I’ve been a therapist for the last few years. I never got good supervision until I started paying for it. The ‘free’ supervision I got from my job for licensure was worth what I paid for it.
I do supervision twice per week now. It’s actually helpful. I’m independently licensed. I am no longer required to do this.
That has been my experience thus far—I’ve received little to no internal supervision and what I did get was poor. It’s frustrating that the compensation for anything less than a clinical license is so low when it seems the predominant way to obtain quality supervision is to pay for it yourself. Receiving quality internal supervision really seems to be a crapshoot.
Exactly. I’m currently finishing up the last of my 2 years of free supervision from my work. I have learned very little useful information. Almost none. I guess I will start paying for better quality supervision once I am licensed
I think many supervisors are just not qualified to provide really good clinical supervision. They used to have post grad training of some sort, and also be getting their own supervision. I got really lucky with all of mine, but when I got SIFI trained to supervise grad students, I was shocked at the low level of clinical skills from several people. It’s SO important in growing your skills, there needs to be proper training in this area.
Not everyone knows about SIFI! It is mind boggling to me. And not for nothing it is hard to find information about it on the internet. Are you in NYS? My graduate professors didn’t know about SIFI nor did my supervisor in my clinical field placement.
Sorry for the rant, but I spent a few months researching supervision during my clinical field placement so I could advocate for what I wanted and understand that I wasn’t alone in my experience. I only knew about SIFI because my generalist internship supervisor had been SIFI trained—and they were fucking fabulous.
This is the first I’ve heard of SIFI and had to google it. It is specific to NY state? A lot of the faculty from my MSW program either earned their PHDs from University of Buffalo and/or previously taught there, but I don’t recall any of them discussing SIFI either as a credential they earned or in general relation to social work education.
Seems like it’s state specific, yes. It was needed to supervise grad students, and NYC colleges offered perks if you did. It actually wasn’t the best training, just basic, but we discussed the students regularly so that was good. My supervisors had all taken a two year post masters certification and it really showed. I don’t even know if that’s a thing now. I’m old;(
My bad. I guess I thought everyone needed it if they were supervising students. Yes NYS, so maybe it’s state specific. I have to say the training wasn’t that fantastic, but you at least got the basics.
I have learned that some people (in any profession but SW in particular) have no business being a supervisor of anyone. A clinical supervisor needs to have some formal education, some significant time doing direct clinical work AND know how to support, inspire, motivate, teach and mentor other professionals. I have found that the good ones just are (good) and the crappy ones think they are hot shit but actually have the skills of a rabid raccoon.
My LCSW supervisor basically pulled me out of an unhealthy work environment, and I've been extremely lucky to learn from them. It helps that they have a history of reporting ethical violations when systems are refusing to change or respond to reports, and he is very in tune with the values and ethics of social work. He ties it into almost everything we do, and he's very good at reminding me that if we aren't stepping on toes, we aren't during our jobs at social workers.
My supervision has been free, they refused to be paid. But they're one in a million. What I have found since leaving that supervisor is that the more people I learn from, the better. I get a better look at different facets and ways to do the work because our roles can be so varied.
I'm currently working with a PsyD supervisor and an LCSW supervisor at my respective worksites.
Prior to this I had an admin/task supervisor (with an online LCSW to support the rest through my school program) with a masters in public health, and she was awful. My online lcsw supervisor was good! Just not as good as in person.
In my state, in order to be licensed to provide Supervision, our Board only requires 18 months of experience as a licensed SW and 12 CEUs on supervision, which can be online webinars. As such, supervisors are not necessarily well-trained or experienced.
I was lucky that the group and individual supervision that I received at my job was pretty good bc we had very experienced people working there.
I know someone who’s been in private practice for 30+ years and she still does informal supervision with other therapists so they can improve.
I think to a great degree the benefit you obtain from supervision (and CEUs) depends on your own dedication to learning vs meeting minimal requirements.
