A Journey Toward Feminist Supervision: A Dual Autoethnographic Inquiry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore our development as new supervisors learning to apply feminist supervision principles. Autoethnography was used to analyze author histories and learning processes over the course of one academic semester. Using personal narratives and critical reflections, we investigated our work of supervising beginning-level supervisees from a feminist perspective, and embodying our developing feminist supervisor skills and identities. Our inquiry was informed by our encounters with supervisees, supervisors, and each other. Basic definitions of supervision and feminist supervision frame the study, and results are shared in light of current research and theory. Keywords feminist supervision, clinical supervision, autoethnographyThis article is available in The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision: http://repository.wcsu.edu/jcps/vol9/iss2/9For both novice and expert counselors, the words clinical supervisor may evoke images of knower and known. To supervise the work of another suggests we know something -or at least, are able to see something -that supervisees do not. Assuming this epistemological stance of knower -in therapy, supervision, or research -requires choice and invites self-awareness and reflexivity. To supervise from a feminist stance invites critical reflection on this knower-known dichotomy and requires even greater attention to context, subjectivity, difference, power, and mutuality.Although researchers have explored various tenets of feminist supervision (Gentile, Ballous, Roffman, & Ritchie, 2009;Mangione, Mears, Vincent, & Hawes, 2011;Nelson, Gizara, Hope, Phelps, Steward, & Weitzman, 2006;Szymanski, 2003), there exists a lack of research exploring doctoral student supervisors' experiences of feminist supervision with beginning-level supervisees. Furthermore, this has yet to be completed using authoethnographic methodology, a self-critical, emotional, and relational writing process (de Preez, 2008;Meekums, 2008). We believe that such an endeavor will enrich and extend our knowledge of the scope and context of feminist supervision across supervisor and supervisee developmental levels. To that end, the questions we sought to explore in this autoethnographic project were the following: How do we undertake this process of becoming a supervisor who is feminist? What does it mean to be a feminist supervisor with beginning-level supervisees, and what does it look like for us? How can we embody and claim this identity as a supervisor who is feminist? To explore these, we first turn to the basic definitions of supervision and feminist supervision. Supervision Clinical SupervisionClinical supervision has been defined as "a process whereby consistent observation and evaluation of the counseling process is provided by a trained and experienced professional who recognizes and is competent in the unique body of knowledge and skill required for professional development" (Haynes, Corey, & Moulton, 2003, p. 3). In this manuscript, we focus exclusively on supervision ...

Counselor Education and Supervision: 2017 Inaugural Review

“…Quantitative exploration included attention to relationships between spirituality and supervisory working alliance (Garner, Webb, Chaffin, & Byars, 2017) and complex interplays between attachment systems, supervisory relationships, and critical feedback (McKibben & Webber, 2017). Finally, Fickling and Tangen (2017) used dual autoethnography to explore their own development in feminist supervision.…”

“…Several scholars proposed new theoretical applications or supervision models, and contributions in this area were strictly conceptual. Theoretical applications included Tangen and Borders’s (2017) application of information‐processing theory to supervision and Tangen’s (2017) application of frameworks regarding emotional awareness and complexity to supervision. Scholars proposed new models integrating several existing supervision models.…”