The New Handbook of Administrative Supervision in Counseling

381 Pages·2008·1.87 MB·English

by  Patri Henderson

The New Handbook of Administrative
Supervision in Counseling
To meet the goal of delivering excellent, culturally responsive services to
clients, successful administrative supervisors provide leadership to profes-
sional counselors, manage counseling services, and work effectively within
their agencies. The New Handbook of Administrative Supervision in Counseling
is written for practicing, new, or aspiring first line supervisors who work in a
mental health agency, private practice, or in a school. It highlights the skills
needed to fulfill 18 job responsibilities such as implementing your vision,
advocating for services and staff members, navigating the politics inherent in
work environments, building a team of staff members, managing budgets and
other realities, and maintaining your own professional integrity and develop-
ment. Useful forms are provided, as are self-directed exercises to facilitate
personal reflection. Sponsored by The Association for Counselor Education and
Supervision.
Patricia G. Henderson has worked as an administrative and clinical super-
visor of school counselors for 35 years. She has authored and co-authored
18 books and 26 articles on counseling and guidance. As an active leader in pro-
fessional counseling at the local, state, and national levels Patricia Henderson
has received several awards for work as both counselor and supervisor, as well
as for research and writing. She currently heads her own consulting firm.

The New Handbook of
Administrative Supervision
in Counseling
Patricia Henderson
A product of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision
First published 2009
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The New Handbook of Administrative Supervision in Counseling / Patricia Henderson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Educational counseling—United States—Administration—Handbooks, manuals,
etc. 2. Student counselors—United States. 3. School personnel management—United
States. I. Henderson, Patricia, Ed. D. II. Title: The new handbook of administrative
supervision in counseling.
LB1027.5.H4365 2008
371.4—dc22
2008022489
ISBN 0-203-88730-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–99583–3 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–99584–1 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–88730–1 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–99583–2 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–99584–9 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–88730–1 (ebk)
Contents
List of Figures vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Section I
Defining Administrative Supervision in Counseling
1 Defining Administrative Supervision 3
Section II
Administrative Supervisors: Promote Client Welfare
2 Maintain the Clients as the Number One Priority 21
3 Be Responsive to Clients’ Diverse Cultures 33
4 Uphold Relevant Legal, Ethical, and Professional Standards 49
Section III
Administrative Supervisors: Ensure Their Departments
Contribute to the Quality of Their Agencies’ Services and
Service Delivery Systems
5 Align the Department With the Agency’s Structure,
Mission, Policies, and Practices 67
6 Communicate Effectively Within the Agency and the
Department 81
7 Advocate for the Clients, Counseling and Counselors
Within and Outside the Agency 95
Section IV
Administrative Supervisors: Supervise, Lead, Manage, and
Administer the People who Report to Them to Help Each
Individual Advance Toward Optimum Performance,
Productivity, and Job Satisfaction
8 Establish Professional Cultures That Support Excellence 111
vi . Contents
9 Build Healthy, Meaningful Professional and Personal
Relationships With Each Staff Member 123
10 Nurture Continuous Improvement of Each Staff Member’s
Performance 137
11 Apply Your Own Models for Providing Effective
Administrative Supervision 153
12 Organize Staff Members for Effective Service Delivery 167
13 Implement Effectively a Performance Management System 183
14 Evaluate Each Staff Member’s Performance 197
Section V
Administrative Supervisors: Design, Maintain and Improve an
Effective and Efficient Service Delivery System for Clients
15 Operationalize the Vision for the Department 219
16 Acquire and Manage Resources 235
17 Improve Continuously the Counseling Service
Delivery System 259
18 Lead the Process to Plan, Design, Deliver, Evaluate, and
Enhance the Service Delivery System 271
Section VI
Administrative Supervisors: Strive Continuously for
Excellence in Fulfillment of Their Administrative Supervision
