Why Clinical Supervision?

As a therapist, you want to make sure you are doing your due diligence to offer high quality therapy to your clients. Clinical supervision is vital in your journey as a burgeoning therapist by focusing on enhancing your skills, knowledge, and behaviour in psychotherapy. This is why many regulatory bodies (e.g., College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario) require new practitioners to receive clinical supervision from experienced therapists, guiding them to improve their work and also act as gatekeepers for the profession.

My Approach to Supervision

My Philosophy for Supervision

My goal as a clinical supervision is to help foster professional growth and refinement in my superviseses, not to necessarily become carbon copies of myself. Just as every client is unique, every clinical is unique as well, each with our own set of natural talents, skills, and areas of growth. As such, my approach is not simply be your primary source of answers to your questions in your professional journey, but rather to foster within you the tools and mindset to not only help your clients better, but to grow on your own. This way, when you are no longer required by your College to receive supervision, you have the right foundation and habits to continue to grow and improve your craft without necessarily depending on me. All this is accomplished with the same essential tool that therapists use to foster self-sufficiency in their clients: curiosity.

Modalities Used

You may be curious about the types of therapy I am trained in and can thus train you in as well. Though I’d be happy to list them for you, I consider my approach to therapy as being far from a purist adherent to any specific approach, but rather an integrative therapist that can support individuals, couples, and families. I draw upon the various modalities, tools, and philosophies, and apply them as needed on a situation by situation basis with my clients. As such, if you are looking for a supervisor to teach you the pure form of any such approach (i.e., the manualized way), I may not be the best supervisor for you.

Having said that, I consider myself competent to work with a wide range of concerns and draw upon various approaches in varying degrees, including but not limited to: CBT, SFT, Narrative Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Dialogic/Collaborative, Trauma-Informed, EFT, Psychodynamic, Gottman, Gestalt, and Sex Therapy.

Supervision ≠ Therapy

Please note, Clinical Supervision is not psychotherapy, as the two relationships (therapeutic and supervisory) are distinct. There may be moments where it may be recommended to discuss a specific concern with your own therapist. It is not possible for me to provide clinical supervision to someone for whom I have provided psychotherapy, as there is an existing therapeutic relationship.

However, it may be appropriate to discuss personal themes as they pertain to your clinical work (e.g., the content of countertransference). Often, what we go through in our personal lives has a real impact on our clinical work, and as such it can be appropriate and even recommended to discuss in supervision.

Format

Session Length

You are welcome to book a one hour, hour and a half, or two hour clinical supervision session with myself or one of our other clinical supervisiors. It’s often recommended that the first time we meet be a bit longer, as there is more to go over, such as the consent form, goals, expectations, boundaries, etc. Moving forward, you may discuss your work with clients or discuss clinical themes as they pertain to your clinical work (e.g., SEUS), as well as share some clips (“tape”) of your clinical work, the latter of which I highly recommend!

How often should we meet?

This depends on whether you are interested in primary supervision or adhoc supervision. Primary supervision is regular supervision, where it is important to meet with your supervision on a regular basis, often weekly at first and less frequent as you progress. Adhoc is supervision that you book on an as-needed basis, and is more common for the more experienced therapists. You are welcome to book with me as you please, though it would be a great idea to share with me your expectations about supervision, whether you are hoping for primary or adhoc.

Cost for Clinical Supervision

I charge the same for clinical supervision as I do for therapy, which is currently $190/hr. Having said that, I never want money to be a barrier to accessing clinical supervision, so do not hesitate to book a free 15-minute consultation with me to discuss a reduced rate if necessary.

Dyadic or group

It is possible to book a session for more than one person, whether dyadic (two supervisees), or group (three to eight supervisees). Please note, the cost for supervision is by the hour, not per supervisee attending, so the cost can be divided amongst the attendees (e.g., for 1hr of supervision with a supervision dyad, you may each pay $95 to cover the total cost of $190).

In-Person and Virtual

As I practice both virtually and in-person at our Mississauga office, I would be happy to meet with you either in-person or virtually. You are always welcome to check out my calendar and book at whichever location (in-person or virtual) as you wish!

To book an clinical supervision session with me, or if you have any questions about clinical supervision, please do not hesitate to contact me. I also offer a free 15 minute phone consultation that can be scheduled through our online booking system, or you can also book a session online.