Getting ‘there’: the process of co-creating a good supervisory relationship

Abstract

This thesis outlines the findings of a four-and-a-half-year study focusing on clinical supervision and the supervisory relationship. This professional doctorate is rooted in my experience as a systemic family therapist, trainer, and supervisor.Clinical supervision is widely recognised as fundamental to the professional development of individuals in the helping professions, and there is a consensus that the supervisory relationship is central to effective supervision. Despite the existing research on clinical supervision and the supervisory relationship, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding the essential factors that supervisors and supervisees consider necessary for good supervision, particularly how they perceive themselves to contribute to these factors. This study aims to better understand the key elements identified by supervisors and supervisees that foster a positive supervisory dynamic and the actions they take to co-create this relationship. Two main research questions guide the research:*What factors are considered essential for a 'good' clinical supervisory relationship?*What steps do supervisors and supervisees take to co-create a 'good' clinical supervisory relationship?I employed a reflexive collaborative methodology within a qualitative research framework to explore these questions. The reflexive aspect acknowledges my influence as a researcher, recognising the limitations of my perspective and the inevitability of my subjectivity. Reflexivity allows me to consider my position, its implications, my knowledge, my interpretations and my own reflective processes. The collaborative approach emphasises that my research is a partnership with the participants, the literature and the supervisees I work with, recognising that cultural and social discourses shape knowledge and that all voices contribute equally valid interpretations. Eleven research conversations with fifteen supervisors and supervisees were recorded, watched, and listened to, and the transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Six factors were identified as essential in supervision: availability, clarity, disclosure, feedback, power and contextual consciousness. However, these factors do not exist in isolation; they are framed by the meaning-making processes of the participants, informed by their reflectivity and reflexivity.Through a deeper understanding of the critical role that reflectivity and reflexivity play in learning, I argue that these concepts are essential tools for practitioners and ethical imperatives in practice and for learning. I advocate a structured use of reflectivity, critical reflectivity, and reflexivity, which has led to the creation of a model that organises these concepts. This model, the reflect/xivity pendulum, three strolls with an emphasis on reflectivity, critical reflectivity and reflexivity, each consisting of ten steps, is a new model that contributes to the field of life-long learning for practitioners in the helping professions.

Date of Award	May 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bedfordshire
Supervisor	Victoria Carpenter (Second supervisor)