How To Find a Board-Certified LPC Supervisor
This is seriously one of the most important decisions of your career. It sets a trajectory for your time as a clinician. It’s a delicate process, and I have some ideas to help you find the right person.
Start by asking for recommendations. Ask a grad school professor, fellow LPC-Associates, or online networking groups for people that have a good reputation in the supervision world.
When you’ve found some possible options, confirm they are board certified LPC Supervisors in the state of Texas. Go to the BHEC website and do a license search to see if they are active, if they have any ongoing board complaints or investigations, and see other LPC-Associates already connected to that supervisor’s license.
Then you can do some research. Check their websites for bios and photos that give you a sense of who they are both as clinicians and supervisors. Like all relationships, there’s some alchemy to finding the right person, so it’s ok to do a vibe check before going much further.
Make a list of questions that are important to you. Some examples:
What is your chosen counseling theory? How does it look with clients versus LPC-Associates in supervision?
How long have you been an LPC Supervisor? How many LPC-Associates have you trained?
What do you enjoy about being an LPC Supervisor? What kinds of LPC-Associates do you work best with?
What are your rates for supervision? What is included in that rate? How do you make sure LPC-Associates meet the required 4 hours of supervision per month? Is your supervision in person or virtual? Do you offer group supervision?
Are you comfortable working with my career goals? (For example, do you want to start a private practice? Do you have a specialty you’re interested in that might not align? Do you want to get licensed in another state? Some LPC Supervisors aren’t comfortable with some career goals, so it’s definitely worth the ask.)
Do you have strict timelines for how quickly (or slowly) I will accrue clinical hours under supervision?
Can I talk with one of your LPC-Associates to ask about their experience of you as a supervisor?
Now, set some times to interview a few LPC Supervisors that might meet your requirements. Prepare by reviewing your questions and also be ready to talk about your own training and career goals. Talk about where you’re planning to accrue your clinical hours and make sure the LPC Supervisor can support you in those settings (for example, solo private practice, group practices, community mental health settings, IOP/PHP, institutions, etc.).
(Side note/Bonnie editorial: some group practices do not allow LPC-Associates who work in the practice to have an outside supervisor. While this is not technically unethical, it gives me the ick. In my opinion, quality supervision has to be a place where you can be vulnerable and ask lots of questions, and I don’t think that happens between an employee and an employer in most cases. But! That’s just my opinion. Just ask the questions when you’re considering group practice jobs and see how you feel about their requirements.)
Finally, take your time to consider the people you’ve interviewed and choose the one that fits your needs the best. You can change supervisors during supervision, but only a limited number of times, so while this is not the only LPC Supervisor you CAN have, it can be sort of a pain to switch. Make your most educated decision with the information you’ve got so you can move forward and start accruing those supervised hours!
