Culturally Competent Supervision: Myths, Fantasies, and Realities

1
Culturally Competent Supervision Myths,
Fantasies, and Realities

• Madonna G. Constantine, Ph.D.
• Teachers College, Columbia University

2
Overview

• Present common misperceptions of culturally
  competent supervision (aka supervision myths and
  fantasies), along with the realities of
  culturally competent supervision.
• Present contemporary models of multicultural
  supervision.
• Identify future considerations regarding
  culturally competent supervision.

3
Myth 1

• Addressing cultural issues in supervision is
  important primarily to people of color.
  Supervisors should not worry much about
  addressing cultural issues when working with
  White supervisees, but they should typically
  address cultural issues when working with
  supervisees of color.
• Reality
• Supervisors avoidance of or excessive emphasis
  on cultural issues may compromise supervisees
  training and clients mental health services
  (Arkin, 1999 Haber, 1996 Lopez, 1997).
• Supervisors respect for cultural similarities
  and differences will increase the likelihood that
  they are aware of how aspects of clients
  problems, problem solving strategies, and coping
  behaviors might be culturally bound
  (Torres-Rivera, Phan, Maddux, Wilbur, Garrett,
  2001).

4
Fantasy 1

• When cultural issues are important in the context
  of supervision, supervisees will bring them up
  necessarily as they pertain to their work with
  clients.
• Reality
• Supervisors typically should initiate discussions
  of cultural issues so as to create norms
  associated with open and forthcoming dialogues
  related to cultural similarities and differences
  (Constantine, 1997 Fukuyama, 1994).
• Supervisors explorations of their own personal
  values, cultural experiences, cultural biases,
  and stereotypes can provide supervisees with
  models to discuss their own clinical and
  supervisory struggles in working within
  counseling and supervision relationships.

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Myth 2

• Supervisors tend to be more culturally competent
  in terms of both psychotherapy and supervision
  than their supervisees.
• Reality
• Research findings suggest that counselor trainees
  may be more prepared academically to work with
  culturally diverse clients than their
  supervisors.
• Constantine (1997) reported that 70 of clinical
  supervisors had not completed a formal course in
  multicultural counseling, whereas 70 of their
  supervisees had done so.
• Duan and Roehlke (2001) found supervisees to be
  more sensitive to racial-cultural issues than
  their supervisors.

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Fantasy 2

• Supervisors and supervisees who are at similar
  levels of racial identity development will work
  more effectively in supervision in terms of
  promoting cultural competence of supervisees.
• Reality
• Supervisees cultural competence could be
  developed in the context of discussing and
  exploring racial issues with supervisors who have
  more mature (i.e., advanced )racial identity
  attitudes (Constantine et al., in press Ladany
  et al., 1997).
• Supervisors who are not racially conscious might
  harm their supervisees and their supervisees
  clients by neglecting racial-cultural issues in
  the conceptualization of clients presenting
  problems and their subsequent treatment plans.

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Myth 3

• Online supervision is just as effective as
  in-person supervision in promoting cultural
  competence in supervisees.
• Reality
• Constantine and Gainor (2002) found that peer
  supervision focused on cultural issues was more
  effective when conducted in-person versus online.
  
• Important non-verbal relationship cues exist in
  face-to-face supervision that are not accessible
  in web-based supervision (Kanz, 2001).

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Fantasy 3

• Supervisees will discuss in supervision all
  relevant information that occurs in the context
  of their therapy sessions.
• Reality
• Even within the most trusting supervision
  relationships, most supervisees find it difficult
  to share information with supervisors that might
  put supervisees in a less-than-desirable light,
  particularly regarding cultural issues. Thus,
  supervisee non-disclosure of salient cultural
  dynamics that occur in therapy sessions has been
  reported to happen often (Ladany et al., 1997).

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Myth 4

• Racial and ethnic issues are the most important
  types of cultural issues to explore in
  supervision.
• Reality
• Supervisory and counseling dyads often involve
  individual differences on more than one cultural
  dimension.
• Many researchers (e.g., Constantine, 1997, 2001
  Robinson, 1999) are increasingly recognizing the
  importance of examining the intersection of
  multiple cultural group memberships in
  supervision and counseling relationships.

10
Fantasy 4

• Being an effective, culturally competent
  therapist also makes one an effective and
  culturally competent supervisor.
• Reality
• There are unique skill sets that are each
  relevant to culturally competent therapy and
  culturally competent supervision.

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Models of Multicultural Supervision

• Multicultural Supervision Competence Framework
  (Constantine,1997)
• Uses semi-structured questions to help
  supervisors and supervisees to discuss salient
  cultural issues.
• Examples
• What are primary demographic variables that
  comprise your identity?
• What worldviews (e.g., values, assumptions, and
  biases) do you bring to supervision relationships
  based on your cultural identities?
• What struggles and challenges have you faced in
  your work with culturally different clients?

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Models of Multicultural Supervision

• Ancis and Ladany (2001) developed a supervision
  model that addresses cultural identity
  development issues across a range of variables in
  supervision.
• For any given demographic variable, an individual
  can be a member of one of two groups a socially
  oppressed group (i.e., SOG) or a socially
  privileged group (i.e., SPG). Thus, individuals
  simultaneously can be members of SOGs and SPGs.

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Future Directions for Culturally Competent
Supervision Practice

• Seek personal therapy to help understand
  themselves better and to better understand
  culturally diverse others.
• Recognize that the development of multicultural
  supervision competence is an ongoing,
  multi-faceted, and multi-layered process
  (Martinez Holloway, 1997).
• Participate in multicultural activities,
  including post-graduate coursework clinical
  experience with diverse clients participating in
  multicultural organizations attending
  professional workshops and conferences that
  emphasize multicultural competence and
  identifying experts who can provide supervision
  and consultation regarding multicultural issues.

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Future Directions for Culturally Competent
Supervision Research

• Explore the roles of culturally based supervisor
  and supervisee attitudes (e.g., their racial
  identity attitudes and worldviews) in the context
  of psychotherapy supervision activities (e.g.,
  case conceptualizations).
• Examine the specific processes by which
  supervisors and their supervisees develop
  competence in working with culturally diverse
  clients.
• Identify the types of multicultural supervision
  competencies (i.e., universal and
  context-specific) that may be needed and utilized
  across various professional practice situations.