Assessing Clinical Supervisee Interpersonal Games: Implications and Recommendations

ABSTRACT

The clinical supervision professional literature has identified four interpersonal games that supervisees might employ with supervisors in order to reduce, alleviate, or avoid interpersonal challenges. The purpose of the study, therefore, was to explore the occurrence and intensity of the four games within an authentic clinical supervision setting. Results from 66 clinicians indicated that all four games occurred with varying levels of intensity, and both the type of game employed and the intensity of the game were related to measures of counselor professional development and overall competence. Implications for supervisor training and practice are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Clinical supervision
• interpersonal games
• competence
• professional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kenneth Coll

Kenneth Coll is currently director of the University of Nevada – Community Behavioral Health Collaborative and Clinical Supervision Training Center; a university – community collaboration to increase access to behavioral health services for underserved communities and facilities in Nevada.

Roger Stewart

Roger Stewart is a professor emeritus in the College of Education at Boise State University. His research explores the intersections of academic and social emotional growth in k-12 students.

Brenda Freeman

Brenda Freeman holds an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts/Education from Boise State University, an MS degree in Counseling from Emporia State University, and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Wyoming. She is a licensed clinical professional counselor with experience in clinical counseling, international student counseling, grief and loss counseling, and program evaluation consultation with American Indian/Alaska Native programs. She is currently teaching counseling theories and assisting the counseling program with CACREP accreditation.

Stacey Scholl

Stacey Scholl has been with Cathedral Home for Children since 2004 and is currently the Clinical Director. She has a primary assignment of supervising over 10 licensed clinicians.

Patricia Thobro

Patricia Thobro is the former Clinical Director of Cathedral Home for Children. Her expertise is in clinical supervision and attachment theory.