Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses

95 Effective Supervision Examples: Moving from Fearful to Confident Supervision

August 16, 2024 • Dr. Kate Walker Ph.D., LPC/LMFT Supervisor • Season 3 • Episode 95

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Unlock the secrets to becoming an exceptional supervisor in mental health with insights from Dr. Kate Walker. Discover the transformative power of formal evaluations and assessments and why skipping these crucial tools can hinder effective supervision. Hear firsthand about the origins of the 40-hour LPC and LMFT supervisor training course in Texas and gain exclusive insights from Dr. Dawn Brunkenhofer, a seasoned practice owner and expert in counseling adventure retreats, who will be joining us in an upcoming free webinar.

Trace the evolution of clinical supervision training and the shifts in rules and regulations that led to the creation of an updated, comprehensive online training program. Learn about the supportive online communities like the Texas Supervisor Coalition and Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses that play a pivotal role in nurturing new supervisors. Draw practical wisdom from Dr. Kate's book, the Clinical Supervision Survival Guide, and understand the importance of continuous support and mentorship in fostering confident and capable supervisors.

Master the OER framework—Orientation, Evaluation, and Remediation—with Dr. Walker’s detailed guidance to manage supervisees effectively while mitigating liability. This episode breaks down each phase, providing actionable steps to build trust and maintain healthy supervisor-supervisee relationships. Don't miss the opportunity to join our free webinar for more valuable insights and connect with our community on social media to share your journey and benefit from our resources. Tune in and become part of a movement dedicated to enhancing mental health supervision and delivering excellent therapy!

Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.

Speaker 1:

If we're talking about mistakes, if we're talking about omissions, if we're talking about developmental issues, that can be normal. Let's work backwards from that. What should they know by now? And I hear about supervisors who don't give formal evaluations, they don't use formal assessment instruments, and here's why that's a mistake. And here's why that's a mistake.

Speaker 1:

This is the Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses podcast with Dr Kate Walker, where I teach you, texans and non-Texans alike, the latest research-based information to hit your income goals. Stay out of trouble and make a bigger impact in your community. Join me and let's fill the gaps in access to mental health care and create a counseling career you'll love. Let's get to work. Welcome to Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses, where it's all about working smarter, not harder. And here's your host, dr Kate Walker. You will never catch putting negativity out in the universe. Welcome.

Speaker 1:

My next three episodes are what I like to to take you behind the curtain and tell you why a lot of new supervisors never actually begin supervising. It's a big problem, and I know you're going to get some tools to help you on your supervision journey and, if you listen all the way to the end, you're going to have some great information about our upcoming free webinar, because, whether you're a supervisor or a practice owner or both, you have to make sure that, if something happens to you, that you take care of your people, you take care of your clients, you take care of that protected health information. That means a professional will, and our guest expert this month is Dr Dawn Brunkenhofer. She's a practice owner. She does adventure retreats and continuing education for counselors. She's a great friend and I know you're going to get a lot out of her free webinar happening Thursday, august 22nd at 5 pm. So, without further ado, let's figure out why new supervisors sometimes never start supervising. Let's get to work.

Speaker 1:

Hey, welcome to this amazing closet in Lowell, michigan. I'm so excited to be presenting this today because you know what we're number 50, not Michigan. I'm just visiting here. I'm on vacation. I mean Texas. Texas is 50 out of 50 when it comes to access to affordable mental health care. What that means is we need more providers in the field, not fewer. So let me tell you a little story.

Speaker 1:

Back when I started teaching the 40-hour training to become a supervisor in Texas I think it was 2006, my amazing mentor, dr Judy Detrude, invited me to develop this course and put this course on for anybody who was interested in becoming a clinical LPC or LMFT supervisor Awesome. And that was back in the day when it had to be face to face, right? So we would bring folks in for two weekends face to face and if you're listening to this and you went to one of those seminars, you know at first it was grueling. I mean it took two solid 20 hour each weekends face to face, going over the rules, going over all of the things that at the time LPC they were the only ones who really dictated what we had to teach. But now both LMFT and LPC say exactly what we have to teach and we went through everything. And Dr Detrude and I we're rules junkies. I mean we love the rules, we love going to the licensing board meetings, we love to ask questions. I was the liaison to the LPC board for the Texas Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. I have sat through face-to-face meetings that lasted 12 hours and I loved every minute of it.

