Want to be a LPC Supervisor? A Good Course Teaches These Essential Systems

Not all LPC Supervisor training courses are the same. In this episode of Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses I'll take you through the elements of a 40 hour training in Texas. Spoiler alert? Thirty-three out of forty hours have to cover state-mandated material. Not all courses are the same though. There is a lot of liability in clinical supervision. In fact, this is probably the most important training you will take after you graduate (Required 40 hours explained). Here are elements of a great course that will give you the best information AND protect your license.

Badass Therapists Building Practices That Thrive 105:Essential Elements LPC Supervisors Must Have

Every LPC Supervisor needs great systems. The problem is, while every 40 Hour LPC Supervisor Training Course in Texas must teach the same topics for the same number of hours (read the article How to Become a LPC Supervisor), not every course teaches the same systems. What do you need to know when you’re comparing supervision courses? Ask what systems they teach to keep you organized and mitigate any liability as a supervisor. Most important are the interview process, the supervision contract, and the orientation-evaluation-remediation triad.

Interviewing the LPC Associate 

A great 40 Hour LPC Supervisor Training Course will provide you with a supervisor toolkit with interview questions so you can design an interview process for your potential, or transferring, LPC Associate. Potential LPC Associates may even want to interview with you before they graduate. Bottom line? They can’t get their LPC Associate license without your signature. 

Growing graduate students into LPC Associates who can then become fully licensed colleagues is an even better way to start the hiring process. Why start there? Because as I talk about in my video Hire Right the First Time anybody can interview beautifully. Especially recent counseling graduates! You are literally interviewing people who are trained interviewers. That’s what counselors do: we are trained to lean forward, give great eye contact, nod and make others feel comfortable. So it’s entirely possible that the person you are talking with interviews beautifully and then becomes a lousy LPC Associate for you.

The Counseling Supervision Contract                            

The next thing you want to leave with after taking a great 40 Hour LPC Supervisor Training Course is a workable contract that reflects the most recent rules (see more about what makes a great supervision contract here). You might find that some courses offer templates, which can be wonderful, but how old are they?  Imagine completing a contract that isn't up to date regarding weekly supervision hours or technology use. What do you do? How do you break it to your new LPC Associate that they will lose all of their direct hours for that month because of a mistake stemming from your contract?

“Hey Janie, You know that contract I had you sign? Well, it was super old, and, uh, sorry but because of my error you’ve lost all of your direct hours for the month. And oh, by the way, you owe me $300.” 

So if you take a 40-hour training that doesn’t offer to help you create a contract, that’s a problem. Some good questions to ask as you’re shopping for courses:

• What kind of a contract do I come out of this course with?
• Will you give me comments and feedback?
• When was the last time you updated your contract information?

Remediation Starts With This

A LPC Supervisor must remediate before they terminate (see more about remediation here). Possibly the most important system a 40 Hour LPC Supervisor Training Course can teach is the orientation-evaluation-remediation before termination system. All parts are important because if one is missing, the rest become ineffective. So if you’re trying to evaluate but you’ve never done an orientation, that’s a problem. If you’re trying to remediate someone but you’ve never evaluated them, that’s a problem. If you fire someone without remediating them first, you’re actually breaking an LPC rule and that is a BIG problem. 

The orientation is about rules, consequences, and policies to keep everyone safe. What do I do if my client threatens me during a session? What do I do if I just can’t get this Rogerian theory down and I fail my second evaluation with you? Do you want me to call you if my client is suicidal?

Evaluation

If orientation is where you teach the skill, evaluation will result in an artifact you can file away, documenting your supervisee’s progress. Now, if you are in my Texas Supervisor Coalition Facebook page or if you go to my monthly live consultation groups, we talk a lot about instruments to evaluate our supervisees. If your supervisee fails to meet your expectations on an evaluation, then you have evidence to back up a need to remediate. This is important because remediation can affect the supervision relationship. Supervisee fails remediation? Now you have great documentation to terminate. 

If you’re interested in becoming an LPC supervisor in Texas, look for a course that teaches great systems including the interview process, the supervision contract, and the orientation-evaluation-remediation triad. Those systems will do more than keep you organized; they'll mitigate liability. 

Action plan:

• If you loved this podcast episode, subscribe and leave a fabulous review!
• If you are checking out side hustles for your practice, check to see if you are eligible for the supervisor designation in Texas by clicking here: LPC Supervisor Training Texas
• Watch on You Tube HERE!

Blog post by Kate Walker, Ph.D., LPC-S, LMFT-S, creator of the first completely online 40-Hour Supervisor Training in Texas.