Social Work Clinical Supervision in the Addictions: Importance of Understanding Professional Cultures

Over the past 30 years, increasing numbers of social workers have entered the field of alcohol and other drug addiction treatment. Many of them have assumed supervisory roles. Social workers who supervise addiction counselors are supervising across an often unrecognized cultural divide between the professions of social work and addictions counseling. This article compares the social work and addiction counseling cultures to enable social work clinical supervisors to recognize and bridge the divide between these 2 professions. Those supervisors who can bridge this divide can better support their supervisees' professional growth; they are also more likely to experience performance satisfaction.