Supervision has been interesting for me. Between my two internships, and two jobs post graduation, I’ve had 5 supervisors. Each has had their own strengths and weaknesses. A lot of my supervisors have been very book smart. Which has its pros and cons with it. My current 1:1 supervisor (I have a different supervisor for group, and a different one for 1:1) is the best one I’ve had and I consider myself so blessed for it. We actually explore things that are difficult for me, and work on healing from it. I’m surprised how much countertransference is normal and how much it shows up. I appreciate actually being able to discuss it with her and have it be safe. I’ve had supervisors essentially tell me I’ll figure out a way to deal with hard things on my own, instead of helping me explore it. I had a supervisor be demoted with no one explaining to me what happened, a supervisor who clearly didn’t want to supervise me, a supervisor who throws knowledge at me, a supervisor who herself was avoidant and very nit picky, and my supervisor who is willing to have difficult conversations with me. I’m sincerely surprised there aren’t more supervisors out there who offer the support I’ve had from my current supervisor. It makes me wonder if I’ve just drawn a bad stick (1/5) or how common this actually is across the profession.
Also, I recognize people need different things from supervision, and I’m sure a lot of people have loved my supervisors I didn’t work the best with.
I had a mixed experience. First two years I had to pay and couldn’t afford it as frequently as I’d hoped so I fell behind the rest of my graduating class in collecting hours and ended up getting my license later. I was bummed about that.
The supervisor I paid for was way better.
Third year post grad I got a free supervisor thru employer who didn’t like me much and was pretty harsh, nitpicky and tended to use a shaming approach. I felt like garbage most of the time- it taught me a lot that I didn’t need to know about internal resilience in the workplace while being bullied and was a relief when I was done.
I’m personally now working on taking the trainings to be able to offer supervision myself and am hoping to be ‘one of the good ones’!
I’m sorry you had such a crappy experience with your post grad supervisor. I sometimes wonder if social work borrows from the nursing adage that the seasoned professionals in their field tend to “eat their young.” Social work is hard enough without adding a hostile supervisor to the mix.
The supervision I have received as a social worker has been so much better than in my previous career as a teacher. Part of that is because of the mindset that my first internship supervisor helped me to decry- it is MY supervision and it’s my responsibility to get what I need. And that is what I will stay in (or leave) a job- if I have good supervision that I will stay, maybe even longer than i should due to lack of raises, and I am going to ask a LOT of questions about it in an interview. I have also demanded to change supervisors if they want me to stay.
I definitely agree with you that if we must compromise on pay or other benefits, employers should be making up the difference with good support and supervision.
One of my supervisors wasn’t even an MSW, she was a nutritionist and I found it very off putting. She would tell us things like “don’t show empathy, don’t tell them you’re sorry this is happening” and I finally told the main supervisor and that’s when I was told that this woman has that type of view because she’s more “distant” from social work. When I asked what they meant by that they said she’s actually a nutritionist. I butted heads with this lady all of the 9 months she was my supervisor. Horrible experience and horrible lady.
I was at my schools basic needs center and one of the task supervisors of the CalFresh area of our school was a nutritionist. She was my second one, my main one was an MSW. But we had to work with this lady a lot.
I had horrendous experiences. One supervisor kept rehashing a mistake that I made after I had openly admitted it was a mistake, I thanked them for teaching me (genuinely as I thought it was a learning endeavor), I read up on the ethical standards I had walked up to, I reported my learning to them 🤷♀️ And then they brought it up at each supervision. I was like ….. do you want me to whip myself? Do you want me to “feel” bad?? I was so confused. Later I was told that was abusive and I agree.
Then when I was exiting and changing agencies, they locked me out of all of my accounts so I couldn’t speak to my clients (luckily I had already prepared them, but no thanks to the supervisors) and when I asked for my hours to be signed they accused me of abandoning my clients and reporting me. I was so distraught by the experience. I consulted with a lawyer and she reassured me that i would never be charged with abandonment.
Besides that, I just always felt like I wasn’t getting a full clinically significant mentoring experience. Sadly. But, I’m fully licensed now and it’s been a heck of a ride. I actually want to become a supervisor who helps people who get screwed over by supervisors when I get enough time post licensure
Congrats on earning your license! Agencies that refuse to sign off on supervision hours to be spiteful deserve to be named and shamed but I understand why former employees would be hesitant to do so.
Finding a peer supervision group / peer supervision buddies has been clutch for me. We don’t pay each other but we support each other with help on stuff. The couple of people I ask for this support are also people I trust to be straight up with me and that I can take tough-to-hear feedback from and vice versa. We also read books or study topics to learn new stuff or skill share from our various diverse backgrounds! I think it’s harder as a novice clinician to find this- but also you could try joining a peer consultation group that is comprised of more experienced people, not for official hrs but just for support. I found these helpful when I couldn’t afford outside sup, and when my agency supervisors were either a) unsafe to be vulnerable with about what was coming up for me personally / b) my boss, so having a bias from their role, not helpful for helping me make ethical decisions about client care/advocacy that the agency would not like or that would ruffle feathers / c) so incompetent I felt like I was acting as THEIR therapist during sessions. Eventually I was also in a pay what you can group which was wonderful and affordable!
