ABSTRACT

Emotions have long been the province of counseling and psychotherapy. From Freud through Perls to the current models of attachment theory (Pistole & Watkins, 1995) and emotionally focused therapy (Johnson, 2004), emotional exploration and processing skills have been central to these psychotherapeutic models. However, the case is quit different when it comes to counseling supervision which has been primarily perceived as a supportive, educative, and learning collaboration between two or more individuals (Bernard & Goodyear, 2004). Though the covert and overt emotional experiences of the supervisory dyad have been perceived to be important in the formation of the supervisory working alliance (Bordin, 1983) and anxiety has been singled out to be a common emotional experience among supervisees (James, Allen, & Collerton, 2004; Ronnestad & Skovholt, 2003), only few supervision models factor in a significant role of emotion (e.g., Holloway, 1995; Ronnestad & Skovholt, 2003; Schuman & Fulop, 1989).