Training and Education in Professional Psychology

2010, Vol. 4, No. 1, 55 61

2010 American Psychological Association

1931-3918/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0017378

Clinical Supervision: Dialogues on Diversity

Ann S. Yabusaki
Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii, Honolulu
Integration of diversity issues into supervision training and research has been sorely neglected, in spite
of the recognition that diversity is a core component of psychological training. Several barriers to this
integration are described. The author suggests that these barriers can be surmounted by implementing
pedagogy developed for diverse and underserved populations. The author suggests that the supervisor
works within the supervisees zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986), use mediated
learning experiences that intentionally create collaborative learning environments (Feuerstein, 1979;
Feuerstein, Rand, Hoffman, & Miller, 1980), and mentoring relationships (Huang & Lynch, 1995).
Disguised case vignettes are presented to illustrate how diversity issues emerge and are discussed within
the learning environment.
Keywords: supervision, supervisor, supervisee, diversity, mediated learning

environment. They feared that they may be perceived as making

excuses for their poor performance or using their ethnicity as a
defense, or seen as pathologically preoccupied with color and
discrimination. (2) Many supervisors felt inadequately trained on
diversity issues. In some cases, trainees knew more than their
supervisor. (3) There was a lack of empirical evidence to support
the models of ethnic and cross-cultural training and their relationship to treatment. (4) Psychological training rarely focused on
self-knowledge and exploration. (5) The process of diversity education itselfthe exploration of personal cultural biases and prejudicesinduced resistance, defensiveness and inhibition in students (Falender & Shafranske, 2004, pp. 119 120). If these and
other barriers were not confronted, Duran, Firehammer, and
Gonzales (2008) cautioned that the status quo would be maintained in the mental health profession and unintentional oppressive
practices would continue, in part, because counselor education
taught predominantly from one worldview. If culture or human
diversity was not discussed, our silence condoned the denial of a
part of the Self.
Dialogues on diversity, however, are challenging: they speak to
the part of ourselves that we may not want to confront. Pinderhughes (1989) early attempts illustrated the challenge of raising
diversity issues in supervision. Falender and Shafranske (2004)
described several developmental and training models of multicultural competence, but there was little discussion on the interaction
or relational processes that facilitate the supervisee through these
models.
I am a third-generation Asian-American woman of Okinawa
decent, born and raised in the cultures of Hawaii, and collegeeducated on the United States continent. Most of my supervisory
experience has been with ethnic minority supervisees: African
American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Island, and Asian. Almost all
were of mixed ethnicities such as Puerto Rican, Mexican, Native
American, German, English, and other European ancestries. Although many were monolingual English-speakers raised in the
United States, most were bilingual and bicultural refugees or
immigrants from Asia and the Pacific Islands. The supervisees

Clinical supervision can be one of the most valuable experiences

in the education and training of psychologists. To understand the
art of supervision, Falender and Shafranske (2004) conducted an
extensive research of the literature. They defined supervision as a
distinct professional activity in which education and training
aimed at developing science-informed practice are facilitated
through a collaborative interpersonal process (p. 3), and identified
two qualities that made for good supervision: the supportive relationship and the working alliance. Little was known, however,
about how these qualities were created in supervision, much less
with ethnic minority supervisees.
Focusing on the training of diversity in supervision, Falender
and Shafranske (2004, p. 115) found that diversity was one of the
most neglected areas in supervision training and research. Others
echoed this finding calling for increased research in multicultural
supervision in general (Constantine, 2003) and on specific emic
factors such as the value on verbal communication, similarity and
differences in ways of language systems, and power differentials
operating in the supervisor-supervisee interaction (Brown &
Landrum-Brown, 1995). To help supervisees understand the importance and complexity of working with diversity, many others
insisted that supervisors learn about and appreciate themselves as
cultural beings (Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, & Alexander, 1995;
Pope-Davis, Coleman, Liu, & Toporek, 2003). The ethical obligation to practice responsibly underscored the importance of the
multicultural competencies (Sue et al., 1982; Wilcoxons, Magnuson, & Norem, 2008).
At least five barriers impeded diversity training in supervision:
(1) Supervisees were afraid to discuss color and race in a White