Speaker 1:

So you can imagine these courses. They were very intense. We took folks through the rules, we took them through what might happen, and so it wasn't really surprising at the end of these courses when somebody would raise their hand and say, hell, no, I'm not going to supervise. This is way too much liability. I love counseling. Why in the world would I take on a novice provider to oversee their work and take on all of the liability?

Speaker 1:

Well, fast forward to about 2019, the rules changed. By then, my mentor had retired and given me all of the materials that I needed to continue the 40-hour training if I wanted to. So I took that and I developed the online course that you see now, and we update it every single year. But that kept ringing in my head this idea that people would not supervise or they would be called to supervise like they were called to counsel, and somehow I would talk them out of it, right? So there's one side of this where I have no choice. Right, the licensing boards dictate what the 40 hour course must consist of, and we can't pull punches, we can't sugarcoat things. You know, the rules are the rules, the liability is the liability, the liability.

Speaker 1:

But with the advent of moving all of this to the internet and even the things that happened with COVID, where folks were getting more used to being on Zoom calls, we saw lots more online resources. It became super easy, at least for my company, to put lots and lots of resources online. So things like the Facebook group, the Texas Supervisor Coalition, texas counselors creating badass businesses. There was a way to create this scaffolding, this cozy, fuzzy, warm blanket that folks could wrap themselves in, consisting of nurturing experts in the field. So when I talk about Texas Supervisor Coalition, I'm talking about a place that is snark free. I mean, anybody could ask anything, and we had past presidents of the American Counseling Association, past presidents of the Texas Counseling Association, active faculty and counselor education programs in this group answering questions in the most loving, nurturing way. Why? Because we all buy into this mission that it's our job to keep providers in the field, to nurture them through their own developmental model and if you've taken my course, you know what a big deal the developmental model is right.

Speaker 1:

I often say everybody gets to be level one, right. Everybody gets to be a beginner. Everybody gets to grow and change. Everybody gets to finally complete their you know, as Malcolm Gladwell refers to their 10,000 hours to achieve expertise. Don't quote me on that, I think it's been debunked. But yeah, let's just say 10,000 hours of practice. That means aha, you are now the expert. Everybody gets to go through those stages, and so do we really do the field any favors by saying, in that first level of supervisor development, yeah, you messed up, you're out of here or you know what. You're on your own. You should know how to do this. Absolutely not, at least not in my book. And speaking of book, I wrote a book, the Clinical Supervision Survival Guide.

Speaker 1:

Because of all of these stories that came out of teaching this course, where I heard from people and people would actually come to the course to take it again or they take it as a refresher and I'd ask them oh, how's supervising going? And they would say, well, I haven't taken on any supervisees. And I'd say, excuse me, you're not supervising after all of this great instruction and it came down to fear. These are well-meaning people. You may be a well-meaning people and you want to pay it forward. You want to grow the next generation of counselors. But then you take a course like mine or someone else, one of my you know, esteemed colleagues out there, and you learn all this stuff and you're like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, I don't want to do this, I can't take on the liability, but you keep up the CEs, you keep up the designation and the license because you're thinking, ok, maybe someday, maybe someday. If that's you, I am so glad you're here today in this peek behind the curtain episode, because I want you to know the solutions that I and others have helped come up with so that you have that warm, fuzzy blanket of support around you as you are a brand new supervisor. And if it's you and you're listening to this and you have taken the course and you can attest to these resources, if you've benefited from these resources, I would absolutely love it if you would tag me in social media, tag me on Instagram at Kate Walker Training and just let me know how it has helped you to supervise.

