The Veteran Supported Education Service Treatment Manual: VetSEd

The role of the VetSEd clinical supervisor is to ensure that the peer VetSEd provider is
partnering effectively with referred Veterans as they move towards their educational
goals. The clinical supervisor fulfills his/her role by tending to the four core elements of
competent VetSEd clinical supervision. Each element is discussed in turn below.
C. Core Element #1: The Supervisory Alliance
The alliance between clinical supervisor and peer VetSEd provider is the starting point
for all the work that will occur in supervision. This alliance consists of three essential
components: a) the interpersonal style of the relationship; b) the stage of the relationship;
and c) the supervisory contract (Holloway, 1999). Generally speaking, clinical
supervisors of peer VetSEd providers who utilize an empowering and collaborative style,
who tailor their approach to the stage of the supervisory relationship and who develop a
supervisory contract with the peer VetSEd provider that specifies the nature and tasks of
supervision will succeed in their supervisory role.
Empowering Collaborative Style
An empowering and collaborative (EC) supervisory style is one that encourages peer
VetSEd providers to engage supervision with a sense of curiosity, mutuality and
psychological safety. As a supervisor, you can foster EC by utilizing effective
communication skills such as open-ended questions and reflective listening. In addition,
making space for the peer VetSEd provider to articulate personally meaningful goals for
supervision underscores your commitment to EC. See Example 1 for a personally
meaningful goal conversation that includes effective communication. Finally, supervisors
promote EC by attending to diversity issues both within and outside the supervisory
relationship. Diversity issues include not only differences in race, ethnicity, gender,
sexual orientation, age, military status, physical ability, religious/spiritual and mental
health consumer experiences, but also include attention to the power dynamics between
peer VetSEd providers and supervisors when discussing these issues. Oftentimes the
person with the least power in a relationship is the least likely to bring up a diversity
concern, for fear that the person with more power might see the issue differently. See
Example 2. For more information about broaching issues of diversity in supervision, see
Ch. 6, Becoming a Multiculturally Competent Supervisor, in Haynes, Corey and Moulton
(2010).
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