November 28, 2025 • 25 mins
What actually goes wrong in supervision, and how do you prevent it before it snowballs?
In this episode, Dr. Ashley Stevens and I dive into the most common supervisor mistakes we see across counselor and social work settings. From over-hiring your very first month to being impossible to reach when supervisees truly need you, we unpack the decisions that create risk, rupture trust, and leave new supervisors feeling overwhelmed or blindsided.
We also name the often-ignored realities of supervision: the hours that happen outside your scheduled hour, the necessity of real relationships with work-site managers, and why evaluation and remediation are non-negotiable parts of ethical practice—not personal criticism. Because supervision isn’t just a teaching role; it’s a leadership role. The sooner supervisors embrace structure, clarity, and the authority the job requires, the sooner the work becomes calm, aligned, and deeply rewarding.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why “one hour a week” is a myth, and how real supervision requires availability, boundaries, and protected space in your schedule.
- How evaluation and remediation actually protect supervisees, clients, and you—and why relying on self-report is an ethical trap.
- Why external supervisors must build relationships with work-site managers, and the consequences when you don’t.
- Why every supervisor needs a contract and a working understanding of state law, even when rules don’t explicitly require it.
Ready to feel equipped, confident, and grounded as you step into supervision? Subscribe for more conversation about supervision, leadership, and building practices that thrive.
If you’re ready to lead with confidence, join the 2026 Supervisor Course waitlist for early access to bonus tools, templates, and fast-track grading. Strengthen your systems today with the free Supervision Onboarding Checklist, and get ongoing CEUs and live coaching inside the Step It Up Membership. You’re not just building a practice, you’re building a legacy.
Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
When we're external supervising, I think sometimes
we're like, that's them, this isus.
And some of the things that I'veseen, some of the mistakes that
I've made is not getting abetter connection with their
work manager or whatever.
And having problems that arisethat I had no idea about until
(00:21):
it was too late.
SPEAKER_01 (00:30):
Welcome to Band's Therapists, Building Practices
Love.
It's all about working smart,not public.
And here's your host, Dr.
Kelvin Doors, the neighborhood.
Ever wonder what actually goeswrong in supervision and how to
prevent it?
In this episode, I'm joined byDr.
(00:51):
Ashley Stevens, my partner indeveloping the new social work
supervisor courses.
Together, we'll break down thetop mistakes we see therapists
make and what you can dodifferently when it's your turn
to supervise.
If you're even a little bitcurious about becoming a
supervisor, now's the time toexplore it.
Join the Early Bird wait listfor the 2026 Supervisor Courses
(01:14):
at KateWalkertraining.com slashearlybird.
Now let's get to work.
Hey, I'm Dr.
Kate Walker and I am joined bymy colleague, Dr.
Ashley Stevens.
I talk about counselorsupervision and Ashley talks
about social work supervision.
(01:36):
And we're doing a few episodesabout supervising, obviously,
but really helping you who areon the fence about supervising.
Either you've never supervisedbefore and you're thinking about
supervising, or maybe you hold asupervisor designation in your
state, but you're really nervousto use it, or somebody has kind
(01:59):
of scared you out of it.
We talked about that, how peoplesay, oh, no, no, no, take, no,
don't take on supervisees.
It's going to jeopardize yourlicense, all of the things.
Or maybe you're somebody who youdid supervise and it did not go
well, and you're thinking, no,never again, never again, right?
So if you're listening to this,yay, I'm glad you're here
(02:20):
because you're a littleintrigued maybe about what we're
talking about today, which ofcourse we are going to talk
about the top mistakes thatsupervisors make.
Now, you want to check out ourother episode where we talked
about supervisor rookie mistakesbecause that's a thing.
But we're actually going to divea little bit deeper today and
(02:42):
talk about mistakes that we'veseen people make all across
their career.
And, you know, nobody's perfect.
And even at Kate WalkerTraining, you know, we teach the
courses to become counselorsupervisors or social work
supervisors all over thecountry.
So we are definitely mindfulthat we are not creating little
robots who do everything right.
(03:03):
But what our courses are builton, it's this idea of support,
right?
We're here for you.
We want to make sure that if youhave questions or is this a
mistake, that you're able tofind the answers quickly.
And we hope this episode helpsyou out with that.
So, Ashley, anything you want toadd to that?
SPEAKER_00 (03:20):
No, I think it's great.
Join us on the journey.
It's always, always worth it.
Even on the hardest days, it isso worth it to educate and train
the next generation oftherapists, counselors, social
workers, whoever you have.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
All right.
So I'll go first.
We each, you know, kind of wentthrough, you know, things that
we're hearing on the internetand things that come through the
course.
So I wanted to talk about numberone.
This is for counselorsupervisors.
The biggest mistake I see rightoff the bat is when they get
they being new supervisors.
(03:57):
So you get your S, you've gotyour S in your hand, and you're
like, okay, I'm gonna hire 12supervisees.
That's too many.
You're brand new, you're justlearning this new, and I like
how Ashley calls it a lane.
This is your new lane, your newlane of supervising, right?
So you may be an amazingcounselor and you've got the
paperwork down, you got thescheduling down, you got the
(04:18):
front office trained,everything's working, and then
you're like, oh, I'm gonna addsupervising and times 12.
Right.