ANN S. YABUSAKI, PhD, earned her degree in psychology from the

Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Psychology. She currently
directs the Family Intervention and Training Services program at the
Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii. Her interests include the cultural aspects
of psychology and family therapy.
CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE should be addressed to Ann
S. Yabusaki, Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii, 1130 N. Nimitz Hwy.,
Suite A259, Honolulu, HI 96817. E-mail: geckogroup@cs.com
55

YABUSAKI

56

worked at agencies primarily serving Asian refugee and immigrant

or Asian and Pacific Islander children and families.
As a college student on the United States continent, I became
increasingly concerned about the effects of racism and other forms
of oppression. Born and raised in Hawaii, I grew up keenly attuned
to cultural differences. I became aware that my courses and supervised practice in psychology rarely addressed the experiences
of ethnic minority persons or the effect of microaggressions and
culture on behavior. I later realized that much of my education was
about adapting to the dominant culture. In response, I have devoted
most of my professional life deconstructing oppressive practices
and integrating cultural sensitivity into psychology.
As a supervisor, I wanted to create a forum for sharing different
worldviews where the concept of truth could be approached from
different perspectives. Assuming that all communication was cultural (Hall, 1959), I defined supervision as a process of communication embedded in multicultural nuances. The supervisors responsibility was to bridge the cultural differences with the
supervisee. To learn, I studied the supervisees. I cocounseled and
reviewed their videotapes. I created informal moments to talk
story, learn about what was important to them, and inquired about
their families, countries of origin, immigration history, values, and
beliefs. I attended to their protocols and other ways of communication. I also searched for theoretical scaffolding that would support the inclusion of alternative worldviews and nonoppressive
practices in supervision. Guided by pedagogy derived from diverse
and underserved populations, I focused on the cultural contexts of
communication and learning and adapted them to supervision.
This article proposes that (1) learning occurs slightly out of the
supervisees comfort zones in the zone of proximal development
(ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1955/1978, 1934/1986); (2) mediated learning
experiences (MLEs) or moments of new learning in the ZPD are
created in collaborative learning environments (Feuerstein, 1979;
Feuerstein, Rand, Hoffman, & Miller, 1980); and (3) a special
relationship such as the Tao mentoring relationship (Huang &
Lynch, 1995) enhances the learning environment. Although
these theories are culturally bound and developed for different
purposes, they helped me to formulate ways of crossing cultures
in supervision.

Pedagogy of Supervision
ZPD
The Russian developmental psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, observed that all mental functions developed within the context of
social interaction and therefore, all mental functions were culturebound. He was particularly interested in the development of
thought and language. To illustrate his theory of how higher
functions developed through social interactions, he demonstrated
that students improved their performance on cognitive tasks when
assisted or coached by a more knowledgeable person. With continued coaching, they internalized and later generalized the new
learning to different situations. He labeled the area from the edge
of what a person could do independently to what they could
achieve with assistance as the ZPD (Vygotsky, 1955/1978, 1934/
1986). These zones are where experiences of manageable challenges occur. Unfortunately Vygotsky died in 1934 before elaborating about the cultural influences on the development of higher

mental functions such as thought and language (Vygotsky, 1934/

1986).
Hall (1959) later attempted to clarify the influence of culture on
language, thought, and social interactions. An American anthropology consultant to American Foreign Service officers, Hall
demonstrated how the expression of language, thought, and behaviors were based in cultural worldviews. Others have shown
how cultural differences in worldviews apply in counseling
(Brown & Landrum-Brown, 1995; Lee, 2002; Ponterotto et al.,
1995; Pope-Davis et al., 2003; Sue & Sue, 1990).
Extrapolating these observations to supervision was challenging. For example, a supervisee who had emigrated from the Philippines often fell into an uncomfortable silence after greeting her
clients. She confessed that she panicked and could not speak
because she was afraid that she would upset the client. Her
professors taught her that questions such as How does that make
you feel were helpful in therapy, but to her, they seemed intrusive
and rude. After unsuccessful attempts to assuage her fears, I
wondered if my efforts felt intrusive to her. I asked her to teach me
about her world and the Tagalog language and tried to adapt to her
communication and learning styles. As we struggled to make the
unfamiliar familiar and she became more willing to risk upsetting
others, I imagined that we were working within the ZPD.

