Professional Disposition Considerations in Clinical Supervision: A Social Justice and Disability Perspective

Abstract

The concept of social justice has been discussed in the counseling profession for decades and is considered an ethical obligation when providing services to clients. Counselor educators and supervisors are also responsible for integrating social justice into their work when teaching and training counseling trainees (i.e., supervisees, students). The evaluation of professional dispositions of counseling trainees is a required task of counselor educators. While much has been discussed regarding the process of professional disposition assessment, there has been less discussion of appropriate evaluation processes when working with trainees with disabilities and intersecting identities. Lack of intentionality with evaluation practices, especially integrating a social justice lens, could lead to inaccurate and harmful evaluation of trainees with disabilities and intersecting identities. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the concepts of social justice with supervision and disability to offer a more robust discussion regarding supervision practices that may lead to more accurate and helpful evaluation of trainees.