A phenomenological inquiry of clinical supervision: Eight school counselors in Main

Research identifies a complex problem in the profession of school counseling: Counselors in schools often receive less than effective supervision of their clinical work. My qualitative study, which utilized a phenomenological inquiry method, was conducted to better define what constituted "effective clinical supervision" for eight school counselors in Maine. In-depth, discovery-oriented conversations held between researcher and participants was the method used to learn about the school counselors' worlds of work, their clinical supervision, and their beliefs about what made their supervisory experiences effective. The step-by-step analyses of these data are depicted; transcripts aid in comprehending the counselors' perceptions of the phenomena investigated.;The research process culminated in a detailed synthesis of the essence and structure of those eight school counselors' effective clinical supervision experiences. The major themes which emerged through these analyses clustered under four headings: counselor development, supervisors, the supervision, and supervisory events. Themes included: (a) evolution and development of the supervisor and supervisee; (b) supervisor's ability to address the wide variation among school counselor needs; (c) supervisee's hopes and expectations for supervision; (d) supervisor and supervisee relationship qualities; (e) supervisor's conduct and insight; (f) supervisor's style, manner, and approach; (g) supervision's personal and professional effect on supervisees; and, (h) establishment and maintenance of the supervisory process.;A careful review of these themes revealed tentative support for a supervisory approach which integrates administrative, developmental, and clinical issues. The synthesis also indicated that participants in this study were able to articulate both what supervisors did to provide effective supervision and speculatively comment on how their supervision could be replicated for other school counselors.;Implications for the conduct of effective school counselor supervision were addressed. Tentative implications for the preparation and training of school counselors as recipients and counselor supervisors as providers were discussed. Puzzlements about the utility and application of current supervision models to school counselors, and questions for future research were raised.