Contribution of Supervisor Interventions to Client Change: the Therapist Perspective

We interviewed 15 advanced doctoral students about their experiences with a supervisor who had helped them help a client change. Analyses of interviews, using consensual qualitative research, suggested that therapists/supervisees viewed their supervisors as having helped them by providing guidance, facilitating case conceptualization, focusing on the person of the therapist, supporting the therapist, providing performance feedback, helping to set realistic expectations, and disclosing. We consider the implications of these findings for clinical supervision, supervisor training, and research on how the supervision process contributes to therapy outcomes.