Evaluation Habits That Hold Up with Dr. Ashley Durbin

When Supervision Turns Into Conversation Instead of Evaluation

Your caseload fills up. Supervision keeps happening. Notes get written. Everybody seems to be moving forward. Then one day you realize something uncomfortable. You have been talking with your supervisees, but have you actually been evaluating them?

That distinction matters because clinical supervision evaluation habits are easy to lose when everything seems fine. In this conversation with my colleague Dr. Ashley Stephens Durbin, we came back again and again to the same issue. Unfortunately, “fine” is not an evaluation standard.

As supervisors, we need a system that tells us where a supervisee actually stands before something goes wrong. That system does not have to be complicated, but it does need to be visible, consistent, and connected to what we are actually observing in supervision.

Being Nice Is Not the Same as Being Kind

Ashley said something in this conversation that I think supervisors need to hear more often. There is a difference between being nice and being kind. Most of us entered this profession because we care deeply about people, and that can make difficult feedback feel especially uncomfortable.

We do not want to hurt someone's feelings. We do not want evaluation to feel punitive, and we certainly do not want to become the supervisor a supervisee dreads seeing. But avoiding difficult feedback is not necessarily kindness.

I think about a supervisor in one of our communities who realized near the end of supervision that she did not feel comfortable endorsing an associate for licensure. The concern itself was important, but there was another problem. There had been very little meaningful evaluation along the way, and the supervision documentation did not reflect the concerns she was now trying to address.

Imagine being the supervisee in that situation. For months, everything has seemed fine, and then suddenly you hear that your supervisor has serious concerns about your readiness for licensure. That feels like whiplash because the evaluation process did not keep pace with what the supervisor was actually seeing.

Kind supervision does not wait until the end to say what needs to be said. Kind supervision gives someone enough information, early enough, to understand the concern and do something about it.

Clinical Supervision Evaluation Habits Need Transparency

Evaluation should never feel like a secret test. I want supervisees to understand from orientation what instrument I will use, what I am evaluating, how the process works, and what the scores mean.

When expectations are visible from the beginning, the evaluation becomes easier to understand and easier to discuss. That is one reason your evaluation process should be included in your supervision orientation and paperwork, not introduced for the first time when there is a problem.

If you are reviewing your own system, take another look at what to look for in a clinical supervision contract. Your supervision agreement should help make expectations visible so your supervisee understands from the beginning that evaluation is part of the process.

Transparency also helps us separate actual performance concerns from our own preferences. Maybe I do not like someone's communication style. Maybe their appearance is different from what I would choose. Maybe something about the way they work simply irritates me.

A structured evaluation instrument makes me move beyond that reaction and look at the work itself. What am I actually observing? What competency is present? What is missing? What evidence do I have that tells me this is a professional concern rather than a personal preference?

That is where evaluation becomes useful. It gives both the supervisor and the supervisee something more concrete than, “I just have a feeling.”

Documentation Has to Keep Pace With Development

Ashley shared examples of complaints that became serious enough to require attorneys and formal responses. In one of those situations, the supervisor was able to demonstrate a consistent record of concerns, conversations, and evaluation. That documentation mattered because it showed that the feedback had not suddenly appeared after the conflict began.

This is why I tell supervisors not to wait until termination, endorsement, or remediation to start documenting concerns. Your documentation should reflect the supervisee's development while it is happening, not after you already know there is a problem.

If a supervisee consistently struggles with documentation, that belongs in the evaluation process. If treatment planning needs work, address it. If the supervisee's current caseload does not give you enough opportunity to evaluate diagnosis, case conceptualization, or another required skill, that is a supervision issue too.

Sometimes supervisors tell themselves, “They are just not getting that experience at their site.” My question is always, what are we going to do about that? If I cannot picture myself endorsing this person for independent practice based on the experience they are getting now, then I need to address the problem while there is still time to change it.

