Development of the psychotherapy supervisor: concepts, assumptions, and hypotheses of the supervisor complexity model

The growth of the psychotherapy supervisor has been a much neglected topic in the clinical supervision literature. In an effort to better address this area, a four-stage model of development through which psychotherapy supervisors generally are thought to pass has been proposed. To further flesh out this model and render its substance more explicit, this paper complements the earlier explication by (a) providing basic foundation material that supports and underlies it and (b) providing additional material that extends it. The concepts, assumptions, and hypotheses of the Supervisor Complexity Model (SCM) have been identified and delineated. Some attention has also been given to how research on the SCM might best proceed. Specifying the model in this way seems important if it is to be subject to further professional scrutiny (so that refinements/revisions in it can be made), if it is to be rendered most researchable as a heuristic paradigm, if it is to be more solidly grounded within a developmental framework, and if it is to ultimately inform supervision practice.