Clinical Supervision Information

Therapeutic Freedom offers supervision services through a private practice counseling setting. We are dedicated to providing supervision services that improve the clinical and administrative development of counselors in training. Your signature on the “Supervision Contract” document indicates that you have consented to supervision at Therapeutic Freedom.

Supervision with Therapeutic Freedom will be consistent with the ethical standards set forth by the following organizations and the same will be expected of the supervisee:

The Maryland Board of Professional Counseling (https://health.maryland.gov/bopc/Pages/index.aspx)

The American Counseling Association (http://www.counseling.org/resources/codeofethics/TP/home/ct2.aspx)

The National Board of Certified Counselors (http://www.nbcc.org/ethics). 

If at any time during supervision you have questions about whether or not supervision is effective, feelings about something your supervisor has said or suggested or need clarification of our goals, do not hesitate to bring this up in your session. As the counselor/supervisee you have the right to ask your supervisor questions about her/his qualifications, background, and therapeutic/supervision orientation. 

The supervisor takes on specific roles with the supervisee based on the dynamic of the relationship and cases being processed. These roles include Teacher (Action) for didactic-oriented activities,  evaluative functions, and transmitting knowledge; Counselor (Relationship) to help the counselor understand their own dynamics and resolve issue affecting counseling; and Consultant (Insight) to  provide opportunity for the counselor to develop her/his own conceptualization and plan.

With these roles, the supervisor embraces a discrimination model of supervision where she/he aims to support you in various areas of focus. Based on the situation, the supervisor can take on the role of Teacher (lecture, instruct or inform), Counselor (helping to identify their own blind-spots in the process) and Consultant (offering supportive guidance) to the supervisee.

The process of clinical development, administrative finesse, and change will, in many ways, be unique to the supervisee’s particular situation. Who a supervisee is as a person will help to determine the ways in which she/he will go about developing into a counselor. The most important factor in the success of supervision is good communication between supervisor and supervisee.  In some instances, talking about your clinical development and your cases may trigger dynamics that impact your interpersonal relationships; however over time you should see an improvement in your personal/professional boundaries and process your counseling/supervision experience with those in your support system. In addition, not all counselors benefit from working with a particular supervisor and you may decide to seek supervision elsewhere.