MLEs
After World War II, Feuerstein and colleagues (Feuerstein,
1979; Feuerstein et al., 1980) were faced with the task of assessing
the psychological and cognitive functioning of children from diverse cultures flowing into Israel. Many were refugees with traumatic histories. Conventional assessment instruments, standardized with children from dominant, mainstream culture, only
revealed the inadequacies of culturally deprived populations. He
defined culturally deprived populations as people who had become
alienated from their culture (Feuerstein, 1979). Feuerstein would
eventually develop methods that would show the individuals
potential for learning, suggest causes for failure, and recommend
methods to remediate or improve learning.
Feuerstein (1979) observed that individuals who had learned to
function within their own culture showed a considerable capacity
to learn and adapt to new situations. They tended to solve relatively difficult and novel tasks on assessment. He reasoned that
these individuals had been mediated or taught higher functioning
cognitive skills through their cultures and in turn, were able to
adapt to new situations. In contrast, individuals who were alienated
from their cultures were deprived of the intergenerational transmission and mediational processes necessary for the development
of higher cognitive functioning. This cultural deprivation might
have strongly affected their adaptive capacities.
Guided by the research of others (e.g., Budoff, 1969; Budoff &
Friedman, 1964; Luria, 1961; Vygotsky, 1978; Piaget, 1954; Piaget
& Inhelder, 1969) and his personal observations, Feuerstein (1979)
developed the Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD), a
dynamic, interactional view of intelligence . . . with the examiner
and examinee interacting as teacher and student, as helper and
helped (Feuerstein, 1979, p. 51). The examiner/mediator assessed
the processes of perception, thought, learning, and problem solving
by attempting to change them (Haywood, 1988). Feuerstein later
refined these social interactions or interventions and called them

SPECIAL ISSUE: CLINICAL SUPERVISION: DIALOGUES

mediated learning experiences (MLEs). Although more research is

needed, many have explored the efficacy of the LPAD and other
alternative assessment methods and found them useful in the
psychoeducational assessment of minority children (Jones, 1988).
The most important characteristics of MLEs reside in the mediators intentions and behaviors. The mediator intentionally intervenes between the individual and the stimuli, shaping responses
so they have cognitive and social meaning to the individual (Feuerstein, Rand, & Rynders, 1988). Mediators convey value and importance of information through their voices, affect, and other
nonverbal communication helping the individual perform beyond
their current functioning (ZPD) without becoming overwhelmed.
Some qualities of MLEs include (Feuerstein et al., 1988; Lidz,
1991):
Intentionality and reciprocity: create a reciprocal relationship
and improve higher cognitive functioning.
Transcendence: generalize skills to other situations.
Meaning: create meaning to the information.
Feelings of competence: provide encouragement.
Regulation and control of behavior: decreased impulsivity and
critique the stimuli.
Individuation and psychological differentiation: independent
thinking.
Challenge: a search for novelty and complexity in tasks.
Mediators coach, help individuals understand problems and
solutions, encourage, and give meaning to ideas and values. They
accommodate to the learning style of the student. However, because MLEs are situated in social interaction, they are culturally
bound and influenced by the mediators worldview. That is, what
might be meaningful to the mediator may not be to the individual.
If the information is necessary for survival, then the mediator must
make the information meaningful to the individual. They are both
challenged to mediate one worldview to another.
I was drawn to dynamic assessments because they provided an
alternative to normative or standardized testing and focused on
maximizing an individuals performance. Marginalized and unfamiliar with the cultures of the United States continent, I felt it was
unfair to be compared to others from the continent. I adapted the
methods of dynamic assessments to supervision and focused on
improving the individual supervisees effectiveness in the clinical
setting. To create MLEs in supervision, I needed to understand the
worldview of the supervisee. The style of Socratic questioning and
verbal analysis of situations common to supervision, were sometimes off-putting. Supervisees who were raised in cultures that
used talk story (informal sharing of experiences), observation, and
reflection as vehicles for learning seemed to have difficulty engaging in the Socratic method of learning. For supervisees who
appeared uncomfortable with the formality of supervision or who
preferred less eye contact or being in an office, I utilized informal
moments outside the office and limited eye contact to mediate new
concepts. Hence, I adjusted my style to the supervisee as best I
could, and developed multiple ways of creating MLEs.

