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Clinical Supervision Handbook
LEARNING STYLES AND CLINICAL SUPERVISION
While most people may see aspects of themselves reflected in each style, each discrete
style can be regarded as a particular type. These types provide ways to help
both clinician and clinical supervisor identify their own preferred learning styles.
Most people will have a mix of styles, but one usually predominates. When clinician
and supervisor have different learning styles, each can expand their repertoire and
adapt to how information is presented and absorbed by the other, producing rich,
new ways of extracting optimal learning from various situations. Supervisors can
assist clinicians to use familiar and new learning styles to try new and challenging
practices, acknowledge discomfort and set goals that overcome barriers.
The supervisor can also share his or her own preferred learning style and then discuss
learning options outside of the clinical supervisor’s preferred learning style. This helps
to stimulate discussions about how the clinician can further enhance his or her clinical
practice and allow for a variety of approaches to be used depending on the clinical
situation. In this way, the clinical supervisor works with the clinician to construct
the best learning environment.
CASE EXAMPLE: LEARNING STYLES
In developing a new psychotherapy group, a clinician had done a
great deal of preparation by reading books on the topic, speaking
to another therapist who leads this type of group and observing a
few sessions of this type of group. However, the clinician still felt
there was more to learn. The clinical supervisor thought there
was little more to offer the clinician to assist in preparation, and
therefore decided to talk about learning styles. The clinician
acknowledged that he was more reflective and enjoyed conceptualizing
the group from descriptions that emerged from the literature.
The clinical supervisor acknowledged that he learned best
with active participation and would be the type of learner who
would start the group and intuitively learn more as he went along.
This allowed both to pause and reflect on what else was needed
for the clinician to feel able to start the group. It was decided that
the clinician was likely ready to start the group in two weeks and
both would assess progress as the group went forward.
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