
- January 3, 2025
- 87
- Podcasts
About Episode
In this episode of Your Clinical Supervisors Couch Podcast, Leah discusses how to structure clinical supervision sessions.
Show Notes
Kayla: Welcome to Your Clinical Supervisor’s Couch Podcast, and I’m your host, Kayla Das.
As this is our very first episode of the Your Clinical Supervisor’s Couch Podcast, I think it’s fitting to introduce what this podcast is all about before we dive into today.
Your Clinical Supervisor’s Coach discusses all topics related to receiving and providing clinical supervision for therapy and allied health professionals.
Whether you’re a clinical supervisor looking for new ideas or strategies. Or you’re a therapist wanting to learn more about clinical supervision, you’re in the right place, as there will be an episode for you in this podcast.
And I don’t think there’s a better way to start off this podcast than to discuss how to structure clinical supervision sessions.
So in today’s episode, Leah Niehaus, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Clinical Supervisor, will discuss how to structure clinical supervision sessions.
Hi, Leah. Welcome to the show. I’m so glad to have you here today.
Leah: Thank you so much for having me today, Kayla.
Kayla: Leah, before we dive in, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you, your practice, and your clinical supervision journey.
Leah: Sure. Well, essentially, I was licensed as a clinical social worker 21 years ago, and I’ve been a clinical supervisor for 12 years. And I began having postmaster’s associates in my private practice nine years ago. I currently have a group practice in Southern California. With five associates and one licensed clinician where we serve children, adults, and families.
And honestly, I felt a little bit lonely in my solo private practice over time. And at one point I began working as a supervisor with grad students on the side and discovered that I loved supervising teaching and mentoring. It was a natural step to slowly grow into a group practice. I became a CAMFT certified clinical supervisor in 2019, which is a special California designation for supervisors.
I discovered that I just love doing clinical supervision, being part of clinician development over time, and also supporting other clinical supervisors in my online clinical supervisor consult group.
Kayla: Amazing. So I’m assuming that listeners are here because they know what clinical supervision is, but just in case they don’t, what is clinical supervision?
Leah: Well, I feel that clinical supervision is a space to get curious about oneself, one’s clients and the professions. I feel it should be a place where clinicians feel comfortable expressing doubts, asking questions, exploring their own biases and identifying the unique strengths they bring to the therapeutic work. It should be a supportive and challenging environment to learn in the hopes of improving client care and facilitating their own professional growth.
In supervision, I cover all the topics important to professional growth, including guidance on the DSM, exam preparation, discussion of legal and ethical considerations. Developing a professional identity, exploring areas of transference and counter transference, cross cultural considerations. Reviewing various theoretical orientations, and taking your clinical work to the next level.
Kayla: I love that. You know, when we think of clinical supervision, I know it is a requirement by many of our regulatory bodies. But outside of that, why is it important to have clinical supervision and then on top of that, have structured clinical supervision?
Leah: I think the work is really demanding. It’s emotionally demanding for us. It can be physically exhausting. There’s heavy content some days in the work that we do with clients. So it’s such an important part of our training and really ongoing training as even licensed clinicians just to always build in time for consult groups and clinical supervision.
And I think that the time and clinical supervision can go really quickly. There’s so much to learn and accomplish in the time together. It’s very easy to get derailed or not make productive use of the time. And so I just really feel like it has helped me as a supervisor to be structured in my approach, structured yet flexible, if that makes sense. So I have a general framework that I use to kind of guide the time together so that I stay true to the supervision goals, respond to crises effectively, and keep my eye on client improvement and clinician development.
Kayla: So when we think of a structure for clinical supervision, I know you mentioned that you like to be flexible, but structured. How would we structure a clinical supervision session and going back to that flexibility piece, when should we be flexible within that, both from a supervisee perspective and a clinical supervisor perspective?
Leah: Good question. Well, typically, the way I structure clinical supervision in my office every week is we tend to have a once weekly group supervision that’s offered for two hours. Everyone attends and participates. And then for my clinicians with over 10 client hours, we add in the extra hour of individual or triadic supervision.
So, first, during the group supervision, I always start with a check in. Going around the room, a high low, that the clinician can share. Like a personal high or low in their life, or a clinical high or low. And it just gives me time with them to connect as human beings. Helps us bring us into the room together. And it also alerts me who might need extra time or support in that supervision session, depending on how their week has gone.
So we kind of do our check in and then we move into a little bit of a learning or experiential component of group supervision where we might be reviewing some research. We might be reviewing a new strategy or technique to use in the room with clients. Or somebody might be presenting on something that’s interesting to them that they wanted to share. Or we might do a creative or experiential kind of reflective activity.
So we might do that for a little part of the supervision time and then we’ll move into case presentations. And they will all take turns sharing and getting feedback on the weekly challenges or highlighting client successes.
Before we even get to group supervision, the goal is that they’ve turned in their clinical notes, and I’ve read them, so I feel prepared and ready to know which cases we really need to explore in more depth. So during the case presentation time, we might do a deeper dive into tricky cases, or explore differential diagnoses, or discuss treatment planning issues.
We would definitely explore any high risk situations, discuss any cross cultural issues that may have arisen. Or learn from those having to have made a child abuse report or hospitalize someone or collaborate with other professionals in the community. Anytime there’s an opportunity for all to learn from one clinician’s challenging circumstance, I really love to capitalize on that.
And often we end and wrap up supervision with some inspiration for the week ahead, a laugh. Or if it’s been a particularly heavy week, we have a closure script for clinicians that helps kind of center us, ground us, and give us the strength to carry on for the week.