The Mentoring Relationship

When your capacity for sharing wisdom is stunted,
So will be your fortune in receiving.

57

(From Mentoring: The Tao of giving and receiving wisdom

[p. xii], by C. A. Huang and J. Lynch, 1995, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 1995 by HarperCollins Publishers.
Reprinted with permission.)
The above saying describes the mentoring relationship. Tao
mentoring is about the more experienced person generously sharing their wisdom and in turn, graciously accepting new learning. A
major reward of supervising and teaching comes from the learning
I receive from my students. I grow from the mentoring experience.
According to Huang and Lynch (1995) the earliest model of the
mentoring process was established between 2333 and 2177 B.C., in
the succession procedures of three Chinese kings. The passing of
the throne by the sovereign to a virtuous and competent successor
was known in early democratic Chinese history as Shan Jang.
Literally, it means: the enlightened stepping aside to create room
in the center for the next deserving person to step in and take
charge (p. xi).
The Tao mentoring process was a sharing of wisdom, a dance
that provided opportunities for giving and receiving without limitations and fears. It was open, compassionate, and caring. It
exudes passion and inspiration for personal growth. Tao mentors
are accessible, but not close friends (From Mentoring: The Tao of
giving and receiving wisdom [p. 1718], by C. A. Huang and J.
Lynch, 1995, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright
1995 by HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted with permission.).
Humility, self-acceptance, integrity, kindness, nonjudgment, and
truthfulness were qualities of Tao mentoring.
Ideally, Tao mentoring created safe, nonjudgmental learning
environments. It enabled others to realize their full potential by
confronting and overcoming self-doubt and fear. It focused on
building an understanding of the interdependent nature of relationships and the interconnectedness of all life (Huang & Lynch,
1995).
Falender and Shafranske (2004) found that mentoring was
highly rated by trainees who received it and differentiated mentoring from supervision in several ways. The mentoring relationship was voluntary, typically sought out by the mentee, lacked an
evaluative or legal component, and often lasted longer than the
supervisory relationship. Many cultures make no such distinctions.
In Japan the sensei (teacher or master) (Takahashi, 1951) is expected to be a good coach, an esteemed, trusted, and benevolent
person who acts in the best interest of the student. Ideally, the
sensei teaches, evaluates, chastises, and gives advice. Perhaps
because I was raised with Tao mentoring, it was natural to bring it
to supervision.

Practicing the Theories in Supervision

Beginning of Supervision
Before I accept students into supervision, I ask potential supervisees what they would like to learn. Many respond with wanting
to learn specific skills such as motivational interviewing or
cognitive behavioral therapy or family therapy. I never discourage them and share my goal of helping them process situations and
use all of who they are. I inform them that my intention in
supervision is to create a mentoring relationship (intentionality and
reciprocity in MLE); that is, I will explain, show, and help them in

58

YABUSAKI

any way possible to learn. I explain that I prefer this relationship

as a means to help them develop their personal style (mediation of
individuation and psychological differentiation), understand and
respect their and their clients worldviews (mediation of challenge)
as they explore ways to facilitate change (mediation of meaning).
I describe the ZPD by telling them that I might push them into
uncomfortable areas that will challenge them personally. I ask for
a commitment to this journey of learning. If supervisees agree to
this contract, I accept them into supervision.