So this is not counseling, youknow, extra.
Supervising is completelydifferent from counseling.
It's a different modality, itfeels different in your mouth
(04:40):
when you say the words.
There are there's a wholedifferent set of paperwork,
things you have to be mindfulof.
So yeah, number one mistake, andnot everybody does this.
That's and that's why when Ipick this out, it's it's
something we see very rarely.
It definitely, if you have nottaken my course, because we talk
about it in my course, startslow.
(05:02):
And then if you want to besomeone who takes on multiple
supervisees because you knowwhat you're doing, then yeah, by
all means.
I mean, I've got colleagues, Iknow Ashley has colleagues, and
folks have multiple supervisees,but they've been doing it a
while.
And they're able to speak thatlanguage of supervision
(05:22):
fluently, as opposed to, okay, Ijust finished the course and
what am I doing?
And oh, oh yeah, I overhired.
So that's mine, Ashley.
That's what do you got?
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
Yes, and and second to that for sure.
Go flow, low and slow and seewhat happens.
So, for my first one, I thinkone of the biggest impacts that
I've seen is for people who donot prepare themselves for what
supervision entails.
So I know when we talk aboutsupervision, what a lot of us
(05:55):
conceptualize is an hour a week.
Well, I have an hour a week thatI could dedicate to this group
or this one individual orwhatever.
Please hear me when I say it isnever just an hour a week.
There may be some weeks whereyou have just the supervision
hour, but the text messages, thecalls, the crisis, the
(06:18):
paperwork, the questions aboutwhat do I do in this situation?
You need more time than I thinkmost people think they need for
this process.
And I think it's a mistake tohave a full-time job and just
assume this is going to be justan hour of your time outside of
(06:39):
that.
In my perspective, and one ofthe things that I talk to new
supervisors about is making sureyou have a little bit more of
that flexibility and the timefor your supervisees, especially
when they're new.
If they can't reach you becauseyou have an eight to five or you
have sessions all day long, thenyou may actually be putting
(07:00):
yourself and them at more riskby the inability for you to get
back to them in a timelyfashion.
It is one of the reasons that Ichose to make supervision kind
of my primary job and therapy issecondary, was I recognized that
a lot of my supervisees werecoming to me from other
supervisors and saying, like, Ifelt like I was a burden on
(07:22):
them.
Like I was this like the extrathing that they had to do rather
than what Kate said, which islike a whole other thing.
You're promising them somethings, your time, your
availability.
And if all you have in your mindis an hour a week, I don't think
it's gonna go very well.
And I I've had some real growingpains that I've seen in new
(07:44):
supervisors because they didn'tfactor that into what they
thought this would be.
SPEAKER_01 (07:49):
Yeah.
And we talk about that in theKate Walker training courses.
We talk about scheduling, wetalk about how to make sure that
you have the time and you teachyour supervisees how and when
and under what circumstances tocontact you, what constitutes an
emergency.
I mean, that's really importantfor a supervisor course to cover
(08:11):
because it's huge.
Your unavailability is aliability or could be.
So yeah, I second that too.
Okay, so my next one is so kindof my my favorite topic is
remediation and evaluation.
Because you know, I teach thecourses for the counselors, and
(08:34):
it's almost this idea that if Iinterview perfectly, then I will
have the most amazingsupervisees.
Or, you know, I talked about itin another episode, which is oh,
all my supervisees arewonderful.
I don't ever have to evaluate orremediate.
It's like, are you sure?
Are you sure that they reallyare?
(08:57):
Because, you know, one of thethings that we are asking our
supervisees to do, or maybe Ishould call that a rookie
mistake, is relying on theirself-report, right?
Just saying, hey, how's itgoing?
Oh, it's going great.
Yeah, okay, you have any clientsyou want to talk about?
No, no, I'm fine.
Okay, great.
And moving on, right?
(09:18):
That's huge.
That's part of one of themistakes that I'm I'm covering
here, you know.
But the idea that you would giveup evaluating or you would say
to yourself, okay, you know,they're graduated.
I don't, I don't need toevaluate them.
Well, what's gonna happen whenthey do make a mistake?
Because that's the nature ofsupervising, we want them to
(09:39):
tell us about their mistakes,not just try to make us smile
when they walk in the room orcome on the camera.
So when something happens andall of a sudden, you know, and
Ashley and I see this angrysupervisors, like, I can't
believe they did this.
I'm gonna fire them.
I'm, you know, it's like, well,have you been helping them all
(10:00):
along with this skill?
I mean, barring somethingegregious.
I mean, you know, yeah, if youif they're doing drugs with
their clients, no, no, I'm nottalking, you know, that's you
should have taught them not todo that.
That's not what I'm saying.
But if you are noticing a skillthat's missing and you just want
to bring the hammer down, butthen you look back and you
(10:22):
think, wait a second, did I evergive them a one out of five
where five is great and one isnot?
Have I ever given them just asimple evaluation in order to
communicate, hey, supervisee,you may be lacking in the skill.
Hey, we may need to spend moretime on this skill, or hey, I
notice you're still strugglingwith this skill.
(10:43):
So I think it's time forremediation.
That piece of supervision getsignored by so many supervisors
because they want to downplaythat hierarchy.
