McCalip et al., 2003).
PURPOSE AND RESEARCH DESIGN
The purpose of this study was to examine the creative supervision process when experienced by a larger, more diverse student population. Practitioner research (Anderson, Herr, & Nihlen, 1994) was the chosen methodology for this study. My role as an insider, one who was embedded within the supervision process, appeared best suited to the use of practitioner research. In other kinds of qualitative research, the primary researcher exists as an outsider looking in at a specific phenomenon or narrative. Practitioner researchers view themselves...
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