Happy New Year to all of you who are getting ready to PASS your ASWB exams in 2019! Let's start the year off right with a FREE ASWB exam practice question to get you ready to achieve all of your 2019 social work goals.
Clinical Supervision
If you’re studying for the ASWB exam, clinical supervision is a topic that you could very well see showing up on your exam. A number of the individuals I’m coaching have asked, “how am I supposed to know what to do as a supervisor if I’ve never been a supervisor before?” That’s a great question, and thankfully TDC is here to help you prepare for all aspects of the exam (including what to expect when it comes to questions on supervision).
Clinical supervision is all about ensuring pre-licensed social workers have the necessary skills and support to safely and adequately provide services to their clients. The NASW put out a set of standards for supervision in social work that are especially helpful in understanding expectations for quality (and ethical) supervision. According to the NASW, supervision activities fall into three main categories:
- administrative;
- educational; and
- supportive
Whether you’re preparing for your ASWB exams, or just trying to increase your knowledge of clinical supervision, we highly recommend checking out the NASW’s publication on best standards in social work supervision.
Do you feel ready to successfully answer clinical supervision questions on the ASWB social work exams? Test your knowledge with this week’s FREE ASWB practice exam question!
Clinical Supervision Practice Question
A clinical licensure supervisor is working with a supervisee who utilizes EMDR in her sessions with clients. The supervisor has no training or experience using EMDR, and relies on the supervisee's understanding of the practice to ensure it is being used properly. The supervisor’s actions can BEST be described as:
A. Unethical, because they are not properly trained and cannot provide adequate oversight or guidance.
B. Unethical, because they should be trained in all therapeutic modalities to adequately provide supervision.
C. Ethical, because they can utilize the supervisee’s knowledge to ensure adequate supervision is provided.
D. Ethical, because it is not required for a supervisor to be trained in the modalities utilized by their supervisees.
(scroll down for answer and rationale)
The correct answer is A
In order to provide adequate supervision for an unlicensed supervisee, the social work supervisor should have knowledge and experience in the therapeutic modalities their supervisee is utilizing. To have no experience or training in the modality of therapy being used by a supervisee is unethical, as they will not be able to provide the necessary support and oversight to their social worker in training (A). (B) is incorrect because a supervisor is not expected to be trained in all therapeutic modalities. (C) and (D) are incorrect because providing supervision for a therapeutic modality a supervisor has no training or experience in is not ethical.
Exam Preparation
How did you do with this question? Did the answer and rationale align with your understanding of clinical supervision standards, or did you learn something new?
Haven’t signed up for an ASWB exam preparation program yet? Do you want to PASS your social work exam in 2019? Take a few minutes to read through our THOUSANDS of customer testimonials of social workers like you who used TDC’s programs to successfully pass their exams. Our structured and straightforward approach gives you everything needed to PASS your exam with CONFIDENCE this year.