Career-long clinical supervision among counselors in Turkey: Current experiences, needs, and preferred practices

Abstract

Career-long clinical supervision is still not common and is a relatively new study area in the counseling profession. Thus, this study aims to describe the current supervision experiences, needs, and preferred practices among counselors in Turkey, as well as the factors affecting their supervision experiences. For this purpose, cross-sectional survey design study was used and a total of 402 counselors participated in the study by using convenience sampling. The Supervision Experiences and Needs Online Survey Form developed by researchers was also used for data collection. The descriptive statistics and chi-square analyses conducted to analyze data. The results indicated that current supervision experiences are varied though very limited. Twenty-three percent (n=92) of the participants reported to receive supervision. They received mostly psychotherapy/counseling training supervision, and then work setting supervision and volunteer supervision respectively. The most common reasons for receiving supervision were developing interviewing/counseling skills (n=83); developing intervention skills for client’s needs and problems (n=83); and learning a therapy/counseling approach (n=81). Besides, age, educational degree, work setting, work experience, and the professional organization membership was found to be the factors of receiving supervision. The supervision needs, methods, techniques, and supervisor characteristics were varied with respect to current and preferred practices. Most participants (n=381) want to receive regular, monthly, and face-to-face supervision from supervisors as professionally trained and experienced counselors with supervisor training. Overall, this study highlights the necessity of developing accessible, affordable supervision opportunities as well as the development of a pool of trained supervisors.