And I've talked about thisbefore, just going out and
buying yourself a coffee mugthat says I'm the boss on it, to
understand that you must startfrom day one helping your
(11:09):
supervisee understand you willevaluate them and you have the
power to give them a remediationplan that could result in you
not recommending them for fulllicensure.
That hierarchy must be explainedand maintained for the duration
of this.
And we teach this in the KateWalker training courses.
(11:31):
I talk about it in my book, theClinical Supervision Survival
Guide.
We call it the OER triadorientation, evaluation, and
remediation.
It all has to go together.
Or when you bring that hammerdown, you are going to rupture
that relationship.
And the implications of that,you know, you might get a
(11:53):
supervisee who starts hidingthings from you.
Again, they come in and they'reall smiles telling you how
wonderful they are, but they'renot doing the best they could,
where they need your help andthey won't ask.
So that's that's mine, Ashley.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
What you got?
Absolutely.
And I think that like the termgatekeeper is that word that we
use for a reason.
The work is too important, it'stoo sacred to let any old, any
old body in.
They need to know that therewere consequences for their
actions.
And if they're they're playingaround with things in the
beginning of the process, weneed to nip it in the bud.
(12:28):
You know, it just, it's soimportant.
My second one is I really thinkthat there needs to be more
communication with the work siteif the work site is not you.
I think one of the things thatpeople think is just like,
that's their lane and this is mylane, and I'm gonna stick like
clinical supervision is all Ineed.
(12:50):
And so when we talk about you asa as an external supervisor, if
that's something that you'retaking on outside of work, and I
could spend the whole TED talkon why I think that external
supervision is such a better wayto do this than internal, which
can muck up with other stuff.
But when we're externalsupervising, I think sometimes
we're like, that's them, this isus.
(13:11):
And some of the things that I'veseen, some of the mistakes that
I've made is not getting abetter connection with their
work manager or whatever, andhaving problems that arise that
I had no idea about until it wastoo late, because maybe the
supervisee also thought, well,that's a work thing, not a
(13:33):
clinical thing.
And one of those things comingto mind is documentation.
I had somebody that wasegregiously behind on
documentation, but they didn'treally see that like they were
solid in their clinical skills.
They were like good with theclient, they just didn't
prioritize that documentation asmuch.
And work was about to let themgo because of it.
(13:55):
And I had no idea.
And even if I have told thesupervisee, you know, feel free
to give them my number, feelfree to let them know they can
reach out to me if there arethings that relate or that touch
or that that we need to talkabout in supervision, why it's
important, why we need to tackleit.
Maybe it's not actually thesupervisee that needs to be
(14:16):
doing that reaching out.
It's me as the externalsupervisor who's saying, Who's
your boss?
Give me their number.
I'm just gonna say, hey, I'mhere.
Let me know if you haveanything.
And if I see anything on my end,I will let you know.
Because at the end of the day,yes, the supervisee is our
client in some ways, but theclient, their patients, their
(14:38):
clients, their people thatthey're doing this work with are
what is most important.
So we need to keep them in frontand say, like, yeah, that may
not like what time you get towork, if you're three minutes
late and you're, I don't careabout that.
That's not me.
Did you wear sandals instead oftennis shoes?
I that's not a clinical issuethat I, yeah, you might get MRSA
(14:58):
if you're working in a hospital.
That's on you.
But, you know, there are thingsthat relate.
And I think sometimes that gapand the the divide between those
things, we as supervisorsreinforce.
And I think you need to you getto know the managers and the
supervisors of their workplace alittle better so they know that
(15:18):
they can reach out to you andvice versa.
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
Quick pause.
If you're ready to lead withconfidence in 2026, get on the
wait list for my brand newsupervisor course.
Early birds get bonus tools andmy favorite supervision
templates.
Head to KateWalker Training.comslash early bird to join now.
(15:46):
Absolutely.
All right, I've got numberthree.
And this one, it's it'sinteresting because I, you know,
we we started out teaching thiscourse in Texas, and so I can
only reference Texas rules aboutthis, but so a contract.
Let's let's just uh talk aboutthat for a second.
(16:08):
If you were going to enter intoa business relationship with a
person, you would want acontract.
And if you were gonna rent anapartment, you sign a lease, you
get the idea, right?
So why would you startsupervision without a contract?
And so this is where I'mthinking back to Texas law
(16:30):
because or Texas rules for LPCLMFT, and I'm not sure about
social work, Ashley, you can letme know, but there's no
requirement for a contract.
And so that is, you know, one ofthe things I hear here in Texas.
Well, there's no rule that saysI have to have a contract.
And yet, if a complaint goesbefore one of our boards here,
(16:54):
they will ask, did you have acontract in place?
Why?
Well, because what we I wastalking about earlier, this
remediation evaluation, youcan't evaluate what you haven't
taught or agreed to, right?
So if you are going along reallysmoothly and you say, Oh, wow,
(17:15):
you know what, you're failing atthis skill.
And then in the contract, younever said you'd evaluate them,
right?
You didn't specifically state,hey, part of this is I will
evaluate you.
Or talking about what Ashley wastalking about earlier with
communication.
If you never gave them youremergency number or how to
contact you in an emergency,know what this happens, right?
(17:38):
People get into situations withtheir supervisee and things
happen.
And when they go back and say,Well, you know, you said this,
well, no, I didn't say this,there's no contract.