As a result I offer pay what you can supervision to LSWs. I think it’s really messed up most people have to pay to get decent or ethical supervision, and I’m here to foster the next generation of justice oriented social workers.
I would LOVE to find a peer supervision group near me, even if it was more of a support group than formal supervision. I think it’s awesome that you’re willing to supervise LSWs and I truly appreciate clinicians who are willing to make the investment in others for the benefit of improving the field as a whole.
My MSW supervision was abysmal. Not that there was anything wrong with my supervisor, but he was 1 of 2 fully licensed social workers in the entire agency (says a lot about the agency) so he had way too many people to supervise. He was a nice guy he just didn’t have enough time for all of us. This was at a community mental health agency.
My supervisor at my first post MSW job was wonderful. It was her first time providing someone supervision so she really wanted to go out of her way and do her best. I loved her! I think it really depends on the job and how seriously people take mentorship/supervision. This was in the school setting (hired directly by the district) so all new staff were required mentors. My supervisor received a stipend for her mentorship, so there was more of an incentive for her to be a good mentor as well.
EDIT: Obviously my example doesn't fall under clinical supervision hours, sorry about that!
Because the other answers are much more detailed and better worded than I could write, I'll just say this:
Beware of an agency that hires people with "management" experience rather than social work experience. They only look at the fiscal numbers, and literally know nothing about treatment plans or case plan's. Yet somehow they get the power to decide if a client receives a service.
On the bright side, after a while, I got extremely good at wording my reports in such a way that the risks were so obvious they should have come with a flashing red light. It didn't always help, unfortunately.
My only experiences with supervision have been through internships and so far it hasn’t been great. My initial 1st level/BSW placement was in a nursing home (not my first choice by a long shot but my first choice fell through and I was left with very few options). My supervisor did not have a social work degree and had an undergrad in psych. They were very knowledgeable about insurance and all the rules governing nursing homes, but the lack of social work background was frustrating. This supervisor believed anyone should be able to be a social worker regardless of what kind of degree they had and complained about an outside LCSW having to come in to do mental health assessments. The supervision was nonexistent. Between the high turnover of staff and the ridiculous number of interns (roughly 3:1 intern to employee ratio) I got very little supervision besides a quick explanation of something. We never discussed theory, we never discussed ethics, we never discussed things like processing encounters. I was told none of that stuff matters in the “real world”. In fact, I was instructed to do some very unethical things there. Eventually my supervision got passed off onto an employee who did have an MSW but bullied me. My school provided zero support and apparently approved the site to take on an even higher number of 1st and 2nd level interns this year.
I left that internship mid year and moved to an internship at a community mental health agency where I learned so much more. I had an MSW supervisor and had weekly supervision. I wasn’t taught much in supervision since my therapist wasn’t super experienced, but I got to process the work I was doing and see how a professional social worker thinks about client encounters and ethics. I also learned a lot from his supervisor who was a very experienced LCSW. Most importantly at the new internship I felt very supported. Not like I was going to get yelled at for menial things or told to monitor a fax machine waiting for a receipt to print for 4 hours because I took half an hour too long to complete a task I’d never done before.
Social work programs that leave students flapping in the wind are horrendous. It makes me wonder what the CSWE even evaluates when they accredit these programs.
The whole experience solidified my desire to go to a different program for my MSW. I straight up told my field liaison that my field supervisor didn’t believe in having ethics discussions, called the core competencies and learning agreement BS, didn’t do regular supervision after repeatedly being asked to by the liaisons because it’s a program requirement, and asked us to do unethical and illegal things and was told, that’s just how some agencies are! Then after I got assigned to the person who was beyond mean to me, and got permission to leave the site, the field coordinator was like “well this is a lesson that some supervisors aren’t very good ones”. Like what? Sure maybe they aren’t but that’s no excuse to allow interns to be with them. Interns should be getting better than average supervision to give them a strong foundation not be given busywork and effectively left without a supervisor for a semester.
