Hello there! I have a feeling if you are taking a look here you may be a current clinical supervisor or possibly looking to supervise counselors or social workers who are working towards their licensure. You could also be a supervisee wondering which supervision role your current supervisor has when in sessions with you. I remember when I began providing clinical supervision, I read articles and talked to other professionals to figure out how they conducted supervision sessions and which role worked best for them. 

Deciding on a supervision role is not a huge permanent decision however, it does need to be a reflective and evolving one with a supervisee. To dissect that a bit further… when I learned about supervision roles during my Approved Clinical Supervision course, I learned that there are three: teacher, counselor, and consultant.

As a clinical supervisor you will utilize these three roles that will soon develop into your style, almost as a tiered system of autonomy of beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I really want to emphasize that this is not a reflection of how long your supervisees have been in the field. I have met clinicians that had wonderful supervision throughout graduate school and upon graduation. Then they may enter a different type of social work and need more guidance and learning from a supervisor with expertise in that area.