So even if your state does notrequire a contract, best
practices says yes, you musthave a contract.
(18:00):
You talk about this is what youcan expect from me, your
supervisor.
Here's what I will expect fromyou, my supervisee.
Here's how to contact me in caseof an emergency.
If it's a situation where you'reallowed to charge for
supervision, you write down yourrate, just like you would for
your client.
And you don't change that ratewithout pulling out the contract
(18:22):
again and saying, hey, we needto revisit this rate because I'm
doing X, Y, and Z.
Well, now you've got thecontract that you can both refer
to because you're both going tosign it and you're both going to
have a conversation about itbefore you ever enter into that
supervision relationship.
So the contract lays thefoundation, whether your state
(18:46):
requires it or your licenserequires that or not.
This is a huge mistake.
And if you're listening to myvoice right now and you're
thinking, oh crap, I don't havea contract, that's okay.
Sit your supervisee down andsay, hey, activity for today is
we are going to come up with acontract.
And if you're listening to thisand you're a Facebooker, you can
(19:08):
actually go to the TexasSupervisor Coalition.
If you're a supervisor, we askedfor your license because we have
to verify these things and thestate that you're from, and you
can look at our files.
I think we've got a couple ofcontracts in there that you can
modify for your practice.
And if you're asking me, okay,are these contracts that have
been reviewed by a lawyer?
(19:30):
No, absolutely not.
These are templates.
And if you want to take it to alawyer, you know, and you have a
lawyer that specializes inmental health and supervision in
particular, great.
You knock yourself out, go dothat.
But using ChatGPT, using one ofour templates, just something so
(19:50):
that you and your superviseeunderstand and can talk about
the thing that is supervision,and you can revisit and modify
if and when things change.
So get a contract, do it today.
SPEAKER_00 (20:05):
Yes, agreed.
I'm gonna go really nerdy.
So, you know, take a deepbreath.
It's gonna get weird.
You need to know your state law.
You have to know your state law.
If you've never read it, now's agreat time.
(20:27):
After you finish listening tous, pull up that website, get to
know, be friends.
I love it.
And before I kind of madeintimate connections with our
rule book in the state of Texas,I was one of those people that I
actually complained to the Boardof Texas.
I said, I think you almost needa law degree to read this thing.
(20:48):
It is so complex.
There's so many like subchapterthis, subchapter that,
subchapter, subchapter to thesubchapter.
It is involved.
It is a lot, 140 pages orwhatever we're up to now.
It is a beast.
But if you are doing this work,you better know what the hell
(21:08):
you're signing up for.
There is a really great sectionin each of the rule books about
what supervision entails, whocan do it, how to do it, when to
do it, when not to do it, whenit ends, etc.
It is just imperative.
And one of the things, because Icurrently supervise, I think I'm
down to four states that Isupervise in.
(21:30):
And people go, well, how couldyou possibly know all of the
state laws in those?
I don't know every state law inthose, but I certainly know the
ones that pertain to supervisionand clinical practice for social
workers.
And because I do this for aliving, and it's one of the main
things I do for a living, I getthe free time and the levity and
the ability to dive into.
(21:52):
And it doesn't mean that you'regoing to remember everything,
but knowing how to search yourstate statutes, what the laws
are coming up.
And that's one of the things Ithink that Kate Walker Training
is an expert at is advocatingand getting to know the process
to input in on the laws, whatthey have to say, actually
(22:13):
advocating for your supervisorsand your supervisees that you
have under your command, it isjust the most important thing.
And I think a lot of peoplejust, it's messy and it's long
and it's legally, and they don'twanna.
And if you don't know, you areputting yourself and your
supervisees and ultimately theclients at such risk
(22:34):
unnecessarily.
And, you know, maybe that samelawyer that was looking over
that contract, you can ask,like, what in the heck are they
trying to say to me here?
I don't know.
The more you get to know it, themore it makes sense, the more
you get the language, the moreyou kind of get in that zone,
that mind frame to read it andto understand it.
Know your law, get to know her,love her.
SPEAKER_01 (22:55):
And that's one of the things I think that I enjoy
as far as when people leavecomments that they, you know,
the ones that finish ourcourses, you know, we get all
the time.
Thank you so much for helping meunderstand what this job entails
and for diving into the rulesand helping me see how the rules
(23:16):
apply.
And, you know, while we won'tinclude a copy of your rules in
your, you know, for example, youknow, if you're taking the Ohio
course, we're not gonna have theOhio rules sitting there, but we
will have in there, go checkyour rules.
Make sure you understand therules that relate to this
(23:36):
license that you say you want tosupervise.
And so you want to listen toanother episode we're doing, and
it's hacks, you know, hacks forsupervisors.
So we've talked about theseproblems, we've talked about the
big mistakes, we've talked aboutrookie mistakes at another
episode.
You know, we also know a fewtips and tricks to make this job
(23:59):
easier and more streamlined sothat as you're growing as a
supervisor, you know, you get toprogress developmentally just
like your supervisees.
You will feel so good and sosupported because you put these
systems in place at the very,very beginning.
(24:19):
So make sure you check out theSupervision Hacks episode
because you're gonna want tohear all the stuff we're going
to dish out.
Thanks for listening to BadassTherapists Building Practices
That Thrive.