Speaker 1:

Now, everything I talk about today is in the book, the Clinical Supervision Survival Guide. So, those of you who don't know, I am a bit of a hiker. I love hiking. I finished walking 100 kilometers on the Camino in Spain. I hike Big Bend National Park. I just love to get out in nature. So I was reading this how to Survive kind of a book how to survive when you're hiking, how to survive and I thought, oh, my goodness, this would be a great supervision book. And that's what brought me along this journey to writing the book and everything that I've taught in the 40 hour training over the past gosh, almost 20 years, to make sure providers like you who want to become a clinical supervisor or if you're a clinical supervisor but you haven't taken on that first supervisee have what you need to start supervising and putting more excellent therapists out into the world excellent therapists out into the world. Hey, clinical Supervisor, I know there's a lot to be worried about, everything from supervisee liability to paperwork organization to oh my gosh, do I know when my supervisee's malpractice insurance expires. I've got help on the way.

Speaker 1:

My new book, the Clinical Supervision Survival Guide, is published and ready for you on Amazon. Super easy to get you can go to katewalkertrainingcom book. And to make it even easier for you to get all of the resources that I talk about in the book I'm talking about assessments. I'm talking about templates. I'm talking about remediation plans assessments, I'm talking about templates, I'm talking about remediation plans. When you use the QR code, you will get to download every single thing I talk about. I want to make it as easy as possible because, let's face it, you've got enough on your plate. So go to katewalkertrainingcom slash book, use the QR code, get the resources and I've got a special surprise for you Because we were so excited with the way the book turned out.

Speaker 1:

We are working on a planner. That's right something. You can track those homework assignments. You can track hey, did I cover the rules this month? Oh, I can track my lesson plans. You can track all of those important dates in the new planner. We don't have it ready yet, but when you buy the book and use the QR code, guess what you can get on our waiting list? So go to katewalkertrainingcom slash book, grab the book and keep putting amazing therapists out into the world.

Speaker 1:

So I'm going to start with the OER framework, or the OER triad, which is a framework to help you mitigate liability. Then I'm going to talk about the buddy system here, the hiking reference. Then I'm going to talk about an effective after action review. All three of these things again, you can find in the book. And the book is pretty cool because it's got a QR code and when you scan the code it takes you to a page where you can access every single resource that I'm talking about. You can download them, you can customize them for your practice and it comes with the book. Like when you buy the book, all of this stuff comes with it. You will never get nickel and dimed when it comes to resources. You will never get nickel and dimed by me when it comes to resources. I want you to have what you need in order to practice.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so let's start with the OER triad, this framework for success. All right, so one of the reasons I hear a lot for supervisors never starting is really similar to the reason that I hear that supervisors quit after a bad experience with a supervisee. So if we talk about the level one supervisor, the brand new supervisor, they've just finished a course like mine and they're thinking, oh, my gosh, so much liability, so many rules, so much paperwork. Okay, I hear you. And here's what I teach in the 40-hour training to become an LPC or LMFT supervisor.

Speaker 1:

In Texas, o stands for orientation, e stands for evaluation and R stands for remediation. Now, in Texas it's actually encoded in both LPC and LMFT that you must remediate your supervisee before you terminate them. Now I always throw in unless they do something egregious, right? I mean, if they're having sex with their client, you're probably not going to put them on a remediation plan. At least I wouldn't. I'll own that one, I'll stand on the soapbox for that one. But if we're talking about mistakes, if we're talking about omissions, if we're talking about developmental issues, that can be normal. With a growing, brand new LPC, associate a brand new colleague in the field, right? Then the remediation plan is designed to teach and reteach and hold this person accountable for what they should know by now. So let's work backwards from that. What should they know by now? Well, you won't know unless you evaluate them. And I hear about supervisors all the time who don't give formal evaluations, they don't use formal assessment instruments, and here's why that's a mistake. Again, my soapbox. I'm going to own this, but it's after doing this for a long, long time.

Speaker 1:

It's like getting hired by some place that will never give you a review, right? So you're working there one year, you're working there two years. You never get a review. All of a sudden, out of the blue, they're like, hey, you know what You're fired. And you're like, why? Well, because you're terrible at what you do. And you're like, whoa, hold on a minute. You never gave me a review. What's going on here? Okay, so you wouldn. You couldn't do that at a job, or that would be a terrible job, right?

