2013

Competence in counseling includes awareness of self and attitudes during the counseling process (American Counseling Association, 2005). Therefore, cultivating counselor self-awareness is a critical aspect of clinical supervision. The Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) described best practices for supervision, which stated that supervisors should use “interventions that address a range of supervision foci, including counseling performance skills, cognitive counseling skills, case conceptualization, self-awareness, and professional behaviors” (ACES, 2011). Promoting self-awareness in supervision often calls for creative approaches that go beyond basic problem solving in an effort to engage supervisees in a more self-reflective practice. By inviting supervisees to self-reflect and focus inwardly on their clinical experiences, the supervision process itself has the potential to create a more lasting “second-order change,” or change in the change process (Fraser & Solovey, 2007). This type of enduring change can create ripple effects, transforming the counselor as well as affecting other counselor-client relationships.