ABSTRACT
Becoming a clinical or counseling supervisor can be a challenging experience for the mental health practitioner. While supervision is a relationship that is similar in many ways to counseling or psychotherapy, it has a different structure and purpose. The primary purpose of clinical supervision is to ensure the quality of client care while the trainee or supervisee is learning. The supervisor must constantly weigh the needs and welfare of the client with the supervisee’s need to learn and grow professionally. Supervision requires the evaluation of the supervisee’s professional and therapeutic competence as well as suitability for the profession. Therefore, supervision is a hierarchical relationship with evaluation as a key component.