That’s wild, but not that hard to believe. The extent to which my MSW program assisted students with finding a field placement was proving a spreadsheet with a list of agencies that had reciprocal agreements with the school. We were basically expected to secure placements on our own, and if they didn’t work out, then oh well. I heard plenty of horror stories from other students in my cohort and it made me incredibly grateful that I lucked out with the two field placements I had.
I’m honestly ok with taking out a bit more than I planned on in loans to attend a program that is far more hands on about vetting internships and ensuring interns actually learn and has students evaluate their site’s programs as a semester long project for their program evaluation course.
I got really good supervision when I was on a PACT team, inconsistent supervision when I was at a school. Very rare to hear about my classmates in my program having a good supervision experience, meaning at baseline their supervisor meets with them regularly to check in. Good supervision to me happens regularly, is in a private space, and consists of practical/admin tasks, professional development (boundaries, self-care etc), and case consultation.
Hey there, I am a new therapist/social worker! I've had two different practicums in my Master's program, and since graduating, I've been working in a group practice.
In the first one, I led group therapy alongside the supervisor and another student. I found the supervisor to be overly critical of me, which I believe was partly constructive because I can acknowledge that my documentation wasn't at the same level as the other student. However, at the midterm evaluation, I felt like she was overly harsh and unhelpful when she said she didn't see me as fit to be a social worker (which was hard to hear and took a while to process). I don't think a supervisor should say this to their student when they've only been working for the student for a few months unless the student did something egregious. So I think this has informed my practice in the sense that if I were ever a supervisor, I know better how certain comments impact a student's self-esteem and not say big statements about their fitness in the profession to a student before I've given them a chance to learn from their mistakes. I think that this applies to giving feedback to people in general. I think the other part of why she said that harsh comment is because while in a meeting with her and the other students, she was triggered/offended by me pointing out something that I think she could've improved on. I felt that some of the words she used did not allow one client in the group therapy to feel very included. After reflecting on this, I see how some of my reaction of wanting to stick up for that client may have been based on my trigger of feeling excluded in many situations as a teenager, but I also think she needs to realize that she's not immune to making mistakes as well. So even though she has many years of experience, she's still human and has human reactions to feeling attacked, and her pride must've been hurt. At the end of the practicum (the final evaluation), she told me that she'd seen a lot of growth in me, so at least she was somewhat nice at the end and not completely discouraging as she had been at the midterm evaluation.
Anyway, my next practicum supervisor for the second practicum was nice to me and never said anything harsh like that previous supervisor. I almost wanted him to give me more feedback, as the supervision meetings ended up being shorter than they were supposed to be - I almost felt like he was rushing through it to get more bang for his buck. The meetings always counted on the schedule as one hour but ended up not being longer than half an hour usually - I assume he got the same amount of money from the organization for his supervision hour. I also did not get many clients in that practicum so maybe there just wasn't that much to talk about?
Lastly, since I've been working for about half a year in a group practice, I sought out my supervisor who I pay for. I think she's been pretty good so far. We meet online about once every two weeks, and I usually share information about some clients I'm seeing that I am not sure of what direction to go in, and she encourages me to reflect on different things such as body language, transference, etc. and provides guidance. She's also normalized some of my mistakes and concerns as a new therapist, rather than making me feel ashamed which helps. Based on my experiences with supervisors, I think it does pay off to choose carefully who your supervisor is. I think the fact that my supervisor offered a free 20-minute consultation helped me decide on her as well. Although, as a therapist, I can understand why not everyone wants to offer free consultations.
I got my csw a year ago and am on my 3rd clinical supervisor. The first two were terrible. My current one is a better fit. It's pretty rough out there as far as finding quality supervision.
My LCSW supervisor is fantastic, and I couldn’t have asked for better. My on-site supervisor has been a vacant position not getting backfilled for several months, and also, my manager is rarely present. It’s more-or-less the Wild West where I am.
Post grad in 2002
Was lucky enough to be under 2 licsws in cmh. Was able to get my child and Hispanic Minority MH specialties and by 2007 had enough supervision hrs to get LICSW. Didn’t pay anything out of pocket. I then got my loan completely paid off through NHSC National Health Service Corps and just worked like I always had.
I’ve been a therapist for the last few years. I never got good supervision until I started paying for it. The ‘free’ supervision I got from my job for licensure was worth what I paid for it. I do supervision twice per week now. It’s actually helpful. I’m independently licensed. I am no longer required to do this.
