Developing Reflective Practice in Supervision: Perspectives of Psychotherapy Supervisees and Their Supervisors

Abstract

Reflective practice is a crucial skill for psychotherapists, as they frequently encounter challenging situations that require rapid and complex decision-making, often without all the required information (Fisher, et al., 2015; Schön, 1983). The use of reflective practice can aid in making better and quicker decisions. For therapists in training, reflective practice is an essential competency which is primarily acquired through clinical supervision. However, little is known about how this competency is developed in this context. This study aimed to explore the experiences contributing to the learning of reflective practice in supervision. Phenomenology provided the framework to investigate the primary research question: What aspects of supervision do supervisees and their supervisors identify as contributing to the learning of supervisee reflective practice? To do so, second-year Master of Arts students and their supervisors were selected as research participants. Nine participants, including five supervisees and four supervisors, participated in interpersonal process recall (IPR) and semi-structured interviews. In the semi-structured interviews, supervisees and supervisors indicated themes of the reflective space, creating a reflective space, and engaging in a reflective space to describe their overall experiences of reflective practice in supervision. The IPR interviews examined the significant moments within a recent supervision session and created the themes of the quality of the supervisory relationship, the individual elements and the framework of the supervision session. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of significant learning events in supervision that promote or thwart the development of supervisee reflective practice. Lastly, this study proposes a model of how reflective practice is developed in supervision.