If you're ready to step intosupervision and lead with
(24:40):
confidence, the brand new 2026Supervisor Courses are coming
soon, and early birds get firstaccess to bonus tools,
templates, and fast trackgrading.
Join the wait list now atKateWalkertraining.comslash
earlybird.
And if you want ongoing support,CEs, and live coaching, join our
(25:01):
Step It Up membership communityat KateWalkertraining.com slash
step it up.
You're not just building apractice, you're building a
legacy.
I'll see you next week.
If you love today's episode, besure to leave a five-star
review.
It helps other badass therapistsfind the show and build
practices that thrive.
(25:21):
Big thanks to Ridgely Walker forour original fun facts and
podcast intro, and to CarlGuyanella for editing this
episode and making us soundamazing.
See you next week.
When we're external supervising, I think sometimes
we're like, that's them, this isus.
And some of the things that I'veseen, some of the mistakes that
I've made is not getting abetter connection with their
work manager or whatever.
And having problems that arisethat I had no idea about until
(00:21):
it was too late.
SPEAKER_01 (00:30):
Welcome to Band's Therapists, Building Practices
Love.
It's all about working smart,not public.
And here's your host, Dr.
Kelvin Doors, the neighborhood.
Ever wonder what actually goeswrong in supervision and how to
prevent it?
In this episode, I'm joined byDr.
(00:51):
Ashley Stevens, my partner indeveloping the new social work
supervisor courses.
Together, we'll break down thetop mistakes we see therapists
make and what you can dodifferently when it's your turn
to supervise.
If you're even a little bitcurious about becoming a
supervisor, now's the time toexplore it.
Join the Early Bird wait listfor the 2026 Supervisor Courses
(01:14):
at KateWalkertraining.com slashearlybird.
Now let's get to work.
Hey, I'm Dr.
Kate Walker and I am joined bymy colleague, Dr.
Ashley Stevens.
I talk about counselorsupervision and Ashley talks
about social work supervision.
(01:36):
And we're doing a few episodesabout supervising, obviously,
but really helping you who areon the fence about supervising.
Either you've never supervisedbefore and you're thinking about
supervising, or maybe you hold asupervisor designation in your
state, but you're really nervousto use it, or somebody has kind
(01:59):
of scared you out of it.
We talked about that, how peoplesay, oh, no, no, no, take, no,
don't take on supervisees.
It's going to jeopardize yourlicense, all of the things.
Or maybe you're somebody who youdid supervise and it did not go
well, and you're thinking, no,never again, never again, right?
So if you're listening to this,yay, I'm glad you're here
(02:20):
because you're a littleintrigued maybe about what we're
talking about today, which ofcourse we are going to talk
about the top mistakes thatsupervisors make.
Now, you want to check out ourother episode where we talked
about supervisor rookie mistakesbecause that's a thing.
But we're actually going to divea little bit deeper today and
(02:42):
talk about mistakes that we'veseen people make all across
their career.
And, you know, nobody's perfect.
And even at Kate WalkerTraining, you know, we teach the
courses to become counselorsupervisors or social work
supervisors all over thecountry.
So we are definitely mindfulthat we are not creating little
robots who do everything right.
(03:03):
But what our courses are builton, it's this idea of support,
right?
We're here for you.
We want to make sure that if youhave questions or is this a
mistake, that you're able tofind the answers quickly.
And we hope this episode helpsyou out with that.
So, Ashley, anything you want toadd to that?
SPEAKER_00 (03:20):
No, I think it's great.
Join us on the journey.
It's always, always worth it.
Even on the hardest days, it isso worth it to educate and train
the next generation oftherapists, counselors, social
workers, whoever you have.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
All right.
So I'll go first.
We each, you know, kind of wentthrough, you know, things that
we're hearing on the internetand things that come through the
course.
So I wanted to talk about numberone.
This is for counselorsupervisors.
The biggest mistake I see rightoff the bat is when they get
they being new supervisors.
(03:57):
So you get your S, you've gotyour S in your hand, and you're
like, okay, I'm gonna hire 12supervisees.
That's too many.
You're brand new, you're justlearning this new, and I like
how Ashley calls it a lane.
This is your new lane, your newlane of supervising, right?
So you may be an amazingcounselor and you've got the
paperwork down, you got thescheduling down, you got the
(04:18):
front office trained,everything's working, and then
you're like, oh, I'm gonna addsupervising and times 12.
Right.
So this is not counseling, youknow, extra.
Supervising is completelydifferent from counseling.
It's a different modality, itfeels different in your mouth
(04:40):
when you say the words.
There are there's a wholedifferent set of paperwork,
things you have to be mindfulof.
So yeah, number one mistake, andnot everybody does this.
That's and that's why when Ipick this out, it's it's
something we see very rarely.
It definitely, if you have nottaken my course, because we talk
about it in my course, startslow.
(05:02):
And then if you want to besomeone who takes on multiple
supervisees because you knowwhat you're doing, then yeah, by
all means.
I mean, I've got colleagues, Iknow Ashley has colleagues, and
folks have multiple supervisees,but they've been doing it a
while.
And they're able to speak thatlanguage of supervision
(05:22):
fluently, as opposed to, okay, Ijust finished the course and
what am I doing?
