Integrating Diversity Dimensions in Supervision: Perspectives of Ethnic Minority AAMFT Approved...

Integrating DiversityDimensions in Supervision:

Perspectives of Ethnic MinorityAAMFT Approved Supervisors

Brent A. TaylorPilar Hernández

Aaron DeriPressley R. Rankin IV

Andrew Siegel

ABSTRACT. Interviews were conducted with 10 ethnic minority AAMFT(American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy)–approved su-pervisors about how they address intersections of diversity in clinicalsupervision activities. Using Consensual Qualitative Research methodol-ogy, three areas of importance emerged from participants: supervisors’initiative in integrating diversity, the impact of social location on currentsupervision practices, and the need for mentoring the next generationof therapists. The results are discussed in the service of promoting moreinclusion of diversity issues in the supervisory process. Implications for

Brent A. Taylor, PhD, and Pilar Hernández, PhD, are Assistant Professors, Mar-riage and Family Therapy Program, Department of Counseling and School Psychol-ogy, San Diego State University, CA. Aaron Deri, BA, Pressley R. Rankin IV, BA, andAndrew Siegel, BA, are currently enrolled in the Master’s Degree program in Marriageand Family Therapy, San Diego State University, CA.

Address correspondence to: Brent A. Taylor, PhD (E-mail: [email protected]),or Pilar Hernández, PhD (E-mail: [email protected]), San Diego State Univer-sity, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182.

The Clinical Supervisor, Vol. 25(1/2) 2006Available online at http://cs.haworthpress.com

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supervision practices and ways to meet the diversity standards and corecompetencies of AAMFT are discussed. doi:10.1300/J001v25n01_02 [Arti-cle copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service:1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <[email protected]> Website:<http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rightsreserved.]

KEYWORDS. Clinical supervision, multicultural supervision, multicul-tural training

Consistent with the call in mental health fields to diversify and applyinclusive/culturally informed supervisory practices, this qualitative studyused a unique sample of ethnic minority AAMFT-approved supervisorsto explore how they integrate diversity dimensions (ethnicity, sexualorientation, class, and gender) into their current supervisory practices.This study explores what ethnic minority supervisors do and how theyconceptualize supervision in order to discuss the value of their expertisein addressing the cultural competency standards set forth by AAMFT.

Ethnic minorities are greatly underrepresented in the field of Mar-riage and Family Therapy. A recent report in Family Therapy Magazinenoted that marriage and family therapists (MFTs) are predominantlyCaucasian (91%), whereas the representations of other ethnic groupsbreak down as follows: African American (3%), Hispanics (2.1%), Na-tive Americans (1.5%), Asians (1.4%), and “others” (2.2%); (Northey,2004). According to the AAMFT, there are no data collected on the eth-nicity of approved supervisors, but it is likely to be less than the generalmembership (which is between 92 and 95% European American). Ac-cording to the U.S. Census Bureau (2000), the breakdown by racein the United States was 69.1% Caucasian, 12.5% Latino, 12.3% AfricanAmerican, 3.6% Asian, and 6.5% Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, AmericanIndian, and others. Thus the field of MFT does not adequately representthe spectrum of diversity found in U.S. society.

McDowell, Fang, Gomez, Khanna, Brook, and Brownlee (2003) ar-gued that, in addition to continuing efforts to make this field more raciallydiverse, there is a need to focus on developing awareness and sensitivityof all MFT students through training around multiple identity dimen-sions. Cultural competence must play a key role in clinical supervisiontraining, for it is in this arena where trainees are further socialized into theprofession. Supervisors model interpersonal and professional skills andare frequently influential in the trainees’ development. The Associationof Marriage and Family Therapists has developed an elaborate set of

4 THE CLINICAL SUPERVISOR


standards for clinical supervision practice and training and for addressingcultural competencies (AAMFT, 2004). However, when consideringthe theories and techniques of supervision as well as the characteristicsof the supervisors, the bias in supervision practices toward the dominant,European American culture is apparent (Hardy, 1990; McDowell et al.,2003).

