AASP Newsletter - July 2020

Michelle McAlarnen

Gily Meir

Jana Fogaca

Ale Quartiroli

Supervision is an essential element in developing and continuing a sound applied practice (e.g., Van Raalte & Andersen, 2014). Mentorship and supervision are also cardinal to the continued professionalization of sport, exercise, and performance psychology. The Study and Practice of Supervision SIG is dedicated to supporting trainees and mentors to get the most out of the supervisory relationship and experience.

The SIG’s mission is to develop a community of professionals and students who discuss, collaborate, mentor, research, and lead outreach programs in the practice and process of training supervisors and providing supervision. Some examples of topics that we collaborate and explore together are: (a) providing support and professional development for mentors, (b) compiling best practices, (c) initiating new research, (d) discussing graduate training, and (e) developing and leading outreach to professionals, graduate programs, and professionals/students.

During our first meeting at the 2016 AASP Conference in sunny Arizona, we discussed how we could support the professional community and realized that we needed to better know what the professionals and students needed in order to support their mentorship practice. Therefore, we conducted a needs assessment of sport psychology supervisors (n = 46) within academia, private practice, and other agencies (e.g., government) to help inform our direction and outreach as a SIG. This project was spearheaded by SIG members, Ale Quartiroli, Jana Fogaca, Gily Meir, and Michelle McAlarnen. The research assessed: (a) the needs, challenges, and barriers mentors encounter, and (b) what resources could help the provision of supervision. The findings of this study were presented at the 2019 AASP Conference in Portland. Overall, mentors’ needs centered on having enough time and having proper institutional, professional, and technical support. Participants desired continued professional development and peer mentoring opportunities to refine their mentorship practice. 

These findings provide direction for SIG outreach, such as potential collaborations with the AASP Graduate Program Committee, hosting webinars, and developing resources and peer groups of supervisors who can share best practices. For readers, these findings offer a few take-aways: 

• Providing ideal supervision is a challenge and if you are feeling some stress as you juggle the demands of provision, then you are in good company! Each workplace has its own challenges to navigate and there are some consistent trends on what impedes ideal provision.
• A combination of individual and system-wide support is important.
  • At the individual level, engaging in reflective practice by reviewing current continuing education presentations, scholarship, and resources can help stimulate ideas to adjust and refine individual supervision practice that could improve provision and reduce supervisor stress.
  • At the system level, some ways to gather support include:
    • Review the current process and structure of supervision for possible refinement.
    • Contact work colleagues who supervise in other departments to learn how they have structured supervision or leveraged resources (e.g., equipment, compensation, workload) for it. They can provide institutional insight.
    • Connect with sport psychology colleagues to learn their individual and system strategies.

In all, supported supervisors and supervisory processes help mentees receive the attention needed to develop into quality practitioners. Going forward, we plan to survey mentees about their supervision needs and support AASP’s efforts by providing resources on effective practices for tele-supervision while in-person contact is limited by the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to further exploring the needs of mentorship and facilitating knowledge and best practices from varied researchers and practitioners to the AASP professional community. Please reach out to us if you are interested in joining the SIG!

References

Van Raalte, J. L., & Andersen, M. B. (2014). Supervision. In R. C. Eklund & G. Tenenbaum (Eds.), Encyclopedia of sport and exercise psychology (pp. 724-727). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.