And oh, oh yeah, I overhired.
So that's mine, Ashley.
That's what do you got?
SPEAKER_00 (05:33):
Yes, and and second to that for sure.
Go flow, low and slow and seewhat happens.
So, for my first one, I thinkone of the biggest impacts that
I've seen is for people who donot prepare themselves for what
supervision entails.
So I know when we talk aboutsupervision, what a lot of us
(05:55):
conceptualize is an hour a week.
Well, I have an hour a week thatI could dedicate to this group
or this one individual orwhatever.
Please hear me when I say it isnever just an hour a week.
There may be some weeks whereyou have just the supervision
hour, but the text messages, thecalls, the crisis, the
(06:18):
paperwork, the questions aboutwhat do I do in this situation?
You need more time than I thinkmost people think they need for
this process.
And I think it's a mistake tohave a full-time job and just
assume this is going to be justan hour of your time outside of
(06:39):
that.
In my perspective, and one ofthe things that I talk to new
supervisors about is making sureyou have a little bit more of
that flexibility and the timefor your supervisees, especially
when they're new.
If they can't reach you becauseyou have an eight to five or you
have sessions all day long, thenyou may actually be putting
(07:00):
yourself and them at more riskby the inability for you to get
back to them in a timelyfashion.
It is one of the reasons that Ichose to make supervision kind
of my primary job and therapy issecondary, was I recognized that
a lot of my supervisees werecoming to me from other
supervisors and saying, like, Ifelt like I was a burden on
(07:22):
them.
Like I was this like the extrathing that they had to do rather
than what Kate said, which islike a whole other thing.
You're promising them somethings, your time, your
availability.
And if all you have in your mindis an hour a week, I don't think
it's gonna go very well.
And I I've had some real growingpains that I've seen in new
(07:44):
supervisors because they didn'tfactor that into what they
thought this would be.
SPEAKER_01 (07:49):
Yeah.
And we talk about that in theKate Walker training courses.
We talk about scheduling, wetalk about how to make sure that
you have the time and you teachyour supervisees how and when
and under what circumstances tocontact you, what constitutes an
emergency.
I mean, that's really importantfor a supervisor course to cover
(08:11):
because it's huge.
Your unavailability is aliability or could be.
So yeah, I second that too.
Okay, so my next one is so kindof my my favorite topic is
remediation and evaluation.
Because you know, I teach thecourses for the counselors, and
(08:34):
it's almost this idea that if Iinterview perfectly, then I will
have the most amazingsupervisees.
Or, you know, I talked about itin another episode, which is oh,
all my supervisees arewonderful.
I don't ever have to evaluate orremediate.
It's like, are you sure?
Are you sure that they reallyare?
(08:57):
Because, you know, one of thethings that we are asking our
supervisees to do, or maybe Ishould call that a rookie
mistake, is relying on theirself-report, right?
Just saying, hey, how's itgoing?
Oh, it's going great.
Yeah, okay, you have any clientsyou want to talk about?
No, no, I'm fine.
Okay, great.
And moving on, right?
(09:18):
That's huge.
That's part of one of themistakes that I'm I'm covering
here, you know.
But the idea that you would giveup evaluating or you would say
to yourself, okay, you know,they're graduated.
I don't, I don't need toevaluate them.
Well, what's gonna happen whenthey do make a mistake?
Because that's the nature ofsupervising, we want them to
(09:39):
tell us about their mistakes,not just try to make us smile
when they walk in the room orcome on the camera.
So when something happens andall of a sudden, you know, and
Ashley and I see this angrysupervisors, like, I can't
believe they did this.
I'm gonna fire them.
I'm, you know, it's like, well,have you been helping them all
(10:00):
along with this skill?
I mean, barring somethingegregious.
I mean, you know, yeah, if youif they're doing drugs with
their clients, no, no, I'm nottalking, you know, that's you
should have taught them not todo that.
That's not what I'm saying.
But if you are noticing a skillthat's missing and you just want
to bring the hammer down, butthen you look back and you
(10:22):
think, wait a second, did I evergive them a one out of five
where five is great and one isnot?
Have I ever given them just asimple evaluation in order to
communicate, hey, supervisee,you may be lacking in the skill.
Hey, we may need to spend moretime on this skill, or hey, I
notice you're still strugglingwith this skill.
(10:43):
So I think it's time forremediation.
That piece of supervision getsignored by so many supervisors
because they want to downplaythat hierarchy.
And I've talked about thisbefore, just going out and
buying yourself a coffee mugthat says I'm the boss on it, to
understand that you must startfrom day one helping your
(11:09):
supervisee understand you willevaluate them and you have the
power to give them a remediationplan that could result in you
not recommending them for fulllicensure.
That hierarchy must be explainedand maintained for the duration
of this.
And we teach this in the KateWalker training courses.
(11:31):
I talk about it in my book, theClinical Supervision Survival
Guide.
We call it the OER triadorientation, evaluation, and
remediation.
It all has to go together.
Or when you bring that hammerdown, you are going to rupture
that relationship.
And the implications of that,you know, you might get a
(11:53):
supervisee who starts hidingthings from you.
Again, they come in and they'reall smiles telling you how
wonderful they are, but they'renot doing the best they could,
where they need your help andthey won't ask.
