What is clinical case supervision for psychologists?

The world of psychology and mental health in general is based on knowledge of everything type, both theoretical and practical, and it is part of what makes this field of work something fascinating.

However, this also implies that, from the point of view of professionals, doubts and obstacles can always arise before which it is difficult to know what to do. Especially in the area of ​​psychotherapy, encountering new situations or unexpected problems is common.

That is precisely why it exists supervision for psychologists, a very common service among professionals or teams of highly experienced psychologists who combine their usual tasks with help sessions for other colleagues. Here we will see what they consist of.

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What is clinical case supervision in psychology?

The supervision of clinical cases, as the name suggests, are processes in which an intervention professional psychological counseling in patients advises another to help him direct a specific case which he is in charge of in his consultation.

These supervision sessions They can be carried out punctually (in a single session) or with a certain periodicity to track a case throughout the days. On the other hand, many times it is possible to do it not only face to face, but also online.

This is not an impromptu service, but many psychologists have already developed a specific way of offering this service to colleagues, so that they have the experience and the necessary preparation to help whoever need.

Only novice psychologists need it?

The answer to this question is no: Any professional, whatever his degree of experience, may on certain occasions need the supervision of other psychologists to know how to manage a specific case. After all, psychotherapy is such a complex process that no one is fully in control of what happens in it (for better and for worse), which means that there is always room to learn.

In addition, sometimes the problem is not the lack of theoretical-practical knowledge, but the need to have a external agent who is capable of analyzing in a more objective way how the link has developed therapeutic.

Goals of supervision for psychologists

The main objectives of the supervision of clinical cases in psychology are the following.

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1. Solve doubts

Especially at the beginning of the intervention processes in the clinical field, as well as in the phases of evaluation of the progress made by the patient, some psychotherapists have specific doubts that they cannot solve on their own, referring to very specific knowledge gaps. It should not be forgotten that a lot of information related to mental health research is published each year, and searching through these publications is not always easy.

Therefore, the possibility of raising questions directly with those who have been engaged in psychological therapy for years is of great value, because it saves a lot of time and It also allows to have a global vision of the matter, in which the little relevant information has already been filtered and discarded, showing above all what is of greater utility.

2. Fix deadlock

One of the most common reasons why psychotherapists resort to case supervision has to do with with the need to advance therapeutic processes in which too much improvement is not appreciated significant. In this way It is about channeling the intervention by focusing on the achievement of concrete and objective goals.

3. Enhance therapeutic skills

Supervision for psychologists also helps to polish therapeutic skills that are not always explained in books: the so-called "soft skills" have been shown to play a relevant role in helping patients and connecting better with them, and they can be more easily trained if there is a real person monitoring the way in which the professional who seeks to be supervised behaves.

4. Share resources and strategies

It should not be forgotten that the supervision of clinical cases is carried out through the direct communication of professionals who exchange information; This means that the most up-to-date knowledge and resources can be disseminated in a more agile way, without the (relative) rigidity of searching and reading articles in specialized journals, completing postgraduate courses, etc.

One of the advantages of this is that, when perceiving specific problems or needs that the person seeking supervision does not know very well how to approach, The supervisor can propose, on her own initiative, solutions that the other person had not previously considered, because the relationship is symmetric. This is something that occurs less frequently in interactions of a rather asymmetric type, such as master classes in a university degree or in a Master's degree.

Ultimately, clinical case supervision sessions are a means by which knowledge travels spontaneously, responding to specific needs when they are recognized as such.

5. Helps to see the therapeutic relationship in perspective

Finally, another advantage of this class of services is that they help to detect problems related to the therapeutic relationship with specific patients. This is, phenomena that are born and die with the course of psychotherapy and of which there is and cannot be anything published, but they also provide a lot of relevant information that you have to know how to take advantage of in order to reach therapeutic goals and establish a climate of honesty, trust and harmony.

Are you looking for this type of service for professionals?

If you dedicate yourself professionally to psychotherapy and you are interested in having supervision services for psychologists, we invite you to contact us, the El Prado Psychologists center. Our team of professionals has more than 15 years of experience caring for patients, and has experts in different orientations therapies and various areas of intervention: child-adolescent therapy, adult therapy, sexual therapy, perinatal psychology, couples therapy, etc.

In addition, we supervise both online and in person in Madrid, in sessions of 25 or 55 minutes.

To see our contact information, go to this page.