Supervision Standards in Professional Counseling: A Review

The Motivation Behind Supervision Standards for Professional Counseling

In 1989, a significant movement swept the counseling profession — one calling for the creation of supervision standards for professional counseling. As stated by Cobia and Pipes (2002), "one of the hallmarks" of professional counseling is the counselor's ability to self-govern, which often requires some minimum level of professional standards and/or education (p. 140). The primary goals of such measures are to protect the best interests of the public and the clientele served by the counseling community (Cobia & Pipes, 2002).

Many historical events necessitated this movement. Among mental health professionals prior to the inception of professional counseling standards, there were relatively few rules governing the number of clinical experiences or licenses needed to counsel people on mental health issues (Cobia & Pipes, 2002). Because of this, there was considerable variance in the training counselors received, with those having the least training most likely to produce poor outcomes among patients and clients (Cobia & Pipes, 2002; Walzer & Miltimore, 1993). There are also historical instances where "impaired professionals" — defined as those incapable of counseling another without supervision — had authority to do so, or did so without adverse personal consequences, even though clients may not have benefited from work with such impaired therapists (Cobia & Pipes, 2002, p. 140).

Impact of Standards on Professional Counseling

During the 1990s, the new standards affected both counselors and clients in meaningful ways. Professional counselors acknowledged a need for formal clinical supervision and a minimum period of clinical experience before a professional could work in private practice without oversight (Cobia & Pipes, 2002; Watkins, 1995). The predicted outcomes for clients working with licensed professionals who had adequate clinical experience were more positive than those for clients of professionals without proper qualifications (Cobia & Pipes, 2002). At the time of implementation, the professional standards provided counselors with an opportunity to gain the clinical experience necessary to offer "guidance as a disciplined professional" (Cobia & Pipes, 2002, p. 140).

Clients also benefited from the standardization of practice, as they entered sessions with greater confidence in the professional counselor's ability to assist them with life events, mental health problems, and related concerns (Cobia & Pipes, 2002; Watkins, 1995). Because most individuals begin a counseling relationship with some degree of skepticism, formal standards helped reduce that skepticism so that the healing process could begin more quickly and a trusting relationship could be established with the counselor sooner.

Despite these benefits, the standards of professional counseling developed in 1989 were not without problems. There remained little empirical evidence that the enacted standards made a significant difference in patient or professional outcomes, in part because few — if any — studies recorded the results of counseling before standardization measures were introduced, during their implementation, and after (Goodyear & Bernard, 1998). Much of the available literature is qualitative or subjective in nature, which raised skepticism regarding the validity of the research (Cobia & Pipes, 2002).

Limitations of the Original Standards

As times changed and professional counselors faced new challenges, it became apparent that the existing standards needed improvement. Professional counselors are now working with a population that is far less homogenous than in earlier decades. As a result, counselors may need more clinical training in multiculturalism and diversity to prevent bias from affecting counseling outcomes or impeding a client's progress (Goodyear & Bernard, 1998).