Supervising the supervisors: the evolution of a psychotherapy supervisors' group

Three distinct psychotherapy supervision group formats developed over a fourteen-year period. The most consistently successful format was having a proposed psychotherapy supervision topic but with the primary emphasis being placed on free group discussion. The more inexperienced psychotherapy supervisors initially seem to want a more structured didactic approach, e.g., teaching seminars, while senior members favor a spontaneous and personal exploration of specific therapeutic and supervisory relationships. Psychotherapy supervisors in a group situation can explore and promote a deeper understanding of the supervisor-therapist relationship. They can function as a didactic study group and at the same time offer a useful interpersonal learning experience without the group having a therapeutic format. Group member interactions highlight the importance of the intersubjective nature of transferences and alliances, beginning with how the group leader responds to the other supervisors which then can be a model for the subsequent supervisor/supervisee processes. The leader of such a supervisors' group can be more helpful if he will see himself as a facilitator of essentially peer group observations rather than a transference interpreter or group teacher. Psychotherapy training programs should consider the introduction of a psychotherapy supervisors' group to improve the teaching and learning of psychotherapy skills. The efficacy of such supervisors' groups cannot be easily measured although it is suggested that patient outcome and supervisee satisfaction is significantly related to the quality of psychotherapy supervision provided.