CLINICAL SUPERVISION FOR INTERNS AND ASSOCIATES IN WASHINGTON STATE

Clinical
Supervision

 Do you ever feel like all those years in grad school were not enough to prepare you for your clinical work?

Do you ever doubt your skills; feel like you don’t know what you are doing? Have you experienced difficulty talking to your supervisor about the hard parts of this work? You may feel like your peers are “getting it” much faster than you, or maybe you’ve realized all those theories that sounded good in a textbook are not a good fit when working with an actual client. Hoping that if you can just read one more book, you will finally “get it” when your to-read list is already frighteningly long.

Whatever it is that you’re experiencing, you’re noticing it show up in many ways:

  • Worry someone is going to notice you have no idea what you are doing (i.e. imposter syndrome)

  • Sinking into burnout or doubting your career choice

  • Anxiety is making it difficult to feel connected to your clients

  • Frustration with the limitations and barriers your education may have introduced

A good fit in clinical supervision can help!

It might seem contradictory, but you can embrace your doubts and show up authentically for your clients. You can create strong connections with clients leading to transformational growth.

And I can help you get there.

My supervision helps you do three things:

  • Feel safety acknowledging your own limitations while increasing your confidence in the skills you have

  • Feel empowered to dismantle systemic barriers for yourself and your clients

  • Build a support system for yourself so you can strengthen your practice after licensure

I am here for you through this process using a developmental approach to supervision. I expect that all of my supervisees will range in their development across domains (i.e. interpersonal assessment, diagnostics, ethics, multicultural competency); therapist development is not based on years of practice, age or coursework. I tailor meetings to the unique needs of my supervisees.

My supervision comes from a place of warmth and compassion: there are many approaches to supervision and I want to make sure I provide you with an approach that is effective and helpful for you. 

 Let’s ground you in the good work you know how to do while challenging you to stretch yourself. 

Frequently asked questions about clinical supervision

  • I am invested in your ongoing growth as a counselor, not simply checking off hours boxes for your education or licensure. My goal is for us to spend equal amounts of time exploring your areas of growth as we do celebrating your successes and achievements in therapy. I like to bring a balance of vulnerability, humor, warmth, and connection to my supervision. The act of doing therapy can be so bizarre and exhausting, supervision should be a place where we can acknowledge how odd our jobs are.

  • NO! But also, maybe a little bit. A major growth area I noticed in myself, my colleagues, and my supervisees, is a period of 1-3 years after starting clinical work where you realize everything you learned about working with clients in school may not be TRUE. Ethical situations really are that gray, it’s often difficult to provide good therapy while remaining a blank slate, it can be exhausting to overanalyze every single facet of your client. I never want supervisees to forget what they learned; I want them to question the origins of theories, skills, and practices and whether they are actually helpful in our modern world. Many supervisees also notice they have been so focused on meeting requirements for school that it prevented them from showing up in therapy as their authentic selves.

  • Have you ever noticed that a lot of the foundational (i.e. old) theories we practice were created by old, White, men? This has influenced every aspect of therapist training. Trying to do therapy “by the book” should never be harmful for our clients and yet many of our treatment delivery models are systemically harmful. We will critically examine our work together, your clinical work, and the larger mental health system to explore how you can help someone heal and navigate the impact of oppressive systems.

  • Certainly not, in fact, our supervision time together is often richer when we can explore alternative approaches to find what feels like the best fit for you. You are likely still in the process of putting together your theoretical approach in a coherent and intentional way. One of my favorite parts of supervision is taking your clinical instincts and grounding them in specific approaches to help you identify what works/doesn’t work in your counseling. In case you are wondering, my therapy is based in a relational approach (Interpersonal Process Approach) pulling from Emotionally Focused Therapy (Sue Johnson).

  • You don’t! I am certainly not a “one size fits all” supervisor and recognize my limitations in meeting the needs of all my supervisees. However, if you believe a warm, compassionate, and gently direct supervisor who uses humor is a step in the right direction, let’s schedule a free consultation to see if we might be a good fit.