July 29, 2009

Clinical Supervision and Professional Development of the Substance Abuse Counselor

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse Treatment divided this this brief into three parts: Clinical Supervision and Professional Development of the Substance Abuse Counselor, An Implementation Guide for Administrators, and A Review of the Literature. Some topics covered in the first part include: basic information about clinical supervision in substance abuse treatment, central principles and functions of a clinical supervisor, the developmental levels of counselors, information on cultural competence, and information about monitoring clinical performance of counselors. For the newer counselors and supervisors, the second half of part one presents the "how to" of clinical supervision. Part two is an implementation guide for program administrators and consists of two halves. The first half lays out the rationale for the approach taken in the second half and will help administrators understand the benefits and rationale behind providing clinical supervision for their program's substance abuse counselors. The last part of this TIP is a literature review on the topic of clinical supervision.