Guided discovery in cognitive behavioral supervision

Guided discovery is one of the most central approaches in supervision, helping the supervisees to better understand the client, or, if necessary, change their attitudes towards client and find appropriate strategies to solve client’s problems. Using guided discovery, the supervisor helps the supervisee to map the case conceptualization, seek appropriate strategies, and recognize parallel processes such as transference and countertransference. The questions are asked with an open mind and curiosity to help connect known, but previously unnamed phenomena, with their consequences. The purpose of the questioning is therefore not to emphasize supervisees mistakes in thinking, but to show that the situation can be assessed alternatively. The intention is not so much to find the ‘truth’, but rather to learn to think differently about problems and refrain from premature conclusions.