ABSTRACT
Although many of us are loath to admit it, evaluation truly lies at the heart of counseling supervision. In fact, “because we are always communicating, an evaluative message can always be inferred” (Bernard & Goodyear, 1998, p. 153). As a supervisor, you are a gatekeeper to the counseling profession, and it is your assessment and evaluation of your supervisees’ counseling skills and abilities that allow you to determine who should or should not become future counseling practitioners. This responsibility, coupled with the legal liability supervisors also might face, may well give you pause. After all, you were initially trained as a counselor, a professional practiced in avoiding judgment of your clients, allowing your clients to determine their own therapeutic goals rather than imposing your own goals upon them. No wonder most beginning supervisors feel uncomfortable with the evaluative component of counseling supervision.