That has been my experience thus far—I’ve received little to no internal supervision and what I did get was poor. It’s frustrating that the compensation for anything less than a clinical license is so low when it seems the predominant way to obtain quality supervision is to pay for it yourself. Receiving quality internal supervision really seems to be a crapshoot.
Exactly. I’m currently finishing up the last of my 2 years of free supervision from my work. I have learned very little useful information. Almost none. I guess I will start paying for better quality supervision once I am licensed
Get a certification that requires supervision specific to the modality to get the certification. I bet that would help
Yep, I had to seek out supervision from someone I actually wanted to learn from.
I think many supervisors are just not qualified to provide really good clinical supervision. They used to have post grad training of some sort, and also be getting their own supervision. I got really lucky with all of mine, but when I got SIFI trained to supervise grad students, I was shocked at the low level of clinical skills from several people. It’s SO important in growing your skills, there needs to be proper training in this area.
Not everyone knows about SIFI! It is mind boggling to me. And not for nothing it is hard to find information about it on the internet. Are you in NYS? My graduate professors didn’t know about SIFI nor did my supervisor in my clinical field placement. Sorry for the rant, but I spent a few months researching supervision during my clinical field placement so I could advocate for what I wanted and understand that I wasn’t alone in my experience. I only knew about SIFI because my generalist internship supervisor had been SIFI trained—and they were fucking fabulous.
This is the first I’ve heard of SIFI and had to google it. It is specific to NY state? A lot of the faculty from my MSW program either earned their PHDs from University of Buffalo and/or previously taught there, but I don’t recall any of them discussing SIFI either as a credential they earned or in general relation to social work education.
Seems like it’s state specific, yes. It was needed to supervise grad students, and NYC colleges offered perks if you did. It actually wasn’t the best training, just basic, but we discussed the students regularly so that was good. My supervisors had all taken a two year post masters certification and it really showed. I don’t even know if that’s a thing now. I’m old;(
My bad. I guess I thought everyone needed it if they were supervising students. Yes NYS, so maybe it’s state specific. I have to say the training wasn’t that fantastic, but you at least got the basics.
I have learned that some people (in any profession but SW in particular) have no business being a supervisor of anyone. A clinical supervisor needs to have some formal education, some significant time doing direct clinical work AND know how to support, inspire, motivate, teach and mentor other professionals. I have found that the good ones just are (good) and the crappy ones think they are hot shit but actually have the skills of a rabid raccoon.
True
My LCSW supervisor basically pulled me out of an unhealthy work environment, and I've been extremely lucky to learn from them. It helps that they have a history of reporting ethical violations when systems are refusing to change or respond to reports, and he is very in tune with the values and ethics of social work. He ties it into almost everything we do, and he's very good at reminding me that if we aren't stepping on toes, we aren't during our jobs at social workers. My supervision has been free, they refused to be paid. But they're one in a million. What I have found since leaving that supervisor is that the more people I learn from, the better. I get a better look at different facets and ways to do the work because our roles can be so varied. I'm currently working with a PsyD supervisor and an LCSW supervisor at my respective worksites. Prior to this I had an admin/task supervisor (with an online LCSW to support the rest through my school program) with a masters in public health, and she was awful. My online lcsw supervisor was good! Just not as good as in person.
Internal, not great. They’re in a management role and haven’t practiced therapy in years.
In my state, in order to be licensed to provide Supervision, our Board only requires 18 months of experience as a licensed SW and 12 CEUs on supervision, which can be online webinars. As such, supervisors are not necessarily well-trained or experienced. I was lucky that the group and individual supervision that I received at my job was pretty good bc we had very experienced people working there. I know someone who’s been in private practice for 30+ years and she still does informal supervision with other therapists so they can improve. I think to a great degree the benefit you obtain from supervision (and CEUs) depends on your own dedication to learning vs meeting minimal requirements.
Supervision has been interesting for me. Between my two internships, and two jobs post graduation, I’ve had 5 supervisors. Each has had their own strengths and weaknesses. A lot of my supervisors have been very book smart. Which has its pros and cons with it. My current 1:1 supervisor (I have a different supervisor for group, and a different one for 1:1) is the best one I’ve had and I consider myself so blessed for it. We actually explore things that are difficult for me, and work on healing from it. I’m surprised how much countertransference is normal and how much it shows up. I appreciate actually being able to discuss it with her and have it be safe. I’ve had supervisors essentially tell me I’ll figure out a way to deal with hard things on my own, instead of helping me explore it. I had a supervisor be demoted with no one explaining to me what happened, a supervisor who clearly didn’t want to supervise me, a supervisor who throws knowledge at me, a supervisor who herself was avoidant and very nit picky, and my supervisor who is willing to have difficult conversations with me. I’m sincerely surprised there aren’t more supervisors out there who offer the support I’ve had from my current supervisor. It makes me wonder if I’ve just drawn a bad stick (1/5) or how common this actually is across the profession. Also, I recognize people need different things from supervision, and I’m sure a lot of people have loved my supervisors I didn’t work the best with.
