It’s (Still) All About the Relationship: Relational Strategies in Clinical Supervision

Abstract

In this article, we describe our view of effective interpersonal, or process-oriented, supervision, by discussing how supervisors can bring about meaningful change in their supervisees through the use of specific relational strategies. As our view evolved from earlier theoretical and empirical literature on the supervision process, we begin our comments with a brief mention of some of this literature and then move to a more focused discussion of my (Friedlander) perspective on supervisor responsiveness, which I believe is at the heart of effective supervision. The article concludes with my (Shaffer) reflections on becoming a clinical supervisor, having researched relationally-oriented supervision for my dissertation.