Clinical Supervision Handbook - CAMH Knowledge Exchange ..

Clinical Supervision Handbook
Core Competencies in
Clinical Supervision
Falender and colleagues (2004) recently published a consensus statement on core
competencies in psychology supervision. This was done in response to recommendations
arising from an international working conference held in 2002. The primary
aim was to identify areas of consensus and difference in a variety of research and
practice domains, including clinical supervision. (For more information about conference
topics and membership, see Falendar et al., p. 773.) Falender and colleagues
note that identifying competencies helps move professions from normative (or subjective)
assessments to criterion-based (or objective) assessments. This approach has
the advantage of introducing greater rigour to the clinical supervision process as well
as to the performance and techniques of individual supervisors. A brief overview of
these core competencies sets the stage for a discussion of what we might evaluate in
clinical supervision, and how this can be best carried out.
Although the competencies outlined below were developed in reference to the
discipline of psychology, they are broadly applicable and relevant to other clinically
focused disciplines such as social work, nursing, medicine, psychiatry, occupational
and recreation therapy. Clinical supervisor competencies have been divided into six
general categories, with a number of micro-skills within each area. The broad competencies
of knowledge, skills, values, social context / overarching issues, training
and assessment are summarized in Table 1. The final area, assessment, is particularly
relevant to evaluation of clinical supervision. Note that the wording of the discrete
micro skills has been somewhat adapted to better reflect clinical practice at camh.
TABLE 1: SUPERVISION COMPETENCIES AND MICRO-SKILLS
COMPETENCY AREA MICRO SKILLS
1. Knowledge • Knowledge of area being supervised
• Knowledge of relevant models, theories, interventions and
research
• Knowledge about clinicians’
• Learning and professional development
• Knowledge of ethical and legal issues relating to supervision
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