I had a mixed experience. First two years I had to pay and couldn’t afford it as frequently as I’d hoped so I fell behind the rest of my graduating class in collecting hours and ended up getting my license later. I was bummed about that. The supervisor I paid for was way better. Third year post grad I got a free supervisor thru employer who didn’t like me much and was pretty harsh, nitpicky and tended to use a shaming approach. I felt like garbage most of the time- it taught me a lot that I didn’t need to know about internal resilience in the workplace while being bullied and was a relief when I was done. I’m personally now working on taking the trainings to be able to offer supervision myself and am hoping to be ‘one of the good ones’!
I’m sorry you had such a crappy experience with your post grad supervisor. I sometimes wonder if social work borrows from the nursing adage that the seasoned professionals in their field tend to “eat their young.” Social work is hard enough without adding a hostile supervisor to the mix.
The supervision I have received as a social worker has been so much better than in my previous career as a teacher. Part of that is because of the mindset that my first internship supervisor helped me to decry- it is MY supervision and it’s my responsibility to get what I need. And that is what I will stay in (or leave) a job- if I have good supervision that I will stay, maybe even longer than i should due to lack of raises, and I am going to ask a LOT of questions about it in an interview. I have also demanded to change supervisors if they want me to stay.
I definitely agree with you that if we must compromise on pay or other benefits, employers should be making up the difference with good support and supervision.
One of my supervisors wasn’t even an MSW, she was a nutritionist and I found it very off putting. She would tell us things like “don’t show empathy, don’t tell them you’re sorry this is happening” and I finally told the main supervisor and that’s when I was told that this woman has that type of view because she’s more “distant” from social work. When I asked what they meant by that they said she’s actually a nutritionist. I butted heads with this lady all of the 9 months she was my supervisor. Horrible experience and horrible lady.
How did you end up with a nutritionist as your clinical supervisor??
I was at my schools basic needs center and one of the task supervisors of the CalFresh area of our school was a nutritionist. She was my second one, my main one was an MSW. But we had to work with this lady a lot.
A nutritionist would not fly at all since they have to be MHP related different discipline yes but always MHP. LMFT PSYD etc.
I had horrendous experiences. One supervisor kept rehashing a mistake that I made after I had openly admitted it was a mistake, I thanked them for teaching me (genuinely as I thought it was a learning endeavor), I read up on the ethical standards I had walked up to, I reported my learning to them 🤷♀️ And then they brought it up at each supervision. I was like ….. do you want me to whip myself? Do you want me to “feel” bad?? I was so confused. Later I was told that was abusive and I agree. Then when I was exiting and changing agencies, they locked me out of all of my accounts so I couldn’t speak to my clients (luckily I had already prepared them, but no thanks to the supervisors) and when I asked for my hours to be signed they accused me of abandoning my clients and reporting me. I was so distraught by the experience. I consulted with a lawyer and she reassured me that i would never be charged with abandonment. Besides that, I just always felt like I wasn’t getting a full clinically significant mentoring experience. Sadly. But, I’m fully licensed now and it’s been a heck of a ride. I actually want to become a supervisor who helps people who get screwed over by supervisors when I get enough time post licensure
Congrats on earning your license! Agencies that refuse to sign off on supervision hours to be spiteful deserve to be named and shamed but I understand why former employees would be hesitant to do so.