When an evaluation identifies a genuine competency concern, the next step should also be clear. My resource on Texas LPC and LMFT Associate remediation can help supervisors think about how to turn a concern into observable behaviors, expectations, and measurable next steps.

You Do Not Need a Perfect Evaluation System to Start

I know what happens when supervisors hear all of this. They start thinking about every evaluation they have missed, every supervision note that could have been better, and every system they wish they had created earlier.

No judgment. You do not need to rebuild your entire supervision practice this weekend. You just need to begin.

Find an evaluation instrument that makes sense for your profession and the developmental level of your supervisees. In The Clinical Supervision Survival Guide, I talk about the SPAI as one option. There are other instruments available as well, and the important thing is that you choose something you can use consistently and explain clearly.

Then put evaluation on the calendar. Let your supervisees know when it will happen and what they can expect. If you need to update your paperwork so the supervisee acknowledges that formal evaluation is part of supervision, make that change too.

If your evaluation habits have slipped, you can simply say so. You can tell your supervisees, “I have not been evaluating as consistently as I want to, and I am changing that.” That conversation is far better than waiting until there is a serious concern and trying to reconstruct months of supervision after the fact.

Evaluation Can Include Wellbeing Too

Evaluation does not have to focus only on deficiencies. During one of our Step It Up Membership conversations, we were talking about supervisees who were carrying enormous caseloads and how difficult it can be for supervisors to know when someone is becoming overwhelmed.

We started talking about a simple instrument that could help supervisees identify how manageable their caseload feels, whether they need more support, and whether supervision is giving them what they need. Those questions can become part of the evaluation culture too.

Imagine routinely asking a supervisee how manageable their caseload feels, how much support they need that week, whether they are noticing burnout, and whether there is something they need from supervision that they are not receiving. When those questions are normal, supervisees do not have to wait until they are completely overwhelmed before saying something.

Ashley pointed out that many clinicians have worked in systems where nobody routinely asked about burnout or vicarious trauma. Supervisors have an opportunity to change that culture. We can show future counselors, supervisors, and practice owners what it looks like to assess something, talk openly about the results, and respond intentionally.

Kind Evaluation Builds Future Colleagues

The goal of evaluation is not to catch supervisees doing something wrong. We are gatekeepers, and that responsibility matters, but we are also helping someone become a future colleague.

Someday you may refer a client to this person. They may refer to you. They may become a supervisor, practice owner, or leader who carries forward the habits they learned while working with you.

That is why being nice is not enough. Good supervision requires enough kindness to say what needs to be said, enough structure to evaluate what actually matters, and enough consistency to document development over time.

The habit begins with doing one thing. Choose an instrument, show it to your supervisees, schedule the next evaluation, and begin documenting what you observe.

That is how clinical supervision evaluation habits become part of the culture of supervision instead of something we remember only when something goes wrong.

Where This Blog Connects

• The Hard Conversation Framework
• How To Evaluate a Supervisee (Without Winging It)
• Texas LPC and LMFT Associate Remediation: It's The Rule
• Grads: Is Your Supervision Actually Working?

Want to learn more? Check out this month’s free bonus resource from Kate Walker Training.

Ready to strengthen your supervision systems? Check out the Supervision Onboarding Checklist.

Want deeper support? Inside the Step It Up Membership, we continue these conversations about evaluation, documentation, ethical supervision, and the systems that help supervisors lead clearly and consistently.

Blog post by Kate Walker, Ph.D., LPC-S, LMFT-S
Creator of Texas’s first fully online 40-Hour LPC/LMFT Supervisor Training Course.
Kate is the founder of Kate Walker Training, where she helps counselors, supervisors, and practice owners build sustainable, ethical, and profitable businesses.
Ready to grow your supervision practice? Check out the Supervisor Training Courses.

This post is a written summary of a podcast episode hosted by Dr. Kate Walker. We use AI to help format the transcript and check for clarity and spelling, turning spoken content into an easier-to-read format.