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Background: Mental health professionals face unique demands and stressors in their work, resulting in high rates of burnout and distress. Clinical supervision is a widely adopted and valued mechanism of professional support, development, and accountability, despite the very limited evidence of specific impacts on therapist or client outcomes. The current study aims to address this by exploring how psychotherapists develop competence through clinical supervision and what impact this has on the supervisees' practice and their clients' outcomes. This paper provides a rationale for the study and describes the protocol for an in-depth qualitative study of supervisory dyads, highlighting how it addresses gaps in the literature. Methods/Design: The study of 16-20 supervisor-supervisee dyads uses a qualitative mixed method design, with two phases. In phase one, supervisors who are nominated as expert by their peers are interviewed about their supervision practice. In phase two, supervisors record a supervision session with a consenting supervisee; interpersonal process recall interviews are conducted separately with supervisor and supervisee to reflect in depth on the teaching and learning processes occurring. All interviews will be transcribed, coded and analysed to identify the processes that build competence, using a modified form of Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) strategies. Using a theory-building case study method, data from both phases of the study will be integrated to develop a model describing the processes that build competence and support wellbeing in practising psychotherapists, reflecting the accumulated wisdom of the expert supervisors. Discussion: The study addresses past study limitations by examining expert supervisors and their supervisory interactions, by reflecting on actual supervision sessions, and by using dyadic analysis of the supervisory pairs. The study findings will inform the development of future supervision training and practice and identify fruitful avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The counselling/psychotherapy profession is relatively unique in its tradition of ongoing supervision of practising professionals after training has been completed. However, it is unclear whether most counselling and psychotherapy professionals continue with supervision once they have qualified, and what kinds of factors are associated with this decision. This research describes factors associated with the frequency of ongoing supervision among psychotherapists and counsellors. The study design used a cross-sectional workforce survey of members of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) member associations, representing around 2,500 members. A total of 316 members participated. Ninety-six per cent of the sample reported receiving ongoing psychotherapy supervision. Twenty percent received supervision weekly and 35% fortnightly. Most received individual supervision, with 8% receiving only group supervision and 9% only peer supervision. A multivariate logistic regression analysis identified several factors related to receiving a higher level of supervision per month: therapists who had higher client contact hours, who had higher rates of personal therapy, an undergraduate degree compared with pre-tertiary training, and female therapists compared with males. The paper discusses these findings in the context of understanding the development of the counselling/psychotherapy profession, models of counsellor training, and implications for practice and supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) is a self‐regulating professional peak body, comprising more than 40 professional associations for counselling and psychotherapy in Australia. It represents over 3000 individual practitioners from a range of counselling and psychotherapy backgrounds. This paper describes the decade‐long national consultative processes among practitioners, educators, and professional associations, which has resulted in a unique umbrella structure for member associations. This umbrella structure, the federation, has the potential to embrace and unite the field of psychotherapy and counselling, while maintaining the individual identity and purposes of member associations, in Australia. After describing the development, structures, and goals of PACFA, the paper outlines its major achievements. It then describes an important project on Self‐Regulation in Counselling and Psychotherapy. The objectives of this project are to investigate and further develop an Australian professional self‐regulation model, building on the community consultation processes initiated by PACFA in the mid‐1990s. This paper provides a review of key issues for self‐regulation, explores the options available in the Australian context, the model development to date, and outlines the national consultative processes currently under way to address the challenges facing the profession in Australia. We also discuss the importance of the dialogic and consensual processes adopted by PACFA in establishing a legitimate and credible voice for the profession as a whole in Australia. The paper ends with an overview of some challenges to the future of counselling and psychotherapy in Australia. La Fédération de psychothérapie et de counseling d'Australie (FPCA) est un conseil professionnel supérieur autogéré, comprenant plus de 40 associations professionnelles pour le counseling et la psychothérapie en Australie. Il représente plus de 3000 praticiens ayant des expériences variées en counseling et en psychothérapie. Cet article décrit les longs processus consultatifs nationaux de la décennie parmi les praticiens, les enseignants et les associations professionnelles, lesquels ont résulté en une structure unique chapeautant toutes les associations. Cette structure, la fédération, a le potentiel d'englober et d'unir les champs de la psychothérapie et du counseling, tout en maintenant l'identité individuelle et les buts des associations en Australie. Après avoir décrit le développement, les structures et les buts de la FPCA, cet article souligne les réalisations majeures de celle‐ci. Il décrit ensuite un projet important d'autogestion en counseling et psychothérapie. Les objectifs de ce projet sont d'examiner, puis de développer un modèle d'autogestion professionnel australien, érigé sur les processus de consultation communautaires initiés par la FPCA au milieu des années 1990. Cet article présente une revue des enjeux‐clés pour l'autogestion, il explore les options disponibles dans le contexte australien ainsi que le développement du modèle jusqu'ici et il souligne les processus consultatifs nationaux actuellement en branle pour aborder les défis auxquels fait face la profession en Australie. Nous discutons aussi de l'importance des processus dialogiques et consensuels adoptés par la FPCA dans l'établissement d'une voix légitime et crédible pour la profession à travers toute l'Australie. Cet article se termine avec une vue d'ensemble de certains défis futurs pour le counseling et la psychothérapie en Australie. La Federación de Psicoterapia y Consejo de Australia (FPCA) es un organismo profesional supremo autorregulado, que comprende a más de cuarenta asociaciones profesionales de consejo psicológico y psicoterapia de Australia. Representa a más de 3000 individuos que practican la profesión con antecedentes que varían entre el consejo y la psicoterapia. Este trabajo describe el proceso de consulta nacional de diez años entre quienes ejercen la profesión, educadores, y asociaciones profesionales que dio como resultado una estructura paraguas para las asociaciones miembro. Esta estructura paraguas, federación, posee el potencial para abarcar y unir el campo de la psicoterapia y el consejo, a la vez que mantener la identidad individual y los propósitos de las asociaciones que pertenecen a ella, en Australia. Después de describir el desarrollo, estructuras y metas de la FPCA, el trabajo delinea los logros más importantes de la FPCA. Describe después un proyecto muy importante sobre autorregulación en consejo y psicoterapia. Los objetivos del proyecto son investigar, y avanzar en el desarrollo de un modelo australiano de autorregulación profesional, sobre las bases del proceso de consulta iniciado por la FPCA en la mitad de la década de los noventa. Este trabajo proporciona una reseña de aspectos clave para la autorregulación, explora las opciones disponibles en el contexto australiano, el desarrollo del modelo al presente, y bosqueja los procesos de consulta nacional que actualmente se realizan para abordar los desafíos que enfrenta la profesión en Australia. También se discute la importancia de los procesos dialógicos y consensuales adoptados por la FPCA al establecer una voz legítima y creíble de la profesión como un todo en Australia. El trabajo termina con un panorama de algunos retos para el futuro del consejo y la psicoterapia en Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]