Every competent practitioner in behavioral health should develop certain personal and professional qualities, but some are particularly important for supervisors. A paper by Sonja Zorga provides a brief overview of professional competencies that are essential for qualified supervisory work in the helping professions. It includes a table of characteristics of effective and ineffective supervisors. The paper also describes some common characteristics of supervisors as they grow in the process of professional development.

 

A competency diffusion resource, A Provider’s Guide: How to Use Core Competencies in Behavioral Health, has a section on using competency models in supervision. 
 

Click here to download this as a Word document. 

The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) has produced a competency-based framework for clinical supervisors. The Technical Assistance Publication (TAP 21) Addiction Counseling Competencies: The Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of Professional Practice provides a framework for understanding, learning, and implementing the multiple functions and tasks of a clinical supervisor. TAP 21, and other publications, can be ordered from the SAMHSA store.

The SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions (CIHS) promotes the development of integrated primary and behavioral health services to address the needs of individuals with mental health and substance use conditions, whether seen in specialty behavioral health or primary care provider settings. To address the increasing national focus on integrated care models, CIHS developed core competencies that can apply to both the behavioral health and primary care workforce.  [Cite: Hoge, M.A., Morris J.A., Laraia M., Pomerantz A., & Farley, T. (2014). Core Competencies for Integrated Behavioral Health and Primary Care. Washington, DC: SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions.]

Core competencies are available.