So that's that's mine, Ashley.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
What you got?
Absolutely.
And I think that like the termgatekeeper is that word that we
use for a reason.
The work is too important, it'stoo sacred to let any old, any
old body in.
They need to know that therewere consequences for their
actions.
And if they're they're playingaround with things in the
beginning of the process, weneed to nip it in the bud.
(12:28):
You know, it just, it's soimportant.
My second one is I really thinkthat there needs to be more
communication with the work siteif the work site is not you.
I think one of the things thatpeople think is just like,
that's their lane and this is mylane, and I'm gonna stick like
clinical supervision is all Ineed.
(12:50):
And so when we talk about you asa as an external supervisor, if
that's something that you'retaking on outside of work, and I
could spend the whole TED talkon why I think that external
supervision is such a better wayto do this than internal, which
can muck up with other stuff.
But when we're externalsupervising, I think sometimes
we're like, that's them, this isus.
(13:11):
And some of the things that I'veseen, some of the mistakes that
I've made is not getting abetter connection with their
work manager or whatever, andhaving problems that arise that
I had no idea about until it wastoo late, because maybe the
supervisee also thought, well,that's a work thing, not a
(13:33):
clinical thing.
And one of those things comingto mind is documentation.
I had somebody that wasegregiously behind on
documentation, but they didn'treally see that like they were
solid in their clinical skills.
They were like good with theclient, they just didn't
prioritize that documentation asmuch.
And work was about to let themgo because of it.
(13:55):
And I had no idea.
And even if I have told thesupervisee, you know, feel free
to give them my number, feelfree to let them know they can
reach out to me if there arethings that relate or that touch
or that that we need to talkabout in supervision, why it's
important, why we need to tackleit.
Maybe it's not actually thesupervisee that needs to be
(14:16):
doing that reaching out.
It's me as the externalsupervisor who's saying, Who's
your boss?
Give me their number.
I'm just gonna say, hey, I'mhere.
Let me know if you haveanything.
And if I see anything on my end,I will let you know.
Because at the end of the day,yes, the supervisee is our
client in some ways, but theclient, their patients, their
(14:38):
clients, their people thatthey're doing this work with are
what is most important.
So we need to keep them in frontand say, like, yeah, that may
not like what time you get towork, if you're three minutes
late and you're, I don't careabout that.
That's not me.
Did you wear sandals instead oftennis shoes?
I that's not a clinical issuethat I, yeah, you might get MRSA
(14:58):
if you're working in a hospital.
That's on you.
But, you know, there are thingsthat relate.
And I think sometimes that gapand the the divide between those
things, we as supervisorsreinforce.
And I think you need to you getto know the managers and the
supervisors of their workplace alittle better so they know that
(15:18):
they can reach out to you andvice versa.
SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
Quick pause.
If you're ready to lead withconfidence in 2026, get on the
wait list for my brand newsupervisor course.
Early birds get bonus tools andmy favorite supervision
templates.
Head to KateWalker Training.comslash early bird to join now.
(15:46):
Absolutely.
All right, I've got numberthree.
And this one, it's it'sinteresting because I, you know,
we we started out teaching thiscourse in Texas, and so I can
only reference Texas rules aboutthis, but so a contract.
Let's let's just uh talk aboutthat for a second.
(16:08):
If you were going to enter intoa business relationship with a
person, you would want acontract.
And if you were gonna rent anapartment, you sign a lease, you
get the idea, right?
So why would you startsupervision without a contract?
And so this is where I'mthinking back to Texas law
(16:30):
because or Texas rules for LPCLMFT, and I'm not sure about
social work, Ashley, you can letme know, but there's no
requirement for a contract.
And so that is, you know, one ofthe things I hear here in Texas.
Well, there's no rule that saysI have to have a contract.
And yet, if a complaint goesbefore one of our boards here,
(16:54):
they will ask, did you have acontract in place?
Why?
Well, because what we I wastalking about earlier, this
remediation evaluation, youcan't evaluate what you haven't
taught or agreed to, right?
So if you are going along reallysmoothly and you say, Oh, wow,
(17:15):
you know what, you're failing atthis skill.
And then in the contract, younever said you'd evaluate them,
right?
You didn't specifically state,hey, part of this is I will
evaluate you.
Or talking about what Ashley wastalking about earlier with
communication.
If you never gave them youremergency number or how to
contact you in an emergency,know what this happens, right?
(17:38):
People get into situations withtheir supervisee and things
happen.
And when they go back and say,Well, you know, you said this,
well, no, I didn't say this,there's no contract.
So even if your state does notrequire a contract, best
practices says yes, you musthave a contract.
(18:00):
You talk about this is what youcan expect from me, your
supervisor.
Here's what I will expect fromyou, my supervisee.
Here's how to contact me in caseof an emergency.
If it's a situation where you'reallowed to charge for
supervision, you write down yourrate, just like you would for
your client.
And you don't change that ratewithout pulling out the contract
(18:22):
again and saying, hey, we needto revisit this rate because I'm
doing X, Y, and Z.
Well, now you've got thecontract that you can both refer
to because you're both going tosign it and you're both going to
have a conversation about itbefore you ever enter into that
supervision relationship.
So the contract lays thefoundation, whether your state
(18:46):
requires it or your licenserequires that or not.
This is a huge mistake.