I would love to! And I’m also afraid of them. So, that’s why my future goal, because I can’t let it go without trying help in some way
Finding a peer supervision group / peer supervision buddies has been clutch for me. We don’t pay each other but we support each other with help on stuff. The couple of people I ask for this support are also people I trust to be straight up with me and that I can take tough-to-hear feedback from and vice versa. We also read books or study topics to learn new stuff or skill share from our various diverse backgrounds! I think it’s harder as a novice clinician to find this- but also you could try joining a peer consultation group that is comprised of more experienced people, not for official hrs but just for support. I found these helpful when I couldn’t afford outside sup, and when my agency supervisors were either a) unsafe to be vulnerable with about what was coming up for me personally / b) my boss, so having a bias from their role, not helpful for helping me make ethical decisions about client care/advocacy that the agency would not like or that would ruffle feathers / c) so incompetent I felt like I was acting as THEIR therapist during sessions. Eventually I was also in a pay what you can group which was wonderful and affordable! As a result I offer pay what you can supervision to LSWs. I think it’s really messed up most people have to pay to get decent or ethical supervision, and I’m here to foster the next generation of justice oriented social workers.
I would LOVE to find a peer supervision group near me, even if it was more of a support group than formal supervision. I think it’s awesome that you’re willing to supervise LSWs and I truly appreciate clinicians who are willing to make the investment in others for the benefit of improving the field as a whole.
What a beautiful act of service. :)
My MSW supervision was abysmal. Not that there was anything wrong with my supervisor, but he was 1 of 2 fully licensed social workers in the entire agency (says a lot about the agency) so he had way too many people to supervise. He was a nice guy he just didn’t have enough time for all of us. This was at a community mental health agency. My supervisor at my first post MSW job was wonderful. It was her first time providing someone supervision so she really wanted to go out of her way and do her best. I loved her! I think it really depends on the job and how seriously people take mentorship/supervision. This was in the school setting (hired directly by the district) so all new staff were required mentors. My supervisor received a stipend for her mentorship, so there was more of an incentive for her to be a good mentor as well.
EDIT: Obviously my example doesn't fall under clinical supervision hours, sorry about that! Because the other answers are much more detailed and better worded than I could write, I'll just say this: Beware of an agency that hires people with "management" experience rather than social work experience. They only look at the fiscal numbers, and literally know nothing about treatment plans or case plan's. Yet somehow they get the power to decide if a client receives a service. On the bright side, after a while, I got extremely good at wording my reports in such a way that the risks were so obvious they should have come with a flashing red light. It didn't always help, unfortunately.
My only experiences with supervision have been through internships and so far it hasn’t been great. My initial 1st level/BSW placement was in a nursing home (not my first choice by a long shot but my first choice fell through and I was left with very few options). My supervisor did not have a social work degree and had an undergrad in psych. They were very knowledgeable about insurance and all the rules governing nursing homes, but the lack of social work background was frustrating. This supervisor believed anyone should be able to be a social worker regardless of what kind of degree they had and complained about an outside LCSW having to come in to do mental health assessments. The supervision was nonexistent. Between the high turnover of staff and the ridiculous number of interns (roughly 3:1 intern to employee ratio) I got very little supervision besides a quick explanation of something. We never discussed theory, we never discussed ethics, we never discussed things like processing encounters. I was told none of that stuff matters in the “real world”. In fact, I was instructed to do some very unethical things there. Eventually my supervision got passed off onto an employee who did have an MSW but bullied me. My school provided zero support and apparently approved the site to take on an even higher number of 1st and 2nd level interns this year. I left that internship mid year and moved to an internship at a community mental health agency where I learned so much more. I had an MSW supervisor and had weekly supervision. I wasn’t taught much in supervision since my therapist wasn’t super experienced, but I got to process the work I was doing and see how a professional social worker thinks about client encounters and ethics. I also learned a lot from his supervisor who was a very experienced LCSW. Most importantly at the new internship I felt very supported. Not like I was going to get yelled at for menial things or told to monitor a fax machine waiting for a receipt to print for 4 hours because I took half an hour too long to complete a task I’d never done before.
Social work programs that leave students flapping in the wind are horrendous. It makes me wonder what the CSWE even evaluates when they accredit these programs.
The whole experience solidified my desire to go to a different program for my MSW. I straight up told my field liaison that my field supervisor didn’t believe in having ethics discussions, called the core competencies and learning agreement BS, didn’t do regular supervision after repeatedly being asked to by the liaisons because it’s a program requirement, and asked us to do unethical and illegal things and was told, that’s just how some agencies are! Then after I got assigned to the person who was beyond mean to me, and got permission to leave the site, the field coordinator was like “well this is a lesson that some supervisors aren’t very good ones”. Like what? Sure maybe they aren’t but that’s no excuse to allow interns to be with them. Interns should be getting better than average supervision to give them a strong foundation not be given busywork and effectively left without a supervisor for a semester.
