As my supervisor, Kelly allowed me to process my challenges in my own way. She understood my learning style by observation. She gave me room to be myself and offered me support and guidance when I needed it. She was thorough, trustworthy and available when I needed her. She kept excellent records and followed through – all qualities that are essential for a supervisor.

-Sharon Sudol, LPC

If you are someone who wants fair and honest feedback, if you want authentic evaluations during your clinical supervision, I’m the right supervisor for you. It’s important to me to provide genuine encouragement and support. It’s equally important to discover (with you) what you are uncomfortable doing and help you overcome your worries & concerns about harming clients (while using some modalities of therapy)—at the same time maintaining a positively connected Supervisory relationship. Do you want to grow in your ability to be present in session and make good decision about what your clients need in the moment? I can help with all of this!

 

Will I ever get enough Clinical Supervision hours to become independently licensed?

 

It’s your desire to obtain Independent Licensure for your professional growth as a counselor, social worker or marriage & family therapist, so you need Clinical Supervision. And, you want a great clinical supervisor to assist you to achieve that goal.

 

In a study published in 2013, they asked about adequate, inadequate, and harmful supervision. 93% reported they were receiving inadequate supervision and 35.3% were receiving harmful supervision.  This is a shocking and sad statistic.

 

As a Mental Health Clinical Supervisor for over 14 years, I will provide not only the basics of “adequate clinical supervision” but I want to go above and beyond that!

 

What is “Adequate" Clinical Supervision?

 

Criteria for minimally adequate mental health clinical supervision across disciplines

 

The clinical supervisor:

• Has the proper credentials identified by the supervisor’s discipline or profession

• Has the appropriate knowledge of and skills for clinical supervision and an awareness of his or her limitations

• Obtains a consent for supervision or uses a supervision contract

• Provides a minimum of one hour of face-to-face individual supervision per week

• Observes, reviews, or monitors supervisees therapy/counseling sessions (or parts thereof)

• Provides evaluative feedback to the supervisee that is fair, respectful, honest, ongoing, and formal

• Promotes and is invested in the supervisee’s welfare, professional growth, and development

• Is attentive to multicultural and diversity issues in supervision and in therapy/counseling

• Maintains supervisee confidentiality as appropriate

• Is aware of and attentive to the power differential (and boundaries) between the Supervisee and supervisor and its affects on the supervisory relationship

 

You aren’t alone in your desire for an amazing Mental Health Clinical Supervisor!

 

You might be wanting to take advantage to the opportunity in Arizona to start your own private practice as an LAC. You want to have more autonomy and control over your schedule and the type of clients you work with, but you need a supervisor willing to do clinical supervision with your whole private practice. Most clinical supervisors are not willing to take this risk. However, I believe that some people are ready to run their own businesses while learning how to do therapy if they have the right assistance and mentoring.

 

In another situation, you might be a supervisee working in an agency that provides fewer hours of clinical supervision than you want (that inadequate supervision we mentioned above). In Arizona, in an agency, only has to provide 1 hour a month. You are aware that you need/want more hours per month, but after asking your clinical supervisor and administrative supervisor—sending pleading emails—you’ve given up getting that clinical supervision to feel supported.  Now where do you go to find that amazing clinical supervision you are looking for? You have thought about hiring an outside clinical supervisor, and maybe your agency would allow an outside contractor to have access to your documentation for review. The agency might be willing to sign a contract with me to provide more clinical supervision if you pay for it. Or they might pay for this additional mental health clinical supervision in lieu of an increase in your salary.  It never hurts to ask.

 

Maybe the group private practice you are contracted with or employed by would allow a contracted clinical supervisor in your specialty, but you aren’t sure how to make that happen.  I would be happy to work with the owner of the group practice to make sure we have the right Contract to allow this to happen. Your responsibility would be to file an exemption with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners.

 

 

Mental Health Clinical Supervision with me would bring to you….

 

During Clinical Supervision sessions, I will offer the safety to explore what you are worried about during sessions or even before you meet with different types of clients. We will plan and practice ways for you to show up, trying different tools or stick to one modality to feel the flow of that type of therapy before you rush to try something else. We will get excited together about the progress clients are making. We will notice and learn ways to keep making progress when progress has stalled out.
 

We will explore together our diversity and universality, and the diversity and universality you have with various clients. We will determine how that will impact the therapeutic relationship and your ability to assist the client to move toward the change that they would like to make in their lives.

 

As a clinical supervisor, I will provide you with direct actions to take, options if there are clinical choice points, and training in modalities. In some situations, there is a right way to do things (e.g. a client is suicidal). In many situations in the counseling room, you have clinical options for where you want to go depending on the stage of change the client is in or other factors. Maybe you want to try a new modality of therapy, in those times, I’ll offer book options, direct training, and guidance as you apply what you are reading or practicing from your learning.
 

Together we will work on building your skills in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning. The AZ-BBHE requires that I evaluate those skills as you become independently licensed. However, I do not only work from a “medical model”, I take the whole person into account. I do want to make sure that you are aware of the DSM5-TR and can provide billable diagnosis codes if appropriate so that your clients could get reimbursed by their insurance if they are using a Superbill.
 

I utilize a variety of supervision models, including:

​

• Developmental Model – I take into consideration where you are in your development as a Therapist. Are you a beginner, intermediate, or advanced counselor? I adjust my clinical supervision interventions accordingly. There are progressive stages from novice to expert, and each stage has discrete characteristics and skills. Good clinical supervisors are able to move fluidly between and among these development stages as you utilize various Evidence Based Practices.

• Psychotherapy Based Models – I help my supervisees learn and follow the framework and techniques of the specific psychotherapy model/theory being practiced in the counseling office. Examples of such would be dialectical behavioral therapy supervision or EMDR supervision.

• ​Skills Based Model – I teach my supervisees to use psychoeducation and various EBP therapeutic skills during treatment. We focus on both the supervisee as well as the clients’ learning, acquiring, and applying skills in their lives. Supervisees learn the skills of psychotherapy (case conceptualization, assessment questions in on-going sessions) and they learn models based around skills sets to teach clients to better make changes in their lives. (e.g. DBT, thought records, mindfulness)

• Personal Growth Model –  I facilitate clinical supervision sessions that allow supervisees to increase insight and awareness of how personal issues affect therapeutic relationships. We focus on developing the supervisee/ counselor as a person.

​

How do I get started with you in Mental Health Clinical Supervision?

 

We will need to set up a 45-60 minute interview. I’ll need your resume/CV and referrals to past clinical supervisors of social work or counseling you have worked with. If you haven’t had a clinical supervisor in the past, then a practicum supervisor from your Masters program, your intern supervisor or a previous boss would help me get a sense of who you are as a worker.