Process of Supervision
Throughout the course of supervision, I focus on the mentoring
relationship. As I had been taught by my family to value people for
who they are, not by what they do, I invite supervisees to ask
questions about and share anything of interest to them. I selectively
share information about myself, family, and work. Because I was
raised with the idea that sharing food is part of the protocol of
building relationships, I share meals with supervisees and seek
opportunities to meet with them informally to learn about who they
are. I have adapted my familys ways of caring for people to the
mentoring relationship. In my family, when parents or grandparents pick up children from school, they bring snacks. Grandchildren are expected to care for grandparents. Children are taught to
care for the ancestral gravesite. People bring gifts to the family
after a trip. In similar ways, I bring snacks and treats from my
travels to training to share and create collaborative environments.
I encourage supervisees to share their work in ways that feel safe
for them.
The following examples illustrate how I learned to adapt MLEs,
worked in the ZPD, and adapted Tao mentoring to the supervision.
The illustrations have been disguised to protect the confidentiality
of clients and supervisees.
Example 1: Supervising immigrant and refugee counselors.
My intention was to create a collaborative learning environment in
which everyone took responsibility for their learning. The collaborative relationship, however, assumed a new meaning when I
supervised a group of bilingual bicultural counselors. I found that
for this group, I had to address their personal and professional
needs and take responsibility for their learning.
Early in my supervision experience at an agency primarily
serving Asian refugees and immigrants, supervisees from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and China taught me about the role of the
supervisor. I was expected to be their sensei (teacher in Japanese)the ultimate authority. When I asked them how I could
improve myself as their supervisor, they scolded me for asking.
They assumed that I should know how to supervise them and were
offended by my question. Throughout the supervision, I struggled
to balance their expectations with my beliefs that all experts were
students and everyone brought unique knowledge to share.
On another occasion, I was asked by a group of Cambodian
counselors to help them deepen their therapy groups experience.
They asked me to teach them about group counseling skills by
helping them run the group. They, in turn, would interpret for me.
I was not sure if I could help, but I was intrigued by the request.
After reading several autobiographies and the history of the region,
I told the counselors that I would like to bring a couple of the
books to the group to help them discuss their stories and perhaps

by discussing their stories, the group would have a different

experience. They agreed.
At the next meeting, I shared the autobiography and history
of the genocide by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Everyone in
the group had experienced the genocide, but none had heard about
the extent of devastation to their country or their people. Soon, the
group members began to tell their stories and we all started to cry.
I worried that I was retraumatizing the group and the counselors.
When I asked the counselors about stopping, they said it was
helpful to tell their stories and wanted to continue. I still worried
that they were being polite and I should close the process. As I
watched the counselors, I realized that I had not properly prepared
them for this experience: I had neglected to desensitize them to
their experiences of the war. I realized that I had to debrief and
attend to their needs from this group experience. The traumas from
the war might impede their learning and personal healing. As their
sensei I knew that they counted on me to take care of them. I
sought support for myself as I too was affected by the experience.
I realized my limitations as well. No matter how I prepared this
group of supervisees for the counseling experience, the process of
therapy would be difficult and I questioned whether I was ethically
and personally the best person for them.
While supervising refugee and immigrant supervisees, I recalled
a lesson that my father, who was raised in Okinawa, taught me. He
often chastised me about my Western ways. On one occasion, I
asked him if he would like the last ice cream bar for dessert. He
said, No. As I proceeded to walk away unwrapping the bar for
myself, he yelled, Youre supposed to ask me three times! and
scolded me for being insensitive. I was supposed to ask three
times, he said, and he was supposed to refuse twice before saying
yes. The no meant yes. Laughing at my faux pax, I gave him the
ice cream bar.
Many supervisees embracing traditional values communicated
in many indirect ways. It did not matter what generation from
which they came. Fourth generation supervisees could also embrace indirect ways of communication. To understand how to
communicate with them, I used role plays, observed their sessions,
and observed how they interacted with one another. They shared
stories with me about their culture and beliefs and explained why
some of my suggestions would not work. For example, as I
debriefed a role play of a traditional Vietnamese family, all of the
supervisees agreed with my analysis of the family interaction. I
then suggested that the counselor intervene and stop the fathers
tirade toward the son. The young woman Vietnamese counselor
looked panicked. I wondered what I had said to upset her. She
haltingly replied that she could not intercede with the father.
She was raised in a traditional Vietnamese family in which all the
men uncles included disciplined the children. She could not be
disrespectful to this man. I did not want her to feel that she had
failed or was being disrespectful to me and reassured her that we
would find another solution.
In group discussion, the first generation counselors from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Philippines, and China agreed
that she should not intercede. The third generation counselors from
Korea, Japan, and the Philippines expressed the need to intercede
but did not know how without being disrespectful. We all agreed
that age and gender played roles in whatever intervention we
decided upon. To hold the MLE perspective, I carefully monitored
the frustration level of the group and kept encouraging them to