There are often gaps in how MFT supervision is practiced by existingsupervisors including problematic general assumptions, lack of contex-tual sensitivity, ethics, and philosophy (Storm, Todd, Sprenkle, & Mor-gan, 2001). These authors acknowledged that the field has increasinglymoved toward a research paradigm and developed supervision modelsthat address the gender dimension. Gender issues commonly receivemore attention because historically supervisors in the field were predomi-nantly male and supervisees were usually female. Since the 1990s, thisdynamic has reversed resulting in an increase of female supervisors andmore studies exist that have focused on the impact of same sex and oppo-site sex dynamics in supervision (Turner & Fine, 1997). However, the im-pact of other dimensions of identity on supervision such as ethnicity, socialclass, spirituality, and sexual orientation remain largely absent from the lit-erature on supervision, professional development, and diversity issuesfrom the fields of marriage and family therapy, counseling, and multicul-tural psychology. Although this study focuses on MFTs, the authors foundthat concerned scholars in psychology offered relevant research to theMFT field.

The supervisory role, laden as it is with social power over both thesupervisee and client, influences whether racial identities can eitherevolve or be suppressed (Helms & Cook, 1999). Miehls (2001) arguedthat dialogical exchanges that specifically address the issues of race,class, spirituality, and sexual orientation are necessary for the clinicianin training to fully understand his/her own racial identity developmentas well as that of the “other.” Furthermore, this process as it is engaged inthe classroom (or between supervisor and supervisee) creates a parallelprocess that can be extrapolated to the clinical setting.

In a similar vein, Cook (1994) contended that ignoring race in super-vision has the greatest negative impact on those with the least power: theclinician in training. If race is ignored, an essential part of the student’sidentity is left unattended and unfortunately can become nonintegratedwith his or her professional identity as a therapist. This can result intrainees lacking insight into how their views of their own ethnic groupas well as others may impact their assessment of and services providedto clients. Effective multicultural counseling supervision requires that

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supervisors (1) take responsibility for holistically addressing multicul-tural issues within the supervisor/supervisee/client triad, (2) promotemulticulturalism within their educational or clinic-based institution,(3) recognize how their own worldviews as well as that of their super-visees and clients impact the therapy, (4) include cultural issues (negativeand positive values), and (5) develop specific, stage-by-stage multicul-tural competency goals for trainees (Leong & Wagner, 1994).

The most salient weakness in supervision research noted by Leongand Wagner (1994) was the lack of empirical support measuring theeffectiveness of either conventional or multicultural models. Likewise,in the family therapy field, Storm et al. (2001) indicated that there is aneed for more quantitative and qualitative research on diversity dimen-sions in supervision. Prouty (2001) studied feminist family therapy su-pervision and Hernández (2003) introduced a conceptual framework forclinical supervision within the Cultural Context Model (CCM) devel-oped by Rhea Almeida and her colleagues (1998, 1999). Likewise,there is an increasing number of conceptual publications addressingthe relationship between sexual orientation and family therapy training(Long, 1994, 1996, 1997). However, both qualitative and quantitativeresearch on these supervision models is necessary to address theirstrengths and limitations.

Inman, Meza, Brown, and Hargrove (2004) identified authors and re-searchers who have highlighted themes relevant to training culturallysensitive family therapists. Findings suggest infusing clinical supervisionand practice with “racially, socially sensitive supervisors working withsupervisees” (p. 375) to benefit trainees in integrating diversity dimen-sions into their professional identities. In another study, Bernard (1994)provided an effective summary of standards that many in the field haverecommended. Examples are (1) supervisors should be at least as multi-culturally sensitive as their supervisees; (2) training programs should setmulticultural competency standards for allowing a trainee to begin clin-ical experience, and another standard for beginning entry-level practice;(3) supervisors use both developmental supervision models and racialidentity development models to gauge supervisee readiness for chal-lenging their multicultural skills and choose appropriate moments to doso; and (4) supervisors themselves should be supervised in enhancingtheir own multicultural development, in a hope to monitor and manageblind spots.

As noted earlier, some supervision studies are emerging; however,no prior research study has explored the experiences of ethnic minorityAAMFT approved supervisors. This study used a sample of experienced



ethnic minority AAMFT approved supervisors to explore how they con-ceptualize their supervision practices. Its uniqueness was characterizedby the richness of the experiences presented by the participants and re-flected in their commitment to diversity in training.

