Dr. David E.

Bukusi, Camelina Wanja,

Jared Odhiambo, Angela Sila
 Counselling supervision:
a formal and mutually agreed
arrangement for counsellors to discuss
their work regularly with someone who is
normally an experienced and competent
counsellor;
Offers benefits to the counselor as it
helps in psychological adjustment and
coping with issues clients bring to the
sessions, as well as contributing
towards personal development;
 In Kenya, despite massive efforts towards
improving HIV prevention, care and support
activities, little has been done with respect
to supporting the care providers, and in this
case counselors, in their work and personal
development.

 The tendency is to train a provider and then

send them into the field very often without
support or reference in case of the need to
consult or assistance in personal
development
To describe the establishment of
counseling supervision in a HIV
Counselling and Testing setting in a
national teaching and referral
hospital in Kenya;
To describe the process of counseling
supervision in HIV prevention, care
and support activities.
Descriptive case study.
This paper seeks to share the experiences in
establishing and supervising Counselling
Supervision for HIV Counseling and Testing
counsellors
The setting is a HIV Prevention and Care
centre at Kenyatta National Hospital and it’s
HIV/AIDS Care Networking Partners
The period discussed is between September
to December 2008.
 Both the theoretical and practical components
of the groups formation, implementation and
hopes for the future are considered;
 To effectively deliver this among a specific
supervision group so established the following
elements are interspersed with the practical
experience:
 a theoretical background of counselling,
 a working definition, purpose, function, and
 process, forms and methods in counseling
supervision
 The possibility of risk of breach of
confidentiality as understood by the
counselors;
 Differentiating counselor supervision from
administrative supervision is a challenge to
most supervisees;
 An appropriate conducive structure is a
challenge;
 The eclectic KNH model is more
operationalised and is working well;
 There is need for capacity development in
supervision;
 The formation of a group requires authority often
emanating from a prior developed mentorship
arrangement especially among diverse partner
institutions;
 Some employers do not see the need to allow
counselors to use organizational time on such
activities;
 Ownership is yet to take root and finally, the activity
requires monetary and structural support which may
be a limiting factor.
 The benefits of counselor supervision including
catharsis, learning from discussion of personal
and others experiences as well as personal
development, far outweigh the cost of
establishing a supervision group;
 Counseling supervision gives counsellors open
and honest feedback on their own performance
with regard to counselling knowledge and skills;
 Administration supervision on the other hand
provides feedback to senior management on
the performance of the counselor.
 It allows for relief from work related burnout
especially with regard to client issues.
 It allows for exchange of new ideas and
discrimination of what doesn't work against
what works, shared experiences for comfort
and psychosocial coping as one learns from
others.
 There is personal growth and development of
teamwork through shared vision and mission of
the organization and it also allows for the
growth and maturity of the specialty
 Recommendations and conclusion:
Counseling supervision needs to be supported
with renewed vigor especially in this era of
expanding HIV and AIDS care strategies;
 It brings a critical contribution towards care
of the caregiver.
 British Association for Counselling (1988), rev: 1990) Code
of Ethics and Practice for the Supervision of Cunsellors,
Rugby: BAC.
 British Association for Counselling (1996) Code of Ethics
and Practice for Supervisors --of Counsellors. Rugby: BAC.
 British Association for Counselling (1992) Code of Ethics
and Practice or Supervisors of
 Counsellors. Rugby: BAC.
 Carroll, M. (1996) Counselling Supervision,: Theory, Skills
and Practice, London; Cassel.
 Family Health International. (2005) VCT Toolkit:
Participants' manual: Counselling supervision and training.