Resistance to Clinical Supervisor

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According to Stoltenberg and Delworth (1987),
and Logenbill, Hardy, and Delworth (1982), there are three stages of counselor
development: the first stage is one of reliance, the second stage is one of trial and error,
and the third stage is one of maturity.

Stage 1 - Reliance
Stage 1 supervisees are highly motivated. They lack basic counseling skills but
have a strong desire to perform effectively. Their focus is on how to perform a skill. The
emphasis on skill mastery evokes performance anxiety or apprehension in performing
interventions. This apprehension is indicative of cognitive self-focus. Autonomy at this stage is absent and reliance on the supervisor is acute. For example, supervisees in
this stage have a propensity to have an over-dependency on textbook theory; this
requires supervisors to provide more assistance to facilitate the trainees' growth and to
help them critically accommodate the use of theory in practice.
Ronnestad and Skovholt (1993) stated that stage 1 supervisees enter counseling
sessions reliant on the assistance of their supervisors, and that this need is as a result
of the hierarchy of skill development. Stage 1 requires that supervisors teach the
fundamentals of counseling to enhance the trainees' skill competency (Bernard, 1979).
To that end, supervisors must be aware of their didactic role of teaching counseling
skills and techniques (Neufedt, Iverson, & Juntunen, 1995; Worthington, 1987). For
example, in this stage supervisors often explain the rationale for counseling strategies
and interventions used in counseling, assist with case conceptualization, evaluate
counseling sessions, and model intervention techniques (Neufedt, Iverson, & Juntunen,
1995; Stoltenberg & Delworth, 1987).
In addition, supervisees in the reliance stage may over-assimilate and/or over accommodate.
Over-assimilation is fitting information received from students into
preconceived notions about the student's concerns. Over-accommodation is ...