METHOD

Participants

Participants were 10 AAMFT approved supervisors between theages of 36 and 62 years (9 females and 1 male); 9 identified as hetero-sexual and 1 as bisexual. They identified themselves as Chicana, PuertoRican, South Asian, Asian Chinese, Mixed (Native and European),African American, and Chinese. Their identification of their class back-ground ranged between Lower Class and Upper Middle Class. Their ex-perience as supervisors ranged from 4 to 20 years. The number of ethnicminority supervisors that they currently had in training as superviseesranged from 0 to 1; 50 percent of the sample only had Caucasian super-visors. The number of ethnic minority supervisees that they supervisedranged from 8 to 34 over the course of their professional lives.

Procedure

The research team consisted of five people: three male master stu-dents–two of them were Jewish and one was gay of European descent,and two faculty, a female from Latin America and a male of Europeandescent.

The sample was purposefully selected according to intensity, chain,and politically important sampling (Patton, 1990). In this process, selec-tion occurs with the intent of obtaining “information-rich cases that mani-fest the phenomenon intensely.” Participants were identified through asocial network that identified likely information-rich cases with a par-ticular relevance to the study. Participants were thus recruited throughreferrals from therapists, AAMFT approved supervisors and facultyin AAMFT approved programs around the country. Potential referralsources were contacted by phone or electronic mail. The purpose of thestudy as well as its potential benefits and risks were discussed. A letterof invitation and a consent form was sent to all potential participants. Asemi-structured interview with an open-ended format was designed andconducted in person or over the phone by the researchers. Interviews

Taylor et al. 7


lasted between 40 and 75 minutes. In addition to demographic informa-tion, guiding questions included how and when do they decide to bringup issues of diversity (e.g., ethnicity, sexual orientation, and spiritual-ity) in clinical supervision. Case examples were used in the interview toexplore how they integrate diversity issues in supervision and ways theyhope to impact supervisees, and training needs for supervisors. Questionsasked of the participants included questions about their current practicesas supervisors and past experiences within their own supervision. Allinterviews were audiotaped and transcribed by two research assistants.

Randomly selected transcripts (8 of the total 10 transcripts) formedthe data set for qualitative analysis of the text addressing the abovemen-tioned research questions. Using the Consensual Qualitative Research(CQR) method (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997), the data were sub-jected to a series of analyses by a primary research team of four codersand one external auditor. The primary coding team consisted of threemale master level students, two of them Jewish American, one self-identified as a gay of European American descent. The final member ofthe primary coding team was a female PhD level faculty member fromColumbia. The external auditor was a male PhD level faculty memberof European American descent. The primary coding team first identi-fied all content relevant to the research questions in the randomly se-lected transcripts and reached consensus regarding domains, or generaltopic areas, represented in the text. After determining the domains, thecoded material was then given to the external auditor who reviewedthem and provided feedback to the primary team. The feedback was thendiscussed and incorporated as appropriate into revisions of the coding.Once final domain consensus was reached, the primary coding team thengenerated a consensus version of cross-case domains (CCDs). Thirty-seven CCDs were identified by the team and were directly connected totheir corresponding domains within the data using a coding system.

To this point in the data analyses, all domain coding, both individualand cross-case, was performed at the level of the individual transcribedconversation; however, the next level of coding required determining thecore ideas or “categories” that were represented by the CCDs and thatwere consistent across the data set of transcripts. Once consensus wasreached regarding the categories a “cross-analysis” document was cre-ated listing each category, CCD and domain including the relevant datafrom each transcript that belonged to each category. The primary teamthen met to reach a consensus version of the cross-analysis, and the cross-analysis was then submitted to the external auditor for review and feed-back. As a final verification of the coding structure, the remaining two



transcripts were coded using the established domain and CCD structure.Since all relevant data from these two transcripts were successfully codedusing the emergent scheme, we concluded that the domain and subcate-gory structure was trustworthy and stable (Hill et al., 1997).

