Trauma-Informed Supervision of Trainees: Practices of Supervisors Trained in Both Trauma and Clinical Supervision

It is increasingly evident that all clinicians, including trainees, will encounter trauma-exposed clients (Henning et al., 2021). Unfortunately, the practice of trauma-informed supervision (TIS) essential to supporting their work is not yet well articulated, particularly TIS for trainees, and many supervisors lack training in both trauma and clinical supervision (Henning et al., 2021). Accordingly, we interviewed 9 supervisors who had formal training in trauma work as well as clinical supervision (didactic and supervised supervision). We used semistructured interview questions to solicit specific examples of their in-session thoughts and actions when supervising a trainee seeing a trauma-exposed client. Consensual qualitative analysis (Hill, 2012) yielded 3 domains: their intentional planning, including presession review of a client session; in-session observations and decision-making that emphasized emotion regulation and active learning strategies; and positive impacts on the trainee and the supervisory relationship, with varied impacts on the supervisor's own emotion regulation. Supervisors' reports of their in-session thoughts and actions reflected core TIS principles as well as evidence-based best practices of clinical supervision, suggesting an integration of their clinical knowledge (trauma content) to inform their supervision practice (learning processes).