And if you're listening to myvoice right now and you're
thinking, oh crap, I don't havea contract, that's okay.
Sit your supervisee down andsay, hey, activity for today is
we are going to come up with acontract.
And if you're listening to thisand you're a Facebooker, you can
(19:08):
actually go to the TexasSupervisor Coalition.
If you're a supervisor, we askedfor your license because we have
to verify these things and thestate that you're from, and you
can look at our files.
I think we've got a couple ofcontracts in there that you can
modify for your practice.
And if you're asking me, okay,are these contracts that have
been reviewed by a lawyer?
(19:30):
No, absolutely not.
These are templates.
And if you want to take it to alawyer, you know, and you have a
lawyer that specializes inmental health and supervision in
particular, great.
You knock yourself out, go dothat.
But using ChatGPT, using one ofour templates, just something so
(19:50):
that you and your superviseeunderstand and can talk about
the thing that is supervision,and you can revisit and modify
if and when things change.
So get a contract, do it today.
SPEAKER_00 (20:05):
Yes, agreed.
I'm gonna go really nerdy.
So, you know, take a deepbreath.
It's gonna get weird.
You need to know your state law.
You have to know your state law.
If you've never read it, now's agreat time.
(20:27):
After you finish listening tous, pull up that website, get to
know, be friends.
I love it.
And before I kind of madeintimate connections with our
rule book in the state of Texas,I was one of those people that I
actually complained to the Boardof Texas.
I said, I think you almost needa law degree to read this thing.
(20:48):
It is so complex.
There's so many like subchapterthis, subchapter that,
subchapter, subchapter to thesubchapter.
It is involved.
It is a lot, 140 pages orwhatever we're up to now.
It is a beast.
But if you are doing this work,you better know what the hell
(21:08):
you're signing up for.
There is a really great sectionin each of the rule books about
what supervision entails, whocan do it, how to do it, when to
do it, when not to do it, whenit ends, etc.
It is just imperative.
And one of the things, because Icurrently supervise, I think I'm
down to four states that Isupervise in.
(21:30):
And people go, well, how couldyou possibly know all of the
state laws in those?
I don't know every state law inthose, but I certainly know the
ones that pertain to supervisionand clinical practice for social
workers.
And because I do this for aliving, and it's one of the main
things I do for a living, I getthe free time and the levity and
the ability to dive into.
(21:52):
And it doesn't mean that you'regoing to remember everything,
but knowing how to search yourstate statutes, what the laws
are coming up.
And that's one of the things Ithink that Kate Walker Training
is an expert at is advocatingand getting to know the process
to input in on the laws, whatthey have to say, actually
(22:13):
advocating for your supervisorsand your supervisees that you
have under your command, it isjust the most important thing.
And I think a lot of peoplejust, it's messy and it's long
and it's legally, and they don'twanna.
And if you don't know, you areputting yourself and your
supervisees and ultimately theclients at such risk
(22:34):
unnecessarily.
And, you know, maybe that samelawyer that was looking over
that contract, you can ask,like, what in the heck are they
trying to say to me here?
I don't know.
The more you get to know it, themore it makes sense, the more
you get the language, the moreyou kind of get in that zone,
that mind frame to read it andto understand it.
Know your law, get to know her,love her.
SPEAKER_01 (22:55):
And that's one of the things I think that I enjoy
as far as when people leavecomments that they, you know,
the ones that finish ourcourses, you know, we get all
the time.
Thank you so much for helping meunderstand what this job entails
and for diving into the rulesand helping me see how the rules
(23:16):
apply.
And, you know, while we won'tinclude a copy of your rules in
your, you know, for example, youknow, if you're taking the Ohio
course, we're not gonna have theOhio rules sitting there, but we
will have in there, go checkyour rules.
Make sure you understand therules that relate to this
(23:36):
license that you say you want tosupervise.
And so you want to listen toanother episode we're doing, and
it's hacks, you know, hacks forsupervisors.
So we've talked about theseproblems, we've talked about the
big mistakes, we've talked aboutrookie mistakes at another
episode.
You know, we also know a fewtips and tricks to make this job
(23:59):
easier and more streamlined sothat as you're growing as a
supervisor, you know, you get toprogress developmentally just
like your supervisees.
You will feel so good and sosupported because you put these
systems in place at the very,very beginning.
(24:19):
So make sure you check out theSupervision Hacks episode
because you're gonna want tohear all the stuff we're going
to dish out.
Thanks for listening to BadassTherapists Building Practices
That Thrive.
If you're ready to step intosupervision and lead with
(24:40):
confidence, the brand new 2026Supervisor Courses are coming
soon, and early birds get firstaccess to bonus tools,
templates, and fast trackgrading.
Join the wait list now atKateWalkertraining.comslash
earlybird.
And if you want ongoing support,CEs, and live coaching, join our
(25:01):
Step It Up membership communityat KateWalkertraining.com slash
step it up.
You're not just building apractice, you're building a
legacy.
I'll see you next week.
If you love today's episode, besure to leave a five-star
review.
It helps other badass therapistsfind the show and build
practices that thrive.
(25:21):
Big thanks to Ridgely Walker forour original fun facts and
podcast intro, and to CarlGuyanella for editing this
episode and making us soundamazing.
See you next week.
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