RESULTS

Three themes emerged from the experiences described by the ethnicminority supervisors: supervisor’s initiative in integrating diversity, theimpact of social location on current supervision practices, and the needfor mentoring the next generation.

Supervisor’s Initiative in Integrating Diversity

All but one participant in this study thought it was important to takethe initiative in addressing issues of multiple identities and culture, amarkedly different practice than they experienced as supervisees. Yet theparticipants varied in the timing, content, and style of those supervisoryinterventions. Most participants felt it was their place to always take theinitiative to raise the issues. One participant discussing ethnicity said,“Breaking the culture of silence is really important and so that just takes, Iguess, courage, it just takes being willing to put it out there. But somepeople want to go there and some people just don’t. But I think that as asupervisor it is my responsibility to go there.” For some participants, thissense of responsibility sometimes motivates discussion of such issueseven when they are not directly related to the client’s presenting prob-lem. For example, a participant summed up this philosophy when shesaid, “I try to do that from the very outset, in terms of how people pre-sent cases, how they think about them, to try to broaden the lens as muchas possible.” This models for trainees the importance of being aware,discussing and integrating these issues into how they view cases.

However, this study found that while ethnicity and gender were dis-cussed as integral parts of the case by all participants, sexual orientationand spirituality were addressed by only half of the sample, and only whenthe supervisee’s client brought them up first. The idea that one had tojoin with his or her client first and that timing was important were the rea-sons noted. One participant expressed her belief about the nature of tim-ing: “Sometimes it takes some time to be able to address some of theseissues, for the supervisee to be able to hear it. So, it’s not just going inthere and bulldozing through. It requires developing a very supportive

Taylor et al. 9


trusting relationship for these issues to be discussed in a productive,constructive way.”

We found that supervisors strategically used various tools to facilitateanalysis of cultural identity issues, including training contracts, geno-grams, cultural genograms, films, and write-ups for case presentationsdesigned by the participants. Training contracts that delineated the needto discuss diversity dimensions were used to position trainees to beginto integrate this way of thinking in all case conceptualizations. A specificitem delineated by one such contract had supervisees construct anddiscuss genograms of their own families, thereby assuring students areaware that they will be examining their multiple identities during theprocess of supervision. Further, the genogram itself was revisited and re-vised over time. As one participant put it,

They talk to us on the family genogram about what is your ethnic/racial background, what is your cultural background, class back-ground, religious/spirituality, and then all of the two or four genera-tion of family patterns within the ethnic/race/culture paradigm . . .then every six months we have them redo their genogram paperto see how they are changing, how they are evolved how they sawtheir blind spots.

Another participant saw the use of genograms as being an isomorphicphenomenon where interactions between the levels of client, supervisee,and supervisor can be explored. She said,

The question I usually ask is, “What are some of your family of originissues that may be getting in the way or may be helping you with thiscase?” And in the same way with me, I am always thinking about thethree levels, or more levels, but basically isomorphically I am think-ing about the supervisee with the client and the supervisee with meand then my own stuff.

Similar to using the supervisee’s genograms, participants also usedclient assessment write-ups and case presentations to initiate conversa-tions about issues of diversity with their supervisee. Discussions of thesewrite-ups address, for example, issues of sexual orientation in order toexpand the norms of family life: “They just assume it’s a heterosexualrelationship. So, you know, it might be a point of confrontation, but you



just can’t assume that they’re talking about having a relationship witha girl or a boy, etc.”

The Impact of Social Location on Current Supervision Practices

Participants noted events from their roles as supervisors in whichsocial location (e.g., gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status) intersected in therapeutic or training environments toreveal issues that shape participants’ supervisory practices and their pro-fessional identities.

Analysis of gender roles and associated power differences emergedas an important issue in the experiences of our participants. One partici-pant noted that men in her supervisory practice often displayed difficul-ties assessing and treating clients when issues of gender were salient.Part of this difficulty centers around how male therapists make meaningof their own masculinity.

Men in particular have a really hard time talking about men’s issuesand gender because they come from a place where most of the edu-cation has focused on family process. If they talk about gender theytalk about women, and many programs lack a scholarship on mas-culinities. When we finally begin to talk about masculinities it’svery hard because it goes to the very core, heart of how many maletherapists are organizing their lives.

