I am ready to be in deep connection with people finding their voice as a counselor in Colorado.

Clinical Supervision for Therapists

Clinical counseling skills

There is a growth arc in our development as a therapist. This is supercharged during internship but as we’re moving into pre-licensure there is this in-between, this imposter syndrome space. You’re not totally new but you’re suddenly less supported and you don’t totally know what your voice is. In supervision we’ll be exploring the big questions to understand yourself as a therapist. 

Questions like:

• What are my foundational values? 

• How do I think about clients?

• How do I think change happens? How does my understanding of change impact how I sit with clients?

• How do I hold my own wisdom while also meeting the client where they are?

• How do I hold all these things while being present in the room with the client?

• How is my shit interacting with how I’m thinking about the client?

• Am I offering an intervention because I find it clinically important or am I offering an intervention because the client wants something from me?

• How do I hold all these things while being present in the room with the client?

As a supervisor, I bring quite a bit of flexibility. This means sometimes we’ll be doing psychoed or skill building, and sometimes we’re in process and emotional content and self as therapist. I am thinking about all of these things and ultimately, about your ability to hold these things simultaneously as well.

As a therapist, my clinical approach is very focused on attachment. I am also Internal Family Systems informed and I utilize EMDR. I integrate experiential techniques that are arts- and somatics-based. I’ll be bringing all of this with me as a supervisor as well.

Power and location

As a supervisor and supervisee, there is a power differential in the room. We’ll attend to that. I am clear about naming my locations and the ways that this may impact our dynamic. My intent is to equalize our power as much as possible while still holding that each of our locations impact who we are in the room. I’m not willing to shy away from the unlearning and the unpacking. I personally and professionally, I am committed to the unlearning and it will be a part of our supervisory relationship. Shit is going to be uncomfortable; this is a foundation for me.

Invested mentorship

Supervision isn’t just about skill development. I am interested in the relationship, not from an agenda place but from a place of deep care, to create a sense of invested mentorship. I supervise from a lens of community of care and not from a transactional place. When I'm with someone, I want them to feel my presence and my emotional availability because I think there can be deep wounding in not actually being seen or heard.

Supervision is being in the process with someone over an extended period of time. You’re naming that you have a lot to learn and I’m naming how far you’ve come. I get to hold both as a person who is in your corner.

The process of exposure and vulnerability

As a clinician, your insecurities are going to get tripped; part of our work in supervision is to help you recognize your own cues when your nervous system is being activated. From that base, we are able to process feedback as a therapist. We will work to recognize trends of receiving feedback, not to mention the perfectionism that comes up when we’re building a new skill. How do we recognize all of that happening in order to get to the skill development itself? 

In supervision, my ask is that you’re sharing the things that feel like flags or things that might be uncomfortable. I approach this vulnerability with deep care while also not shying away from the uncomfortable challenge. That is my superpower. I want to hear the wins and I want to celebrate those. 

That said, if we only look at wins then we’re staying in a comfort zone that actually doesn’t allow for learning about one’s self. We have to be willing to look at the things that feel hard. In this supervisory relationship, that’s about continuing to reduce the possibility of harm as a clinician. If we’re unconscious, we’re going to create harm. We have to keep bringing up things that bring “the eek”. This is especially vulnerable as a new clinician when there will be so much we don’t know, but as humans we all have cues. We will look at these cues together. 

I deeply value one’s ability to be tracking what informs them and that includes their narratives, their locations, their conditionings. Part of the process for me in the exploration is are you aware of how those things are working on you and thus how they impact your interactions with clients.