SPECIAL ISSUE: CLINICAL SUPERVISION: DIALOGUES

expand their ideas about an intervention. They decided that an

older male counselor should intervene and empathize with the
father about the difficulty of raising children in America.
The discussion taught me patience: supervisees dilemmas and
solutions would unfold eventually if I stayed focused on the
relationship. If the relationship was right, they would enter into the
ZPD. I was grateful that the group felt safe enough to challenge
and help the sensei. I was even more grateful that they could
support and help each other find solutions and individuate from the
sensei. The result was a group of supervisees who analyzed sessions, questioned therapy, engaged in avid discussions, and found
creative solutions.
Example 2: Supervising third- or more-generation counselors. In an interview with Bill Moyers(Moyers & Moyers, 1990),
Tu Wei-Ming, professor of Chinese history and philosophy, introduced the concept of a cultural DNA. He suggested, for example,
that the culture of China was embedded in Chinese communities
throughout the world. Whether living in Europe, Asia, or North
America and irrespective of the generations, a person from the
Chinese culture will practice Confucian traditions. They may not
be aware of that they are Confucians, but they will transmit some
of these values to their children. In essence, supervisees of every
generation will bring some values and beliefs from their traditional
cultures. My hope is to understand and weave their worldviews
into the supervision. The following example illustrates my struggle
to use a cultural understanding of the supervisee in supervision.
Gen, a 35 year-old fourth generation Japanese American supervisee, asked the supervisees group to review a videotaped portion
of a session with a couple. He was concerned that he had been rude
and overly direct and feared that they would not return. He wanted
help on how he could have responded differently.
The videotape showed a couple discussing their teenage son.
The mother said, I know he (my child) needs limits, but he was
doing so well, that I gave him back the cell phone (earlier than
agreed upon).
The father looked complacently at Gen. When Gen asked the
father what he thought about this, he replied, Why should we
have to keep the cell phone when he (son) is now behaving? Im
waiting for him to allow God into his heart. Weve all had
difficulties in life. I know because I did the same even worse
things than he did. And God turned my life around.
Gen turned pale. His face and posture became rigid. He replied
in a very controlled tone,
Do you love your son?
The couple looked aghast and angry. What are you saying?
They asked.
He replied, Well, you are not telling him the truth. You say one
thing then do another.
Gen then launched into a long explanation about the need for
limits because their son feels he can do anything he wants and
knows how to manipulate them to get what he wants. If they loved
their son they would teach him there were limits in this world.
At this point, Gen stopped the tape. I was concerned that he
might have overexposed himself to the others and wanted to
support and protect him. From what I knew shame and saving face
were important to him. I decided to create a MLE by acknowl-

59

edging the courage it took to present this tape and asked others
what it was like to see this couple. I guessed that the group, made
up mostly of third and fourth generation Asian and manygeneration Native Hawaiian supervisees who were kind and considerate individuals would probably respond supportively.
After sharing about our clients with similar presentations, I
noticed that Gen seemed more relaxed. I did not feel comfortable
asking directly about his feelings, as I did not want to be intrusive.
I decided to ask in an indirect way, If you dont mind sharing,
what were you feeling at that moment?
Gen responded that he was angry and felt used. The couple came
for help with their sons temper and when he tried to help, they
undermined his suggestions. I decided to press him into the ZPD
and asked what it was like in previous sessions for him. The
question was intended to help Gen (and the group) discover how
we tend to accommodate to the feelings of others and deny our
own. My hope was that he would wonder why he ignored his
irritation earlier in the therapy. I also wanted Gen and the group to
notice that there are other sources of information that therapists
sometimes miss in sessions. I carefully monitored Gens body
language so as not to embarrass or overly expose him to the group.
When Gen slumped in his chair I worried if he was overwhelmed
by the attention. I knew that it was difficult for him to ask for
consultation in a group setting and to appear foolish to his
colleagues.
The group, however, approached his question with serious concern. They discussed their difficulty of balancing Western directness with their value of indirectness. They wondered if, when, and
how to share information to further the therapy. It was impressive
to watch them working in the ZPD: they hypothesized, compared
data, and made new meanings and connections from watching the
videotape. They were also individuating from the supervisor.
In individual supervision, I struggled to know how to approach
Gen about his angry response to the couple. My family taught me
to care about peoples feelings before my own. Yet, my Western
education taught me that speaking directly was important. It was a
difficult lesson to learn. Tao mentoring also required me to be
honest, but I wondered how to be honest. I approached him
indirectly. I asked Gen what he had learned from his family about
the value of harmony. We talked about our experiences, laughed
at the extent our families went to avoid conflict, and acknowledged
the pain it caused for the family. I then asked if he would share
what his true feelings (honne in Japanese) were about this family
and why he responded as he did. He stated that he wanted to
express his frustration but did not want to be rude. Instead he
created a facade of understanding (tatemae in Japanese) thinking
that avoiding conflict would further the therapy. I was relieved that
our relationship could be based on honesty and I could be flexibly
direct and indirect with him.
Throughout supervision, I constantly assessed the thinking and
motivational factors of all the supervisees. Were they aware of the
multiple sources of information in a session? Could they identify
missing information? How efficient were their skills of planning,
organization, and action, and did they apply them with sensitivity
to the client? How much effort would it take and how do I refocus
their attention and refine their thinking about psychological processes? It was most important that I tried to assess their interpretation of supervision, monitor frustration levels, and sought ways
to encourage them.