The participant noted that often this inability to confront issues fromthe lens of gender analysis affects what happens in the therapy room andcan even mean the loss of male students from the supervisory program.However, exploring the intersection of the self of the therapist, socialclass, and gender may result in an examination of gender-based sociallocation and privilege. In this context, the supervisor attempts to helpthe male supervisee identify how issues of privilege may affect thera-peutic assessment and intervention. For his part, the supervisee is chal-lenged to assess his own identity given the social issue of privilege andto integrate the information as constructively as possible into his profes-sional identity and supervisory practices.

Participants highlighted events as supervisors in which the intersec-tion of diversity dimensions were capitalized on to shape the superviseeexperience and contribute to their self-awareness and their professionalidentities. Such revelations cast light on the power of such an approach.For example, one study participant stated that her supervisory program

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specifically calls on supervisees to “look at the intersection of gender andrace, or gender and class, or gender and sexual orientation.” She might,for example, ask a supervisee “how a Hispanic woman might prioritizeher gender very differently than an African American woman . . . and [tolook at] class as well.” For this supervisor, the intersection of culturaldimensions affects the most basic elements of how client and superviseeconstruct meaning and is critical to therapeutic assessment. She pointedout that even when client and supervisee share the same gender, themeanings of those gender roles can vary dramatically.

I’m thinking of some of the women with whom some of our stu-dents work, who are in recovery programs. These [clients] may be28 with 3 or 4 kids, have been homeless, and had a number of trau-matic events that have happened in their lives. So [female super-visees] think about being a woman in a very different way than ourclients . . . who have a different upbringing or process experience.So we find ourselves getting into conversations about what it meansto be a woman, what it doesn’t mean, you know what’s appropriate,what’s acceptable.

We also found the intersection of a supervisee’s religious values andthe client’s sexual orientation to be one of the strongest agents to com-pel supervisor/supervisee processing and self-examination regardingcultural difference, personal identity, and the therapeutic role. Withinthis intersection, supervisors noted the need to help supervisees identifyand process their own beliefs around sexuality and what it might meanfor providing therapy. For example, a supervisor discussed how she at-tempted to help the supervisee balance personally held religious per-spectives with respect for the client’s sexual orientation.

We get real clear in terms of what is going on with them (the super-visee). They’re talking about, “I think it’s wrong, they shouldn’tbe doing this and it’s not right, it’s sinful,” and so forth. Then, whilerespecting who they are from a religious perspective, I would alsobegin to talk with them about other differences that clients mayhave that [supervisees] feel are wrong, or bad, or sinful. And howdo they work with that and whether or not they can use any of thatto work with the client?

In addition, participants discussed how they attend to the intersection ofethnicity and spirituality in their work. An insightful example was offeredby a Native American participant. She noted how Native American super-visees process issues of spirituality “always . . . because our culture is



spiritually based so that it comes up right away. It comes up particularlyaround grief and loss. It comes up if children are being harmed.” Yet, inthe case of non-Native supervisees, “it tends to come up last, at the veryend, and it’s usually me that will bring it up.” In this instance, we findthat the spiritual identity of the supervisor is integrated into his or herprofessional supervisory role, such that he or she is led to include dis-cussion of spirituality, even when the supervisee has been silent on thematter.

In other cases, supervisors noted that sometimes clients seeking spiri-tual resources or seeking a change in their spiritual base are receivingtherapy from supervisees with little religious experience. According toone participant, values that may differ by age are a cue for processingand supervisory involvement. Many students are young and are at a dif-ferent life stage than their clients; supervisors can help them realize thatwhen they are older perhaps their spiritual values may be in a differentplace. By exploring the intersection of age and spirituality, supervisorscan help to broaden the supervisee’s assumptions about the role of reli-gion in the therapeutic context. The supervisee’s personal analysis ofwhat spirituality means to herself and how she will use her awareness intreating the client can potentially provide a powerful moment of self-awareness and professional identity formation for the therapist in train-ing. This is where the supervisee may need some direct supervision.