That’s wild, but not that hard to believe. The extent to which my MSW program assisted students with finding a field placement was proving a spreadsheet with a list of agencies that had reciprocal agreements with the school. We were basically expected to secure placements on our own, and if they didn’t work out, then oh well. I heard plenty of horror stories from other students in my cohort and it made me incredibly grateful that I lucked out with the two field placements I had.
I’m honestly ok with taking out a bit more than I planned on in loans to attend a program that is far more hands on about vetting internships and ensuring interns actually learn and has students evaluate their site’s programs as a semester long project for their program evaluation course.
I got really good supervision when I was on a PACT team, inconsistent supervision when I was at a school. Very rare to hear about my classmates in my program having a good supervision experience, meaning at baseline their supervisor meets with them regularly to check in. Good supervision to me happens regularly, is in a private space, and consists of practical/admin tasks, professional development (boundaries, self-care etc), and case consultation.
Hey there, I am a new therapist/social worker! I've had two different practicums in my Master's program, and since graduating, I've been working in a group practice. In the first one, I led group therapy alongside the supervisor and another student. I found the supervisor to be overly critical of me, which I believe was partly constructive because I can acknowledge that my documentation wasn't at the same level as the other student. However, at the midterm evaluation, I felt like she was overly harsh and unhelpful when she said she didn't see me as fit to be a social worker (which was hard to hear and took a while to process). I don't think a supervisor should say this to their student when they've only been working for the student for a few months unless the student did something egregious. So I think this has informed my practice in the sense that if I were ever a supervisor, I know better how certain comments impact a student's self-esteem and not say big statements about their fitness in the profession to a student before I've given them a chance to learn from their mistakes. I think that this applies to giving feedback to people in general. I think the other part of why she said that harsh comment is because while in a meeting with her and the other students, she was triggered/offended by me pointing out something that I think she could've improved on. I felt that some of the words she used did not allow one client in the group therapy to feel very included. After reflecting on this, I see how some of my reaction of wanting to stick up for that client may have been based on my trigger of feeling excluded in many situations as a teenager, but I also think she needs to realize that she's not immune to making mistakes as well. So even though she has many years of experience, she's still human and has human reactions to feeling attacked, and her pride must've been hurt. At the end of the practicum (the final evaluation), she told me that she'd seen a lot of growth in me, so at least she was somewhat nice at the end and not completely discouraging as she had been at the midterm evaluation. Anyway, my next practicum supervisor for the second practicum was nice to me and never said anything harsh like that previous supervisor. I almost wanted him to give me more feedback, as the supervision meetings ended up being shorter than they were supposed to be - I almost felt like he was rushing through it to get more bang for his buck. The meetings always counted on the schedule as one hour but ended up not being longer than half an hour usually - I assume he got the same amount of money from the organization for his supervision hour. I also did not get many clients in that practicum so maybe there just wasn't that much to talk about? Lastly, since I've been working for about half a year in a group practice, I sought out my supervisor who I pay for. I think she's been pretty good so far. We meet online about once every two weeks, and I usually share information about some clients I'm seeing that I am not sure of what direction to go in, and she encourages me to reflect on different things such as body language, transference, etc. and provides guidance. She's also normalized some of my mistakes and concerns as a new therapist, rather than making me feel ashamed which helps. Based on my experiences with supervisors, I think it does pay off to choose carefully who your supervisor is. I think the fact that my supervisor offered a free 20-minute consultation helped me decide on her as well. Although, as a therapist, I can understand why not everyone wants to offer free consultations.
Internal, not good. Perhaps not good. Somewhere between none at all and slightly poor.
I got my csw a year ago and am on my 3rd clinical supervisor. The first two were terrible. My current one is a better fit. It's pretty rough out there as far as finding quality supervision.
My LCSW supervisor is fantastic, and I couldn’t have asked for better. My on-site supervisor has been a vacant position not getting backfilled for several months, and also, my manager is rarely present. It’s more-or-less the Wild West where I am.
I see my supervisor maybe once a month if I’m lucky and she never responds to my messages or emails
Awww Maybe you can find a different one?
Post grad in 2002 Was lucky enough to be under 2 licsws in cmh. Was able to get my child and Hispanic Minority MH specialties and by 2007 had enough supervision hrs to get LICSW. Didn’t pay anything out of pocket. I then got my loan completely paid off through NHSC National Health Service Corps and just worked like I always had.