ABSTRACT
Many of the qualities and tasks demonstrated in effective supervision overlap with those of an effective forensic practitioner, therapist, educator, leader or manager. However, these roles are discrete which leads to the question of how best to support and develop people to undertake the supervisor role. In common with many leadership and management roles, individuals often take on supervising others because of their position within an organisation rather than through specific training or expertise. Thus, it is relatively common in practice settings for supervisors to be experienced practitioners but not necessarily to possess specific training, skills or knowledge in supervision. In spite of this common approach, many authors and researchers have advocated training for both the supervisor (e.g. Davies, 2008; Hair, 2013; Hyrkäs, Koivula and Paunonen, 1999; Landmark et al., 2003) and the supervisee (e.g. Cutcliffe and Proctor, 1998a, 1998b). As with supervision practice within forensic settings, to date supervisor training has been a significant area of neglect. This chapter will focus on the reasons for investing in supervisee and supervisor training and development and provides an example outline of a training programme for forensic practitioners. First, however, it is important to consider the routes to becoming a supervisor which are commonly found in practice settings.