So, my structure is definitely guided by the integration of particular supervisory models that guide my work. And briefly, I would just say I’ve been drawn to a developmental approach with my supervisees, meaning that clinicians grow over time. I’m also drawn to a psychodynamic approach, which focuses on affective reactions, transference and counter transference. And then also the person of the therapist model, which promotes the use of the whole self in clinical work. So this is always kind of in the back of my mind while I’m working with the supervisees.
I love for the supervisees to take part in structuring their own supervision as well. I get regular feedback from them about how they’re feeling about the supervisory alliance program. and what they’d like to get out of their supervision time.
So I think supervisors need to just be clear about the framework that works for them. What are the things that they prioritize on a weekly basis with their supervisees to make sure they’re hitting all the high points? And everybody’s practice is going to be a little bit different. So I just gave you a little flavor of how I kind of do mine. I do like to incorporate a learning component or research component or skill building while also going into the deep dive of cases and assessing for risk and all of that.
And then in terms of flexibility, I think it’s as the leader and the supervisor. It’s important to have this general kind of framework to keep us on track. But it’s also important to roll with the way supervision is going. If somebody has had a particularly hard week personally, or in the sessions, you know, really to spend the extra time there and allowing that flexibility, even verbalizing that to our supervisees that some weeks, some of you may take up more space in here and need extra support versus other weeks. And it all ends up working out.
I think it’s also nice to verbalize with supervisees who we want to be collaborative in this process. So I do want their feedback. I want to know what works for them and supervision, while at the same time, I need them to understand that I’m balancing maybe six clinicians and all the needs in the room. And I’m doing the best I can to, and that we have to all give each other some grace, because the time goes quickly. They all have a lot of needs. I want to support everybody as best I can. So just that kind of nice back and forth kind of supervisory communication alliance with each other and building in just a good working relationship.
Kayla: I love that. So when it comes to structuring clinical supervision sessions, does the type of clinical supervision change the structure? In other words, if a clinical supervisor is conducting a dyadic or a group clinical supervision, does the structure change, say, from an individual session?
Leah: Yes, definitely. Group supervision lasts two hours, and this allows us for more time with activities, learning, and reflection, while also affording them the opportunity to learn from each other. In dyadic or triadic supervision, I tend to focus more on exploring cases in depth, getting curious about transference, counter transference reactions, and attend to their professional identity development.
Kayla: That’s really helpful. Leah, do you have any additional tips or strategies that you would like to share with listeners about how to structure a clinical supervision session?
Leah: I think my main tip for supervisors is to remember what important work it is that you’re doing with training this next generation of therapists and how meaningful and rewarding it can really be to watch clinician development. And I think in order to be a really effective clinical supervisor, it does require intention on your part. It requires ongoing support and consultation from other clinical supervisors. I think that we hold a lot of responsibility and to do it really well is an art form, too.
So I guess I would just say as a tip for clinical supervisors, really be intentional, thoughtful about the way you want to show up as a clinical supervisor. I have found tremendous help from my own clinical supervisor consult groups, ongoing CEU classes that I take, listening to podcasts like these. And so just making space in your calendar for that. That’s kind of what it requires.
Kayla: Leah, you have clinical supervision guides that you sell. Can you tell us a little bit about what they are and how they can help listeners?
Leah: Yes. I found this whole growing into a group practice was this exciting but also kind of stressful endeavor for a clinical supervisor where my wheelhouse was in the clinical work, not really in growing a business over time. And so I developed a few things to help make supervisors lives easier. So I have A few digital downloads on my website.
One is for onboarding associates in private practice. So that’s especially helpful for supervisors that are new to hiring and learning the business side of onboarding supervisees while also attending the clinical matters.
And then I have another download called Inspired Clinical Supervision, and it compiles many creative and thoughtful activities to enhance the supervisory relationship, clinical work with clients, and keep supervision engaging and interesting for both supervisees and supervisors.
I feel that sometimes supervisors get in a rut and just do case presentations, and it really shakes things up and gives supervisors some fresh inspiration, which has translated well in my practice and that my supervisees really enjoy.
Kayla: Great. So, check out Leah’s Clinical Supervision Guides at leahmniehaus.com/clinical-supervisor-guides
You can also scroll down to the show notes and click on the link as well.
And Leah, I know you’re providing a special discount for listeners. Tell us a little bit about that.
Leah: Yes. We do have a special promotion going to get 15 percent off for people listening to the podcast today and you just need to use a code word COUCH15. And I hope that helps give more access to supervisors for these guides.
Kayla: Great. So if you’re going to sign up for Leah’s clinical supervision guides, don’t forget to use COUCH15 to get your 15 percent off promotion.
Leah, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today to discuss how to structure clinical supervision sessions.
Leah: Of course. so much. It was a pleasure to discuss clinical supervision with you. Best of luck with this podcast and know that it will help many supervisors.
Kayla: Oh, thank you so much.
And thank you everyone for tuning into today’s episode. And I hope you join me again soon on your Clinical Supervisor’s Couch Podcast.
Until next time, bye for now.
Podcast Links
Leah’s Clinical Supervision Guides: leahmniehaus.com/clinical-supervisor-guides
Coupon Code: COUCH15 for 15% of Leah’s Guides
Snap SEO: snapseo.ca
Credits & Disclaimers
Music by Top Flow from Pixabay
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Podcast information should not be considered professional advice and should not replace clinical supervision or consultation.