The value of analyzing differences and the interplay among sociallocation dimensions was noted by one participant who guided a first-year African American female in her work with a much older, AfricanAmerican, Muslim male client who had just been released from a30-year prison term. Conversations in therapy revealed that the clientheld views about the use of violence that seemed to contradict his statedreligious principles. However, the supervisee felt constrained fromquestioning the contradiction, due to the differences in age, gender, andreligion. In addition, the supervisee was “acutely aware that she is agraduate student who had a different experience, and how some blackmen perceive successful African American women.” The supervisor,who is also an African American female, raised and explored all theseissues with the supervisee. Critical to their processing was the supervi-sor’s use of self.

So that was for [the supervisee] empowering to understand thatyou can use power without beating somebody over the head . . ., tobe able to talk with her about her struggle, about feeling intimi-dated because there have been times that I felt intimidated for really

Taylor et al. 13


similar reasons . . ., that you may feel intimidated because you’re awoman and your role particularly with African American men.

This example illustrates the within-group differences that exist andthat simply matching client and therapist based on ethnicity may beoverly simplistic. The intersection of differences also plays a role in shap-ing the supervisor/supervisee relationship and interaction. One partici-pant discussed her position as a woman of color supervising an AfricanAmerican male who consistently came late to group supervision meet-ings and tended to be quiet in group.

And so there was this stereotype of well, he’s an African Americanman, he’s coming late, he’s not really talking. And that was veryhard to discuss because, do we discuss it in terms of race? Do wediscuss it in terms of gender? Do we discuss it or do we don’t dis-cuss it? Do we address the stereotype? I remember meeting withhim alone, being able to have more in-depth discussion about whatthis meant, you know why was he late, what were the realities ofhis being late, you know why he had to be late at times, becauseof his work situation, because of his life situation, because ofhow difficult it was for him because he didn’t have a car and hehad to take public transportation. So that became complicated be-cause I wanted to hold him accountable because he was a partof this group and the expectation was that he would be on time. Atthe same time I felt like I needed to take into consideration thedifference of his situation. That wasn’t only about being AfricanAmerican, it wasn’t only about race, but it was about all kinds ofdifferences. So that became difficult, you know, to what extent doyou discuss it, at what point do you let it go?

For this participant, addressing the intersections of difference facedby the supervisee was central to negotiating meaningful terms with thesupervisee regarding his behavior. It also supported the process by thesupervisor to integrate values that stem from her own gender and racialidentity with the demands of her professional supervisory role.

In another example, a Latina supervisor worked with a supervisee ofEuropean descent who had graduated and moved to a different state.The past student called the supervisor, indicating that her client wasmoving to the supervisor’s city and wondered if she knew a maid whocould help clean her client’s house. The supervisor helped the therapistrealize the underlying discrimination in her comment as well as theboundary issues in the case. The student was initially unaware of her



bias revealed by contacting a Latina woman to find a maid. The super-visee had many supervisors, yet she contacted the Latina supervisor.This supervisor felt singled out based on her ethnicity; even though hersocioeconomic status is upper class, the supervisee assumed she wouldknow maids because she is Latina.

The Need for Mentoring the Next Generation

Participants shared a strong sense of generativity by showing com-mitment to mentoring the next generation. They stated that their ownexperiences as supervisees led them to wanting to impact superviseesby helping them develop their identities, learn to take care of themselves,prevent reactivity by being proactive (such as naming injustices), becomeassertive, learn to be a role model for others, and by mentoring beyonddirect clinical services (writing, continuing into more advanced de-grees, and presenting at professional conferences). One of the partici-pants offered a view that illustrated all the participants’ commitment totheir work:

One of my motivating factors for teaching at all, had to do with myexperience at seeing how powerful training and supervision is inshaping the next generation of clinicians, being a role model, aperson of color getting so far, students come into the program be-cause they see ethnic [minority] faculty in the program. One of thethings that I had hoped for and that I have gotten feedback about isthat it has been helpful for other students to see a woman of colormove as far in the field, sort of a source of energy and a role modelthat they can do it too, or do whatever they want to do.