Speaker 1:

So as a supervisor, where everything depends on the relationship right. You must have that transparency and that trust with your supervisee. Imagine coming out of the blue and telling your supervisee hey, I've been thinking about it and I'm going to put you on a remediation plan. And they're like what, wait, wait, what? I've been working with you for six months, eight months, 12 months, 18 months, and you haven't mentioned anything. In fact, we cut up. Every time I come in here You're always smiling and laughing and telling me what a great job I do. Right, that's an example of supervision or let's call it just a supervisor who may be afraid of conflict. They may be reluctant to evaluate another adult. Maybe there's too much similarity in age or life circumstances, and that happens, I mean, especially with new supervisors.

Speaker 1:

So what the OER or I should say the E in the O-E-R triad is for you must get your supervisee used to the idea of regular formal evaluations, and that means when it does come time and you're like, you know the skill that you've been struggling with for the past six months and I have retaught the skill. I've given you homework, I've asked you to show me videos and you're not improving. And here's the assessment to show how hard we've tried, you and I both. Well, now it's time for a remediation plan. That's a little bit more formal, right? If you have been evaluating your supervisee all along, then it's not going to be a surprise, which also means it won't damage the relationship if and when you have to give them a remediation plan. So that E is essential regular formal evaluations, o.

Speaker 1:

I'm working my way backwards here, right. O stands for orientation, which means you're going to tell them exactly what. You're going to assess them over, assess them on right. You're going to teach them the test. Better than that, you're going to hand them the test. You're going to show them the assessment and you're going to say hey, I need you to do these things really, really, really well in order to deliver services, become the best you can be, protect the public. So, starting off with that orientation, here's what you can expect from me. Here's the instrument that I'll assess you with. Here are the dates, approximately, of when I will give you these assessments. And oh, by the way, if you struggle and fail to meet expectations, expect a formal remediation plan which looks a little bit like this, and you can hand them the template.

Speaker 1:

Now, granted, a template for a remediation plan won't be personal, right, it's just going to be a template, but if you're a member of the Texas Supervisor Coalition Facebook page, we've got one of those in our files right now. You could download it and look at it. If you buy the Clinical Supervision Survival Guide, you scan the QR code, boom, you can download a remediation plan. It's something you can personalize for your supervisee. Now take a deep breath and if you are a supervisor, feel how that feels, to think that you would take on, let's say, two or three new supervisees and be assured that if something goes sideways, that you have some tools in your toolbox Right there. That's what I'm going for, that feeling of OK, I can do this. Now. It may not soothe you completely, because if you're anything like me, I don't like to go first, right, I don't like to just do things in a vacuum. I want to know how other people do it. So that's where the buddy system comes in, and I talk about this in the book as well.

Speaker 1:

If you think counseling is isolating, holy moly, supervision can be mega isolating. So a lot of the times, folks quit supervising or they never start supervising because there's no one else in their community who's doing that. Well, pre-covid, when we weren't used to all of the Zooms and all of the virtual everythings. That was probably. I don't have any data, but that might have been a bigger problem than it is now right, because when I go on the social media sites and I see organizations for the Dallas-Fort Worth area or I see counseling groups for West Texas, el Paso, or Central Texas, austin, I know that these folks are helping each other. It's a great group. Some of them even have face-to-face meetups. And then, of course, we do have the state organization, the Texas Counseling Association, and several others.

Speaker 1:

So having that support, just being able to say, ok, how did you do it, being able to listen while someone else describes how they implemented a remediation plan, how they assessed a supervisee it can be so helpful in getting folks over that hump and helping them to see OK, I can do this, I can supervise, I've got my buddy system, I've got my tribe, I can make this happen. I can put some excellent therapists in the world. Thanks so much for listening. I can put some excellent therapists in the world that we host every single month at Kate Walker Training. It's easy to attend. Just go to katewalkertrainingcom.

Speaker 1:

Forward slash free webinar and I will see you there. I'm Dr Kate Walker. Thank you so much for listening to Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses. Thank you to Ridgely Walker for her lovely voiceovers at our introduction and do me a favor when you get a second. Please like, share and subscribe and write us a review. That's really how we get picked up by other RSS feeds and we get this information out to the mental health badasses who need it. Thanks again and keep saving the world with excellent therapy. You.