The Supervision Experience

“I have benefited in numerous ways from the individual and group supervision in the MFT program. Faculty and students have played vital roles in my personal development as a therapist and a scholar. Above all, supervision has allowed me to examine myself-- my strengths and weaknesses, my biases and assumptions. Such understanding promotes personal growth, self-reflection, and an opportunity to examine my role as a therapist.”  Erin Cushing


One of the hallmarks of clinical training in Marriage and Family Therapy is the reliance on live and video-taped sessions for supervision. This means that your supervisor will sometimes watch your therapy sessions from behind a one-way mirror. At other times, you and your supervisor will watch a video-tape of your therapy and discuss the case as well as your development as a therapist. This type of “hands on” training creates ideal learning and growth opportunities for students. You will also work as part of therapy teams in which several therapists work together with a single case. This way, you also learn about becoming a therapist from your colleagues.

The faculty seeks to provide students with opportunities for self-understanding and personal growth. Personal responses to clients and events, sometimes described as countertransference reactions, are identified and explored as they relate to the student’s functioning within their therapeutic role. There is also considerable emphasis placed on understanding person of the therapist from a cultural and contextual perspective.

A student must complete at least 100 hours of clinical supervision by an AAMFT Approved Supervisor or the equivalent. There must be both individual and group supervision. At least 50 of these supervision hours must be based on live observation (including supervisor participation), videotapes or audiotapes of students' clinical sessions. While COAMFTE requires that students receive one hour of supervision for every five hours of therapy, we routinely exceed this requirement, offering students a very rich supervisory experience.

MFT faculty members at UConn have contributed significantly to the development of supervision practices in the field of family therapy. MFT faculty research and publications in the area of supervision and training include such topics as:

• Personal Mythologies: A framework for Dealing with Therapeutic and Supervisory Impasses.
• Perspectives on the Essentials of Clinical Supervision.
• Family Therapy Trainees’ Evaluations of their Best and Worst Supervision Experiences.
• Training and Supervision in Family Therapy: Current Issues and Future Directions.
• Gender-Aware Supervision in Marriage and Family Counseling and Therapy: How Far have we Actually Come?
• A Cognitive-Developmental Model of Marriage and Family Therapy Supervision.
• Symbolic-Experiential Supervision: A Model for Learning or a Frame of Mind?
• Evaluation of an Academic Family Therapy Training Program: Changes in Trainees’ Relationship and Intervention Skills.
• The Role of Translator in the Case Transfer Process.
• The Process of Supervision of Supervision
• Trends in Supervision, including Attention to Race, Class, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Abilities, and Issues of Social Justice.
• Integrative Supervision Approaches
• Assessing Supervisees and Tailoring Interventions
• Systemic Cognitive-Developmental Supervision
• Continuing Education for Marriage and Family Therapists