Training Supervision

According to Ohio Administrative Code 4757-23-01, Training supervision refers to "supervision for the purpose of obtaining license and/or development of new areas of proficiency while providing services to clients. The training supervisor is responsible for providing direction to the supervisee, who applies social work theory, standardized knowledge, skills, competency, and applicable ethical content in the practice setting. The supervisor and the supervisee both share responsibility for carrying out their role in this collaborative processes of professional growth and development". 

Clinical supervision is about the act of supervising those who have a dependent license in a clinical setting. Clinical supervision can be provide by licensed independent social workers and other professionals with an independent practice to license such as a psychologist, licensed professional clinical counselor, or licensed independent marriage and family therapist. Training supervision can only be done for social workers by a independently licensed social worker with supervisor designation (LISW-S). 

Obtaining training supervision is one requirement for social workers seeking independent licensure. There are minimal training standards for the LISW-S, however, they are ethically responsible for providing training supervision within their own proficiency and competencies. The NASW Code of Ethics states that "Social workers who provide supervision or consultation (whether in-person or remotely) should have the necessary knowledge and skill to supervise or consult appropriately and should do so only within their ares of knowledge and competency" (Standard 3.01). An individual I supervised asked wanted to develop competency in marriage therapy. I do not have knowledge or competency in that so I suggested some training resources and we discussed the role of communication in relationships, however we did not discuss the actual practice of marriage therapy. I could have speculated on the subject and may drew from other experiences, however it would have been inappropriate me to address this directly with the supervisee because it is not an area I am proficient in. 

Knowledge and competency come from both education and experience; there is no substitute for professional experience. As a generalist social worker and graduating from an advanced generalist program, I have various experiences at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels and in addition to some specific interventions and therapies. I wouldn't consider myself an expert in a certain type of therapy or intervention because of my generalist practice. I however have developed a framework for supervision that I share with those I supervise. The framework addresses the theories and frameworks on draw on and those interventions we may discuss in supervision. 

Another role of training supervision which is not explicitly addressed in the Ohio Administrative Code, is the preparation for independent license and advanced practice. Training supervision's role is not intended to be remedial training on social work theories, values, ethics, or interventions; it is to help supervisee's move towards advanced practice. One resource I wanted to draw your attention to was CSWE's Advanced Social Work Practice in Clinical Social Work (PDF). This is a resource that takes the educational competencies and distinguishes what a social work should be able to do and an advanced practitioner should be able to do. I provide this resource to everyone I supervisee so they can understand what advanced practice looks like and it provides some guidance on how their logs can reflect advanced competency. CSWE provides other documents similar to this which are good resources as well. The Association for Community Organization and Social Action (ACOSA) has developed a document on Advanced Practice in Macro Social Work (PDF). Whatever level of practice a social worker focuses on, developing some skill in macro practice is important for all social workers.