| SUPERVISORS |
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| GUIDELINES |
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The mission of the Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists is to assist Oregon citizens to obtain competent, ethical mental health services by the regulation of licensed counselors and therapists and those persons working toward licensure.
Regulation of persons working toward licensure is accomplished by allowing applicants to register as interns while gaining the supervised work experience required for licensure. Registration requires the applicant to be working under an Approved Plan for Supervision. The Plan assures an adequate level of supervision, by a trained supervisor, and allows the Board to monitor progress through Six-Month Evaluation Reports filed by the supervisor.
This guide is to assist those supervisors as they provide supervision to assist an intern to qualify for licensure.
PLAN APPROVAL
- The Approved Plan is an agreement between the Board, the Supervisor, and Registered Intern. The purpose of this agreement is to enhance the applicant's professional development while meeting the licensing requirements, keeping in mind the responsibilities toward clients and the profession. Supervised work experience is more than a means to an end (licensure), but an opportunity to gain, demonstrate, and possibly enhance professional competence.
- Because it has been difficult for applicants to find qualified supervisors, the Board has chosen to recognize supervisors from related fields: social work, psychology, and psychiatry. However,k the Board notes that its requirements, definitions, and reporting criteria may differ slightly from those adopted by licensing boards in these other fields. Supervisors are reuired to become familiar with the requirements of this Board.
- By approving a Plan with you as the supervisor, the Board has identified that you hold at least a master's degree in a mental health field, you have experienced working under clinical supervision, you have specialized training in clinical mental health supervision, and you are credentialed as a therapist -- state licensed or nationally certified as in the counseling field. Because the Board approves the plan of a specific applicant, the Board is not granting an "approved status" to the supervisor for anything beyond the one Plan. Supervisors are asked to refrain from referring to themselves as "approved supervisors for LPC/LMFT."
ELEMENTS OF SUPERVISION
- Supervisors and registered interns need to be clear regarding their respective roles, including acceptance of shared responsibilities. There should be mutual respect and trust as you share relevant thoughts, experiences, and emotional reactions, but the supervisory relationship should permit both the freedom to challenge, differ, experiment, make and share mistakes, and it should include a willingness to obtain third party support and guidance when necessary. Your supervision should be geared specifically toward the intern's needs and capabilities, with the both mutually agreeing on goals of supervision, method of supervision, and measures for evaluation of Interns' performance and professional advancement. The Board expects supervision to vary to some extent from person to person.
- Supervision has been defined by the Board as the examination of a therapist's work to encourage responsible provision of services, to promote the welfare and best interests of the clients served, to foster the acquisition and refinement of skills, and to promote personal and professional development.
Supervision must involve discussions based on the review of case notes, charts, records, and available audio or visual tapes. The purpose of review is for evaluating the appropriateness of the services to clients, as well as the supervisee's therapeutic skill. Supervision takes place in a professional setting, one on one with the supervisee, or privately with a small group of other supervisees. In addition to evaluating practice, supervision should include:
- goals, responsibilities, practical arrangements -- meetings, fees
- licensing requirements -- laws, rules
- personal management of time and effort
- strategies of clinical decision-making
- prioritizing responsibilities
- professional relationships, coordinating with other professionals and staff
- ethical and cultural considerations
- Evaluation of practice should include review of:
- assessment and identification of presenting problems
- application of values and ethics in specific situations
- research methods
- knowledge of human behavior and/or social environment
- termination of clinical relationships
- methods for maintaining clinical/professional boundaries
- assessment skills
- treatment planning
- therapeutic interventions or treatment approaches
EXPECTATIONS
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By signing the Plan for Supervised Work Experience as Approved by the Board, you have agreed to:
- Provide supervision that meets the licensing standards for level and type of supervision (see definition: HOURS):
- Share responsibility with intern for establishing and maintaining a good client/supervision recordkeeping system, that will be available if requested by Board.
- File timely six month evaluation reports that include: total actual number of direct client contact hours, weekly average, and number of cch that were done by telephone; total number of hours of individual supervision, number of hours of individual supervision provided by phone; and number of hours of group supervision.
- The Board appreciates reports filed within 30 days following the reporting period.
- Reports are to be submitted on forms provided to the intern for your use.
- Seek clarification or consultation from the Board regarding requirements, conflicts coming out of the plan/supervision.
- Notify the Board if your business address, phone number change, or license status changes.
- Notify the Board in a timely fashion if the plan is interrupted or is terminated.
HOURS
Client Contact Hours are defined as counseling/therapy hours, where the intern provides clinical counseling or therapy directly to a client (individual, couple, family, group). Direct contact is face-to-face, voice-to-voice communications. Related activities which are not considered direct client contact hours include: related client services or professional activities such as case management, advocacy, administration of programs, casual/social contact, casual client interaction in milieu therapy, research, receiving supervision; instruction or teaching; training; or participating in discussion groups, counseling by correspondence -- electronic or otherwise.
Group Supervision involves supervision of 2-6 individuals. The leader must maintain role. Group supervision should not be claimed where: more than six supervisees are in the group, the group includes non-counselor staff members, is consultation from another mental health professional, or may be considered a quality review or peer review group. Group supervision is counted the same as individual supervision -- one hour in group supervision equals one hour of supervision. At least 50% of the required minimum supervision for post-degree hours must be individual supervision.
Concurrent Supervision means the supervision must be taking place within the same general timeframe (week or two) of the client contact hours. Supervision should be regularly scheduled, not sporadic.
Level of Supervision. A minimum of one hour of supervision follows no more than 20 client contact hours. As a matter of general applicability, if the intern provides more than 20 direct client contact hours of service prior to supervision, then the amount of supervision should be increased. If a supervision session is missed, then it should be made up or additional supervision time added to the next meeting to compensate. Failure to maintain the required level of supervision means the client contact hours will not be accepted due to inadequate supervision. Wherever possible, the ongoing supervision should be scheduled at a sufficient level to allow unanticipated increases -- 1:15 or 2:30. Fore example, if you and the intern meet weekly, for a caseload of about 16 clients per week, but you go on cavation for two weeks, the Board anticipates you will extend sessions upon your return (3 hours or meet for two hours in addition to the standard meeting) or fail to count those unsupervised hours.
6/99
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