Another participant emphasized the need to bridge the experience ofsupervision with professional development by learning to be a role modelfor others, and by mentoring beyond direct clinical services (e.g., writing,continuing into more advanced degrees, and presenting at professionalconferences). She recognized the importance of an investment on thepart of the supervisor that takes the work beyond the interpersonal rela-tionship between the supervisor and the supervisee to the professionalcommunity:

We offer them all the opportunities of training with us as a way ofmentoring them because we really sort of bridge supervision withmentoring. We work with a lot of them to write pieces, to writearticles, encourage them to write up a case. That sort of thing is

Taylor et al. 15


always parallel to the direct supervision itself. So they get to pre-sent with us so they get the visibility, and then they evaluate thevisibility, and see where they want to go because we feel like thatneeds to happen while they’re learning so that they don’t have towait until they’re three years beyond us.

In sum, the participants agreed that their commitment to workingwith diversity issues involved two dimensions: interpersonal and pro-fessional. They also stated that they make an impact as role models, re-cruiting and mentoring students in their work settings. Furthermore, theyhave a vision that they need to encourage trainees to develop a voice in apolitical context and that writing and engaging with professional audi-ences is key to this endeavor.

DISCUSSION

This qualitative study used a distinctive sample of ethnic minorityAAMFT approved supervisors to explore how they integrate multipleidentity dimensions (ethnicity, sexual orientation, spirituality, class,and gender) into their supervisory practices. With one exception, all theparticipant supervisors were prepared for dialogical exchanges withtheir supervisees about a range of identity issues and to engage these in atherapeutically relevant understanding of their own identities and those ofothers. These supervisors see it as part of their role and responsibility toaddress multiple identity dimensions in various ways. Ignoring these di-mensions in training can have a negative impact on the supervisor as il-lustrated by the participant who realized, as a result of this study’sinterview, that her supervisory practice could be improved if she ad-dressed these issues. As Gatmon et al. (2001) found, supervisors infre-quently initiated discussions about sexual orientation. With the exceptionof two participants in our study, ethnic minority supervisors’ currentpractices still do not address the complexities of sexual orientation, norspirituality, in clinical training. These two dimensions often remain inthe background, much as gender and ethnicity were not openly discussed30 years ago.

We found that guiding the supervision styles of our participants wasan attempt to veer away from a Eurocentric orientation of the profession.O’Byrne and Rosenberg (1998) asserted that trainee’s professional identityemerges through an acculturation process wherein the trainee learnsthe language of the profession: therapeutic discourse, value orientations,



and modes of thinking and problem solving. Many participants notedthat their own training was extremely Eurocentric and hid important di-mensions of identity that were crucial for their professional development.Their supervisory work actively combats this flaw in their own back-grounds.

This study contributes to the field by bringing to the forefront theirvoices and views on how to address multiple diversity dimensions or so-cial locations in supervision. Also, it discusses the importance of address-ing multiple identity dimensions in developing a professional identity,especially for the majority of trainees who lack experience in thinkingabout and dealing with multiple identity dimensions. For most traineeswithout this experience, the only way they will begin to start thinkingin a more culturally competent manner is for someone who is current-ly culturally experienced to teach them and guide them much like thesupervisors in this study have done.

Each mental health field has their own, yet strikingly similar, code ofethics. Since our participants were all AAMFT approved supervisors,we used the AAMFT code of ethics as a context to interpret the findings.This study sheds light on ways to conceptualize and implement theAAMFT code of ethics and particular competencies set forth for accred-ited programs. AAMFT code of ethics principle states: “Marriage andfamily therapists provide professional assistance to persons without dis-crimination on the basis of race, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status,disability, gender, health status, religion, national origin, or sexual ori-entation” (AAMFT, 2001). We can extrapolate from the findings of thisstudy that adhering to the policy of “without discrimination” means be-ing proactive in promoting awareness, knowledge, and skills to workwith diverse populations. Furthermore, issues of diversity should beaddressed upfront with the supervisee. When supervisors integrate theirunderstanding of race, class, gender, spirituality, and sexual orientation,it assures that supervisees will think about these factors in every case.

