IJSP Number 7, 2025

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 7, 2025 Page | 71 distressful clinical situations worse and potentially contribute to therapy failures and supervision strains and ruptures. As Orlinsky and colleagues (2024) in [28] put it, allowing trainees to get into supervisory relationships, that they perceive as critical and judgmental, and with which they are dissatisfied, could heighten [ Stressful Involvement ] by creating a situation that Rønnestad and Orlinsky termed double traumatization - that is, struggling to cope with one's supervisor while also, struggling to cope with one's patient. (p. 1451) The provision of competent, if not exceptional, supervision is of tantamount importance to ensure the highest standards of patient care, mitigate doubts and disillusionment in supervisees, facilitate their competence development, and encourage full engagement in clinical training. The quality of the supervision will determine whether clinical supervision was a help or a hindrance to the supervisee's growth and patient welfare. This is also the case when a professional psychotherapist seeks consultation. Supervisors have the primary responsibility to ensure the quality of clinical supervision. They must be well-educated and trained in supervision as a unique professional competence to facilitate, develop, and sustain effective supervision. We suggest employing a competency-based approach as a framework to establish developmentally positive supervision and consultation [16]. COMPETENCY-BASED CLINICAL SUPERVISION: AN INTENTIONAL APPROACH IN CLINICAL TRAINING Competency-based clinical supervision [8, 9, 11, 12, 17, 18] provides an overarching framework and a practical approach, which is aligned with the provision of Developmentally Positive Supervision , which in turn is associated with Currently Experienced Growth [31] . Its approach is consistent with the general supervisory principles outlined by Rønnestad and colleagues (2019) in [30], which emphasize establishing a supervisory alliance, using a supervisory contract, creating a reflective culture in supervision, addressing the complexity of therapeutic work (including consideration of social classes and intersectionality), regulating the level of challenge on the supervisee, and providing appropriate scaffolding and corrective experiences to enhance development (p. 218). Competency-based clinical supervision is: a metatheoretical approach that explicitly identifies the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that are assembled to form a clinical competency and develops learning strategies and evaluation procedures to meet criterion- referenced competence standards in keeping with evidence-based practices and requirements of the local clinical setting. [17, p. 19]. It reflects the aims of the competencies movement to bring greater accountability to the healthcare professions and to ensure the well-being of clients, facilitate the development of competence, and protect the public [18]. Implementation of the approach supplies best practices to support the supervisee, form a trusting and collaborative relationship and alliance, and facilitate competence development. Further, the approach opposes a laissez-faire approach to supervision in which inadequate or harmful supervision may take root.