Approaching Supervision From a Developmental Perspective: The Counselor Complexity Model

This article presents a developmental model of counselor supervision that conceptualizes the training process as a sequence of identifiable stages through which the trainee progresses. The progress of the supervisee is described from the entry level counselor through the advanced master counselor stage. Characteristics of supervisees at each of the four levels of the model are discussed as well as the appropriate supervision environments that encourage development to the next highest level. The supervisor skills of discrimination and the creating of environments are discussed in relation to the characteristics of supervisees and the appropriate environments for the supervision process. Suggestions are offered for future directions of supervision research.