Considering that the profession’s demographics are far from repre-sentative of the diverse nature of the U.S. population, and that the theo-ries and techniques of supervision along with the characteristics of thetrainers show a bias toward the dominant, Eurocentric framework (Hardy,1990; McDowell et al., 2003), we should not assume that a course indiversity trains MFTs to protect their clients from racial, gender, class,and heterosexist biases. Further, we must not rest the burden of culturalcompetency on the shoulders of minority supervisors; all supervisorsmust be culturally competent or their trainees may continue the cycle ofmisusing power and privilege that can occur in the therapeutic process.

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Ethnic minority approved supervisors participating in this study usetheir own social locations, clinical training and roles as supervisors intraining. Their awareness and knowledge of issues around race, class,gender and sexuality impacting supervisees and clients become impor-tant pedagogical techniques through the use of genograms, case write-ups and conversations aimed at developing critical consciousness in theirtrainees. Although ethnicity and gender are clearly integrated, spiritualityand sexual orientation are dimensions that may not be as obvious as vis-ible dimensions, such as skin color and gender, yet their physical invisi-bility should not constrain us from discussing them. Extra efforts shouldbe made in training supervision programs to raise consciousness and de-velop tools to address these dimensions in training within a safe context(Green, 1998).

Based on the findings, we offer the following recommendations:

• Contracts between supervisors and their supervisees should in-clude language about addressing multiple identity dimensions insupervision.

• Professional organizations and institutions should place a highervalue on supervisory practices that specifically emphasize multipleidentity dimensions.

• Training and research ought to be funded to develop comprehensivemodels that integrate multiple identity dimensions in supervision.

As the number of ethnic minority supervisors and trainees continuesto increase, it will be critical to utilize their experiences to inform super-visor training and practice.

The methods noted in this article may be useful for European Ameri-can supervisors to ensure they are integrating multiple diversity dimen-sions into their professional identities. These dimensions will not beintegrated if they are seen as an adjunct to case conceptualization. In-stead, case conceptualization should include issues of multiple identitiesfor them to reflect cultural competence. It is not enough for supervisors totalk about one or two of these dimensions when there is an obvious (e.g.,race, gender) difference; these dimensions should always be in the fore-ground of conceptualizing cases and therapy.

CONCLUSION

A strength of this study is the CQR methodology that enhances reli-ability and validity because of the various steps taken to ensure consensus



and to audit the analysis at each stage. This study also influenced someof the participants’ thinking; three supervisors shared that the inter-view questions helped them rethink their stances on how they integratediversity issues into their supervisory practices. Although the sample sizeis typical for qualitative studies of this kind, generalizability is limited.These findings should be used as a basis for informing future investiga-tions about the quality and content of supervision training courses andmentorship, and relational and cultural identity dimensions of the super-visor-supervisee relationship, rather than as a means to characterize thepopulation. Future studies with larger samples may combine quantitativeand qualitative designs to investigate how supervision training impactsminorities’ professional development.

It is our hope that supervisors in all mental health fields will listen tothe experiences of ethnic minority AAMFT approved supervisors toguide supervisory practices to be more inclusive of diversity issues. Thesupervisors in our study were keenly aware of the ways in which theyare motivated to mentor the next generation of therapists by transform-ing their own solitary experiences of not having culturally diverse men-tors in the profession into recruiting and training a new generation ofculturally diverse trainees to meet the needs of individuals and familiesin the twenty-first century.

This study has provided unique insights into supervision practices byexploring the perspectives of approved supervisors of minority cultures.No prior research study has explicitly captured their voices and experi-ences; they articulate the need for initiative in addressing diversity di-mensions, the importance of being aware of the impact of social locationin supervision, and the call for more mentoring of future therapists ofcolor. We hope this study will serve as a springboard for discussions at in-stitutions and practices about the role of supervision and how to effec-tively meet the diversity standards each discipline’s code of ethics.

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RECEIVED: 09/29/05REVISED: 05/01/06

ACCEPTED: 02/27/06

doi:10.1300/J001v25n01_02

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Integrating Diversity Dimensions in Supervision: Perspectives of Ethnic Minority AAMFT Approved...

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