Bernard's Discrimination Model of Clinical Supervision

Introduction to Clinical Supervision

Mental health practitioners' clinical supervision began similarly to the practice of "apprenticeship" in other fields. Apprentices or pupils possessing basic skills and knowledge would become proficient in their work through observation, assisting the accomplished professional, and receiving feedback. The prevailing belief was that, since the "master" excelled at the job, his or her supervisory and teaching skills would be equally strong. However, this is not always true. Experts in the field have recognized that, despite counseling and clinical supervision having much in common — including the ability to engage in effective interpersonal relationships — these two tasks employ unique and distinct skills. In other words, an expert clinician will not inevitably be an expert supervisor without additional training and experience in supervisory skills and knowledge. Moreover, the specialist-apprentice supervision concept creates a power hierarchy that positions the specialist or coach as the "authority" in the field; this dynamic receives no support in current literature on supervision and training (Smith, 2009).

It has also been established that clinical skills and knowledge cannot be transferred as easily as the trainer-apprentice model implies (Falender & Shafranske, 2004). Observation of master clinicians at work is undoubtedly a valuable training tool; however, it does not suffice in helping pupils develop the skills required to become accomplished clinicians themselves. Student reflection on the supervision process, the counseling relationship, and their own work facilitates genuine development. Consequently, clinical supervision has more recently been gaining recognition as a multifaceted supervisor–supervisee exchange, with supervisory theories and models being developed to provide it with a coherent framework.

Among the most widely researched and adopted integrative supervision models today is Janine Bernard's Discrimination Model, originally proposed by Bernard in 1979. The model comprises three distinct supervision foci — intervention, personalization, and conceptualization — and three potential supervisor roles: teacher, consultant, and counselor (Bernard & Goodyear, 2014). At any given moment, a supervisor can respond in any one of nine ways (3 foci × 3 roles). For instance, the supervisor may assume the teacher's role while focusing on a specific intervention the supervisee employed during a client session, or may assume the counselor's role with a focus on the supervisee's work conceptualization. Because the response is always specific to the supervisee's needs, it shifts across roles within sessions.

The supervisor first assesses the supervisee's ability within a given focus area and then selects the appropriate role from which to respond. Goodyear and Bernard (2014) advise mental health supervisors to refrain from responding from the same role or focus out of personal preference, habit, or comfort. Rather, supervisors must ensure their chosen role and focus address the supervisee's most pressing needs for that particular situation. This paper reviews the Discrimination Model together with its key elements: supervision, roles, and foci.