A Hard Pill to Swallow

I've been contemplating on supervision and the difference between clinical supervision and training supervision. Training supervision (in Ohio at least) has really been for social workers working towards obtaining their independent license. Although training supervision should really be for anyone who is seeking to work on developing a new skill/area of practice.

Clinical supervision on the other hand is really a requirement for those practicing with a dependent license. Ohio Revised Code 4757-21-02 defines social psychotherapy as needing supervision which includes the diagnosis and treatment for mental and emotional disorders. The Best Practice Standards in Social Work Supervision development by NASW and ASWB provides a good description of what supervision is for the purpose of the discussion of clinical supervision. In a nutshell, clinical supervision clinical supervision refers to the responsibility someone with an independent license takes to ensure practice by those with dependent licenses is ethical and follows appropriate practices; the clinical supervisor is taking on responsibility for the practice of another licensee.

I hear many social workers say that they will use their clinical supervision hours as part of the training supervision needed for obtaining an independent license. I do not this this is totally inappropriate. However, the clinical supervision has to have their supervisory designation in order to do training supervision and this plan should be discussed prior to the licensee planning to use these hours in this way. Clinical supervision and training supervision are different. Clinical supervision is necessarily about your development and may not prepare you for an independent license.

Qualifying for an independent social work license is not an entitlement. Not everyone with a graduate social work degree should be an independently licensed social worker. The training supervision requirement is preparation for independent license and should challenge the status quo of practice. It should prepare the licensee to advance their practice; it is not about developing basic skills. Clinical supervision is a job requirement and the clinical supervisor may not have the time nor the skill to attend to a licensee's advanced skill development. Going through the motions of supervision isn't enough, a licensee needs to be actively trying to develop and advance their skill.

Training supervision is an opportunity to challenge yourself and grow as a professional with the goal of being ready for independent social work practice. In Ohio, they are currently re-evaluating the rules and in the future training supervision may be more prescriptive. It is vitally important for licencees to take this time seriously as they prepare for an advanced license and supervisors need to consider their responsibility as gatekeepers for the profession and those individuals the social worker will work with.