Group Supervision in Psychotherapy - Development Stages, Development Phases of the Supervisory Relationship and the Supervisee’s Development Levels

Abstract

The organisation and supervision of a group of therapists, during a long period of time, are commitments that the supervisor thinks about both before starting the activity with the group and throughout the existence of the group. Supervision models can provide a mental map accordingly used by the supervisor in the journey with each supervisee, but also with the group as a whole. During each supervision session, the supervisor places the group as a whole in a development stage (coagulation, maturation, final) and identifies at the stage of development for the supervisory relationship [1] with each member of the group and with his/her level of development [2], but also with the entire group, adapting his/her style to the characteristics of each supervisee, but also to the characteristics of the group as a whole. The learning alliance is the centre of the supervision relationship. The aim of the paper is to integrate the development stages of the supervision group with the development phases of the supervisory relationship and with the supervisee’s development levels. The paper is based on our practical activity as supervisors in group supervision.