Career counselor training and supervision: role of the supervisory working alliance

Abstract

The importance of career counseling within our educational and professional systems is clearly recognized, yet little attention has been directed toward explicating the career counseling supervision process. Research on personal-emotional counseling supervision has stressed the critical importance of the supervisory relationship. The purpose of this study was to better understand the nature and effect of the supervisory working alliance in the supervision of career counselors, using case study methodology. Results point to the importance of explicitly addressing the working alliance early in the work, exploration of affect in supervision, and cognizance of the power differential inherent in a training relationship.

Apprendre à conseiller, devenir conseiller(ère)

“…Pour ce faire, il nous paraît important non seulement d'identifier les compétences clés au coeur de ce champ professionnel, mais aussi de s'intéresser aux systèmes de formation qui y mènent. Or, peu de recherches ont analysé la formation pratique et la manière dont ces compétences sont transmises et assimilées par les futurs conseillers (Parcover & Swanson, 2013). Partant de ces constats, nous nous sommes penchés sur les processus d'apprentissage initiés à travers un dispositif de formation pratique et sur les effets de ces apprentissages sur la professionnalité et sur l'identité professionnelle des psychologues de l'orientation.…”

“…Ces résultats confirment que l'apprentissage d'un métier relève d'un processus éminemment social : il se réalise au travers du regard des pairs et sur la base de modèles extérieurs, il nécessite un dialogue avec soi-même et le soutien de ce que l'on pourrait appeler les « passeurs du métier » -ici les superviseurs. Ces personnes semblent d'ailleurs jouer un rôle clé dans la professionnalisation des étudiants, ce qui corrobore les résultats d'autres recherches dans le domaine du counseling (Parcover & Swanson, 2013). Leur influence apparaît en effet à tous les niveaux de nos analyses : de par leur rôle de modèles et grâce à leurs rétroactions, elles facilitent des processus d'apprentissage ; de par leur capacité à confronter les étudiants à leurs propres enjeux et stratégies habituelles, elles stimulent la réflexivité et les compétences interpersonnelles ; de par la validation du travail des étudiants et en offrant à leur regard différents modes de pratique, elles favorisent la construction des identités professionnelles.…”

Ensuring Quality in Theory, Research, and Practice: Journal of Employment Counseling

“…Most all of the articles used statistical procedures to analyze and interpret data. The few exceptions used case study designs and employed qualitative analysis (Nunes & Arthur, 2013;Parcover & Swanson, 2013;Rehfuss & Gambrell, 2014). Commonly used statistical procedures include factor analysis, analysis of variance, and regression analysis.…”

Trainee’s anxiety and counseling self-efficacy in counseling sessions

“…The rationale was based on the concept that building a sound supervisory working alliance earlier in the supervision process would make trainees feel understood by their supervisors and enable trainees to openly discuss difficulties in their clinical work which in turn would have a positive association with counseling self-efficacy. Prior research found that addressing supervisory working alliance in the earlier supervision would help trainees develop greater comfort with being evaluated (Parcover & Swanson, 2013). Also, in Parcover and Swanson's (2013) study, they revealed that with stronger supervisory working alliance, trainees were more likely to discuss their learning needs in supervision, and in turn they are more likely to receive desired guidance to help them regulate their anxiety in clinical work.…”

“…In other words, for those trainees with higher anxiety in clinical work, supervisory working alliance would be especially beneficial for them to increase their future counseling self-efficacy. Empirically, research has shown that it is beneficial for trainees to establish congruent goals earlier in the supervision with supervisors and clarify supervisors' expectations on them which would help reduce their anxiety of being evaluated (Parcover & Swanson, 2013). Arkowitz (1990) suggested that supervisor modeling vulnerability in the supervision (e.g., disclosing their own struggle in the clinical work) would help trainees to accept their weakness and limitation in their clinical work.…”