Supervision is most valuable when it encourages reflection, self-awareness, and professional growth. The following questions are designed for licensed therapists supervising pre-licensed clinicians. They can be used to guide conversation, stimulate case reflection, and deepen the supervisee’s understanding of their clinical work, personal reactions, and emerging professional identity.
1. Exploring the Clinical Work
- Which client or session has been on your mind the most this week, and why?
- What do you notice happens inside you when a session feels stuck?
- How do you decide which interventions to use in the moment?
- When do you feel most confident in session—and least confident?
- If you could replay one moment from a recent session, what might you do differently and why?
- How do you track progress with your clients? What tells you therapy is working?
- Which clients are easiest for you to connect with? Which are hardest—and what might that reveal?
- What assumptions do you think you brought into your work with this client?
- What emotions do your clients tend to evoke in you?
- How do you manage boundaries when you feel deeply invested in a client’s growth?
2. Self-Awareness and Countertransference
- What parts of your own story get activated in your work lately?
- How do you know when your own emotional reactions are helping the work—and when they’re getting in the way?
- What patterns do you notice in the types of clients or dynamics that are hardest for you?
- When do you find yourself wanting to “rescue” or “fix” a client?
- What defenses show up for you as a therapist when you feel unsure?
- If your supervisor could observe one of your sessions, what would you hope they see about you—and what would you worry they see?
3. Caseload and Clinical Management
- How are you prioritizing your time across your caseload?
- What kinds of clients or cases feel most draining lately? Most energizing?
- If you could restructure your caseload, what would it look like?
- What indicators do you use to decide when to refer, consult, or seek extra support?
- What systems help you stay organized, and where do you still feel overwhelmed?
- How do you balance productivity or documentation demands with clinical presence?
4. Conceptualization and Theory Integration
- How would you describe this client through your chosen theoretical lens?
- What theory or model do you find yourself actually using in session—even unintentionally?
- Where does your personal philosophy of change align (or conflict) with your theoretical orientation?
- How might another theoretical model understand this case differently?
- What patterns do you see across your caseload that you might not have noticed before?
5. Professional Identity and Growth
- What kind of therapist do you hope to become—and how close do you feel to that vision today?
- What values guide your work when you’re under pressure?
- How do you define your role as a clinician in clients’ lives?
- What aspects of this profession feel most congruent with who you are?
- How has your view of therapy changed since you started seeing clients?
- What are you learning about your capacity for empathy, frustration, or hope?
- When do you feel most like a “real therapist”—and when do you feel like an imposter?
6. Ethics, Power, and Responsibility
- What ethical situations have you felt unsure about recently?
- How do you decide what’s best when values or obligations seem to conflict?
- In what ways do you think power shows up between you and your clients?
- What does cultural humility mean to you in practice?
- How do you balance self-disclosure with maintaining professional boundaries?
7. Supervision Process and Feedback
- What kind of feedback is most helpful for you?
- What would make supervision feel more valuable or relevant this month?
- What are you hoping to understand about yourself as a therapist through supervision?
- Where do you need more structure, and where do you need more autonomy?
- If I were your client, what feedback would you give me as your supervisor?