Supervision in Psychiatric Practice: Practical Approaches Across Venues and Providers

Despite the importance of supervision to the field of mental healthit is a building block of learning and a fundamental stepping-stone to unsupervised practicemost mental health supervisors receive little to no training in how to supervise. Supervision also remains the least developed and researched aspect of clinical training. This relative lack of attention to this crucial element of training is what makes Supervision in Psychiatric Practice such a necessary addition to the psychiatric literature. More than two dozen experts bring their knowledge to bear on establishing a practical framework for supervision grounded in real-world experience.

This guide explores techniques such as role-playing, working with process notes, live supervision, and co-therapy in a variety of clinical and nonclinical settings, including: inpatient psychiatry, hospital-based consultation-liaison, and emergency department psychiatry, couples and family therapy, administrative training, leadership development, and quality improvement initiatives.

Key points provide a context for each chapter and allow readers to easily reference the books major takeaways. All chapters address specific challenges and strategies related to the topic and include questions for supervisees and supervisors to facilitate discussion. Also included is a listing of additional resources that can serve as a springboard to further discovery and learning.

Special attention is given to unique issues in supervision, including selecting a psychotherapy supervisor, supervising adverse outcomes, supervising auxiliary health care providers, and terminating a supervisory relationship. A discussion of the legal issues in supervision and building a supervisor training program round out the most comprehensive, up-to-date manual of its kind.