Responsibilities
19 Develop Continually Your Own Supervisory Competence 287
Appendixes
A Standards for Counseling Supervisors 315
B Ethical Guidelines for Counseling Supervisors 321
C Multicultural Counseling Competencies and Standards 329
References 333
Index 345
List of Figures
1.1 Definition of Administrative Supervisors in Counseling 8
1.2 Administrative Supervisors’ Roles 12
1.3 Administrative Supervisors’ Power Bases 15
2.1 Six Stage Problem Solving Process 30
3.1 Assessing Clients’ Readiness for Counseling From a Multicultural
Perspective 42
3.2 Cultural Competency Criteria for Mental Health Agencies 44
3.3 Constantine’s Cultural Development Questions Useful in a
Supervisory Relationship 46
4.1 Examples of Professional Practice Standards 54
10.1 A Generic Post-Observation Conference Planning Agenda 149
11.1 Competence & Commitment Continua: Sample Discriminating
Vocabulary Words 158
11.2 Categories of Professionalism Matrix 160
12.1 Example Sequence of Essential Client Services Functions 171
12.2 Staff Meeting Agenda 180
13.1 Annual Administrative Supervision Plan: Performance
Management System Activities & Approximate Dates 187
13.2 Sample Calendar of Performance Management System Activities 194
14.1 Some Questions to Answer in Designing a Summative
Performance Evaluation Form 205
14.2 Professional Counselor Performance Evaluation Form 206
15.1 Counseling Center Mission Statement (Example) 227
15.2 SMART Objectives 230
16.1 Some Tips for Helping New Employees Succeed 240
16.2 Rules for Filing and Keeping Individual Personnel Records 242
16.3 Counseling Department Counselor Daily Time Log 246
16.4 Counseling Department Counselor Weekly Time Log 247
16.5 The 20 Biggest Time Wasters 248
17.1 Analysis Grid 264
17.2 Counseling Service Delivery System Improvement Planning Form 267
18.1 Delivery System Development Process 272
18.2 Designing an Evaluation Process 278
viii . List of Figures
18.3 Common Themes of External Evaluation 282
18.4 Patterson’s Top 10 Considerations for Preparation for a
Regulatory Review 282
19.1 Eight Step Decision-Making Process 293
19.2 Yearly Administrative Supervision Calendar (Partial Example) 298
19.3 Self Audit 306
Preface
Like its companion, The New Handbook of Counseling Supervision, this Hand-
book is “designed to bridge theory, research and practice” (Borders & Brown,
2005) in administrative supervision in counseling. To date, there is more prac-
tice of this type of supervision than there is theory or research. This Handbook
describes administrative supervisors’ job responsibilities, and the skills and
knowledge base they need to meet these responsibilities effectively and
efficiently. Much of it is derived from experiences of current administrative
supervisors in counseling. It also draws from the theory and research of coun-
seling leadership and supervision; and from those of business leadership,
management and supervision; organizational and educational leadership;
mental health administration; social work administration and supervision;
and supervision in government. I have assumed that learning in these related
fields transfers to counseling.
An additional purpose of this Handbook is to offer definitions and descrip-
tions that will provide a common language base, so important to advancing
this dimension of the counseling field. With the dearth of full textbooks on
this subject—I am aware of two, Henderson and Gysbers (1998) and Herr,
Heitzmann, and Rayman (2006)—a purpose of this Handbook is to serve as a
“concise reference book” (Webster’s Third, 2002, “handbook”) for potential,
new and experienced administrative supervisors. It is rooted in the original
Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Handbook of
Administrative Supervision (Falvey, 1987).
The purposes of administrative supervision are to ensure that a counseling
department’s clients and an agency’s mission and goals are well served. To do
this effectively, administrative supervisors support professional counselors in
the application and development of their professionalism. This Handbook is
divided into six sections. The first defines basic terms and concepts. Sections
II–VI address administrative supervisors’ five major responsibilities. In carry-
ing these out, they perform 10 functions, fulfill four roles and draw from seven
bases of power in order to meet 18 objectives. Each chapter defines an object-
ive and describes what an administrative supervisor would do to achieve it
well. Each chapter ends with an example of a recurring challenge that they
frequently face and an effective strategy for responding to it.