Clinical supervision is a critical element of the pre-service training and development of rehabilitation counselors (Thielsen & Leahy, 2001). This evaluative, yet supportive relationship between counselor and supervisor has the intended response of improving counselor professional development, while maintaining a strong focus on the counselor-client relationship as its core element (Herbert, 2012). Past research efforts have explored the clinical supervision process in the state vocational rehabilitation system (English, Oberle, & Byrne, 1979; Herbert, 2004c; Herbert & Trusty, 2006; McCarthy, 2013; Schultz, Ososkie, Fried, Nelson, & Bardos, 2002). These research projects have helped to outline the contemporary practices associated with clinical supervision in the public rehabilitation system. The private rehabilitation settings are growing in terms of service delivery and the number of professionals practicing in these myriad settings. Beyond the work of King (2009) that looked at clinical supervision in the long-term disability setting, little work has been done to clarify the contemporary practices of clinical supervisions in the private-not-for-profit and private-for-profit settings of vocational rehabilitation. This study was undertaken to begin the process of identifying the contemporary practices associated with clinical supervision in private rehabilitation. The study explored participant perceptions of clinical supervision knowledge, clinical supervision related behaviors, self-efficacy in delivering clinical supervision, and perceptions of the supervisory working alliance. Satisfaction with and perceived quality of clinical supervision were also examined. A preliminary sample of 2,000 rehabilitation counselors employed specifically in private rehabilitation work environments was obtained for this study from the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC), of which 432 provided some type of data. Results of this study indicated statistically significant differences between counselors and supervisors perceptions of present levels of supervisory knowledge, supervisory behaviors, self-efficacy in delivering clinical superivsion, and supervisory working alliance. Knowledge and gender were found to be significant predictors of satisfaction with supervision, and behavior and supervisory working alliance were significant predictors of perceived quality of clinical supervision. Rehabilitation educators and practitioners in the private-for-profit and private-not-for-profit settings can use the data generated and examined in this study to improve overall understanding of clinical supervision and delivery of clinical supervision. With the pending curriculum changes resulting from the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP) merger, rehabilitation educators can use the data to consider how to develop and implement coursework emphasizing the nature of clinical supervision and its overall importance in counselor professional development.
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