Clinical Supervision And Training

Are you a clinical counsellor, a therapeutic counsellor or a registered professional counsellor wanting to gain support from a skilled therapist in an individual or group supervision format?

About Competency Based Supervision

Process oriented clinical supervision has two goals: the development of the skills of the superisee/intern and the protection of the public. These are always operating simultaneously when supervision is occurring. Supervision also includes the supervisor operating in the counselor role. The goal of this is to increase your effectiveness and competence. As a therapist I also have a supervisor to keep me accountable and current.

Group and Individual Supervision

The foundation of supervision is set on a competency-based framework. Many of us complete our counselling studies and find ourselves in a place of uncertainty as to what to do next. Many of us who have been practicing in the field of counselling become so consumed with our day-to-day practices that it can be difficult finding time to connect with other professionals in the field and result in an isolating experience or burnout. Whether we are newly graduated or have been in the field for many years we can sometimes be neglectful in maintaining our professional wellness practices, including attaining supervision hours yet this has been identified as a critical component to our success, competency and ability to work with a wide variety of client issues. In order to bridge these gaps, a competency-based framework for supervision has been established and groups are being formed throughout the provinces to provide these essential services. I do group supervision in person for those in the lower mainland and a group for those in remote areas. This will be done on a platform such as Skype.  Individual Supervision is also either in person or via a video format. For more information please contact me.

Expectations Of A Therapeutic Supervisory Relationship

Early in the supervision relationship, we will address working alliance issues such as our expectations of the supervisory relationship, how we can intentionally make it most positive and constructive.

As a Registered Counselling Supervisor with ACCT I rely heavily on collaborative and reflective learning. As such I position myself mainly as coach and facilitator of the learning and growing process.

Supervision session content is mostly discussion. Between sessions I will listen to the client sessions that you have taped and sent to me for feedback if this is something you desire. The session generally begins with a brief follow-up of the cases that may warrant further discussion, an overview of all active cases and then any specific issues that you are personally dealing with.

Group Supervision provides opportunities for counsellors to receive empathetic support, improve therapeutic skills, enhance knowledge, develop self-awareness and experience the facilitation of reflective practice. Each group member is encouraged to evaluate, reflect, and develop their own counselling practice and provide a support system to one another.

About My Supervision Style And Theoretical Orientation

My supervisory style is collaborative, trusting in the balance of wisdom from both supervisor and intern/Supervisee.

I believe that interns and supervisees change and develop as they progress through their clinical experiences. As such all roles of teacher, counselor, consultant and evaluator come into play at times in my supervision. In my clinical work my theoretical orientation is integrative. I make reasoned judgments about what theoretical approach fits the client’s self-understanding and understanding of the problem. In my counselling work I specialize in working with adults with anger management issues, anxiety disorders, past or present abuse, grief and loss, couples counselling and trauma-recovery.

About the Structure of Process Oriented Supervision:

As a supervisor, I collaborate with the interns and supervisees that choose to work with me and treat them as coming with a vast amount of life experience. We will explore your desired outcomes from this experience, potential challenges that you are aware of when working with clients, behaviors that you may need to change or enhance to meet these challenges, what you think are your core strengths as a counsellor, and how you think that I can help you. Supervision sessions may include listening to taped client sessions prior to meeting, discussion of cases, particularly challenging or problematic ones with some structure to provide session-to-session continuity and sometimes therapy for the individual Supervisee or intern who may be struggling with life’s challenges. I do both group and individual supervision and in this way the supervisee//intern gains a greater experience from other therapists.

About Confidentiality

The issues you discuss in supervision will be confidential with the following exceptions:

1. Your performance and conduct in this clinical experience will be documented as outlined in the ACCT website on a monthly and yearly basis.

2. If I am asked in writing by you to provide information about your clinical experience in the form of a recommendation for a job, licensing, or certification.

3. Disclosures related to threats to harm self or others, reasonable suspicion of child or vulnerable person abuse, when ordered by a court of law. These exceptions are established by provincial or federal law.

About Assessment

Assessments of your professional work will be done intermittently and a summative assessment will be made yearly and at the end of the working relationship. You will receive a copy of this assessment instrument at the beginning of the working relationship. However, verbal and/or written feedback will be given throughout the entire clinical experience by a variety of other means.

About Responsibilities

The Intern/Supervisee is responsible to:

1. Prepare for and attend sessions.

2. Complete any assigned task or learning exercises between sessions.

3. Keep supervisor informed regarding client issues and progress.

The Supervisor is responsible to:

1. Prepare for and attend all sessions.

2. Provide regular feedback and a formal assessment at the conclusion of the supervisory relationship.

3. Review intern’s case notes or other materials for quality control purposes.

4. Facilitate the processing of supervisee concerns.

Commencing supervision can seem daunting and intimidating. Most people find however that it is the most important phase of their professional formation and that it is exciting, stimulating and affirming. I look forward to our work together and to celebrating your professional progress.