A Review of “Foundations of Art Therapy Supervision: Creating Common Ground for Supervisees and Supervisors”

Abstract

Foundations of Art Therapy Supervision: Creating Common Ground for Supervisees and Supervisors is a welcomed addition to the professional body of knowledge in art therapy. Authors Yasmine J. Awais and Daniel Blausey present a timely, comprehensive map (their conceptual term) of the dimensional complexity of art therapy supervision primarily from within a United States-influenced system of helping and training. Because the book is written by art therapists from the perspective of art therapists who have navigated webs of practice, the map is specific to North American art therapists’ supervisory needs. Art therapy supervision is positioned at the center, in valid relation to sister professions of social work and counseling. The authors masterfully map out intricacies that stages of development pose for supervisors and supervisees, and layer reflexivity, cross-cultural awareness, and ethics. Having foundations from this viewpoint is critical because supervision is not just required in art therapy, it is highly influential for art therapy professional identity development. This book is a contemporary bedrock among art therapy supervision informational sources. The book is organized to guide the reader through what to expect from art therapy supervision. Authors clearly explore roles, personality, race, identity, and structural power in the art therapy supervisory relationship. Along the way they provide illustrative vignettes to give examples and complicate perspectives. Additionally, authors suggest applicable art therapy activities to process and reflect on the book’s content and practical strategies for use in supervision. Appendices include sample notes, sample case conceptualization formats, release forms, supervision disclosure worksheet and sample form, and an hour tracking sheet example. The reader is provided with approaches for a multitude of supervision arrangements and scenarios. Modeling the importance of and providing cultural context, the authors share their positionality and identities as those have impacted their professional development and learning, leadership, and relationships in supervision. Readers are invited and encouraged to cultivate their own cultural humility and awareness of how race, privilege, and power are crucial to discuss in supervision. For example, readers are invited to conduct a cultural self-assessment using a specific model which is included and explained. Theoretical frameworks of supervision are described: developmental models, competency-based, orientation-specific models, integrated models, psychodynamic models, cognitive behavioral models, and feminist multicultural supervision to expose the reader to models of supervision that make up the framework for these authors’ approaches. Readers learn about giving and receiving feedback, including conflict management, observation, and case materials like notes and case conceptualizations. The authors offer guidance for becoming an art therapy supervisor, with attention to the multiple roles garnered by practicing professionals. Supervisees read how to use supervision, how to manage up and respond to deepen their clinical knowledge, and how to engage with supervision at different professional developmental stages. Part one begins by describing what supervisors and supervisees can expect. Supervision is defined and the origins of supervision are explored. Awais and Blausey explain that the historical context helps to name the vital aspects of supervision and support art therapy’s cultural use of supervision. The authors provide a working definition of supervision and address variations of arrangements, settings, and working with differences to meet accreditation, professional development, and licensure. Workplaces and academic supervision are part of the complex landscape for art therapists and each have specific requirements, which are discussed in terms of professional organizations and credentialing. The book explains administrative, supportive, or educational focus of supervision and how supervisors and supervisees can adjust as needed. Part two highlights the importance of issues such as confidentiality and consent. This section weaves relational aspects into the business of supervision such as including professional identity development as a function of supervision. Part three “is the cornerstone of this book” (p. 119) naming and navigating differences. This section seeks to ground the supervisor/see with a frame of feminist and critical race theories to have discussions about power and differences. When the reader arrives at part four, the authors describe a purposeful and feminist multicultural supervision in individual, dyadic, and group arrangements like an integration of the supervision map. As I prepared to write this review, I read through the chapters of parts three and four several times, taking new insights away each time. As I applied them to my own