YABUSAKI

60
End of Supervision

Supervision is often over when the supervisee becomes more

independent, appears to be relating well to the client, and clients
appear to be improving. I listen to the way the supervisee speaks
about clients and try to model any areas I feel they could be more
respectful of the clients worldview. The end of supervision is
always bittersweet. I will miss our process of sharing and receiving. I will miss the challenge of learning to communicate and
bridging to their worldview. And I know that the supervisee can
benefit from other perspectives and ways of supervision. It is time
to let go.

Conclusion
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
Zen Buddhist Saying.
A classic story in Zen Buddhism teaches that one cannot receive
wisdom until one is ready to accept it. A pompous professor asked
a Zen master to teach him the art of Zen. In response, the master
invited him for tea. He eagerly accepted. After seating themselves,
the master began pouring the tea. He continued to pour even as the
cup overflowed. The professor, confused, wet, and upset, jumped
back from the table and angrily asked the master what he was
doing. The master replied, Your knowledge is already spilling
over, so how can I offer you any more? (From Mentoring: The
Tao of giving and receiving wisdom [p. 29], by C. A. Huang and
J. Lynch, 1995, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright
1995 by HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted with permission.).
Students come eagerly to an internship wanting to test their
skills. They are fresh with ideas, hopes, and dreams of making a
difference. They feel they have something to offer. Similarly, I
thought I could make a difference and believed that I had something special to offer. In the process of supervising, however, I
had to empty my cupmyselfso that I could learn from the
supervisees.
In this article, I attempted to present an abbreviated version
of my journey as a supervisor. When called to supervise, I
panicked and searched for models to guide me. I found several
that embraced my worldview: (1) if I follow Tao mentoring,
then I become the student; (2) if I follow the tenets of MLEs,
then I am responsible for creating moments of learning; (3) if I
learn to communicate with the supervisee, then I might learn to
work within the ZPD. All embraced the importance of
relationship.
I learned early on that I would never become comfortable in the
role of a supervisor: I would be constantly challenged to reconcile
contradictions. In Tao mentoring and MLEs, I am the more experienced person and the student. When I want to be the student, I am
scolded and told to be the sensei. In supervision, I am expected to
evaluate supervisees skill, when I prefer a more egalitarian relationship. I am bound to patience when supervisees irritate, annoy
or challenge me. I am responsible for the learning environment
when I am tired and bored. When I am eager to help, I must adjust
myself to the supervisees learning style. While conversations on
diversity can be extraordinarily challenging, I cannot ignore them.
If I did, I would neglect an important a part of the Self. And if my
intention is to help supervisees explore and experience as much of

the art of therapy, then discussions on diversity must become part

of the supervision.
Throughout supervision I am forced to question and stretch my
worldview, challenge hubris, deal with nadir, and create internal
balance. This process has taught me to take better care of myself
and left me with the hope that we became more thoughtful and
ethical therapists because of it.

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Received August 15, 2008

Revision received July 6, 2009
Accepted July 24, 2009

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