Having a supervisor is required to get your full license as a therapist. There is no way around it. A good supervisor can set the stage for you to do amazing things as a therapist. They can help shape your career path, develop your confidence as a new therapist, and connect you with key figures in your field. However, if you don’t have a supervisor like that, odds are you have a less-than-stellar supervisor. These are supervisors in the clinical field who barely interact, never provide feedback on notes, and worst of all: refuse to sign off on your clinical hours. Tragically, not all supervisors are created equal. Here are the top ten signs of a toxic supervisor.
10. Your supervisor is Disengaged
A disengaged supervisor is a bad supervisor. Whenever you’re discussing clients or your own personal concerns, your supervisor should be incredibly invested. Why? Because when you see clients, bill clients, and develop treatment plans, you’re doing it on their license! Furthermore, if your supervisor appears to want to be anywhere but the supervision meeting or constantly downplays your concerns, you should start looking for a new supervisor. This isn’t done to be cruel. Essentially, it’s done out of kindness. Your license is their license. Your supervisor should be as invested in your growth as they are in their protecting their license.
9. Your supervisor doesn’t provide feedback on notes
A poorly written note can ruin your career as a therapist. Notes are the legal record keeping that, yes, can be subpoenaed, requested by clients, read by other allowed clinical mental health professionals, and are vital to growing as a therapist. It is a medical record that needs to reflect the clinical nature of the work. Vague terminology, run-on sentences, and misspelled words do not have a place in a clinical note. The simpler the note, the better you will be. There should be no room for interpretation of what you write down. Your supervisor should be the person guiding you to write clean, clear, and concise notes.
8. Your Supervisor is unable to remember details regarding your clients
If you are puzzled about how to move forward with a client or develop an innovative treatment plan, odds are you’ve spoken to your supervisor on a few occasions or have reviewed notes. Your supervisor should, in theory, recall some details of the client that you are concerned about. I am empathic to the heavy caseloads we all carry and that details can be muddled from time to time. However, I am describing a scenario wherein zero details are recalled by your clients. This is an issue as your supervisor is signing off on notes, reviewing treatment plans, etc. Something, anything really, should be generally recalled. You should not have to provide the entire bio/psych/social of your client every time.
7. Your Supervisor does not provide insights into the growth of the field
Every day, new strides in mental health are being discovered. Whether it’s the use of psilocybin for psychiatric disorders or the latest state to join the counseling compact, it’s vital to be kept in the loop. This means not getting terrible takes like ‘The counseling compact will never work’ or ‘Telehealth is a passing phase’. A good supervisor should push you to continue to explore and see the latest insights into the field and, hopefully, steer you in the right direction.
6. Your supervisor doesn’t sign off on hours
Essentially, as an LPC-A, your sole purpose is to grow as a therapist. This means earning hours and becoming the best therapist that you can be. You can’t apply for full licensure without your supervisor signing off on hours. Without your supervisor signing off on your hard-earned hours, you will not get to full licensure. Ideally, your supervisor should be signing off on hours at the end of each supervision meeting after reviewing notes, caseload, and clients’ progress. If you are missing signatures or are relying on your supervisor to keep track of hours for you, all I can say is don’t. Basically, no one will care more about your hours or diligently ensuring signatures at the end of every week than you.
5. Your supervisor has too many supervisees
The only way that we can have more therapists in the field is if we have multiple supervisors watching the growth of newer therapists. Becoming a supervisor means investing in the future of the field. In fact, I plan on gaining my S as soon as I can. However, after COVID-19, many supervisors have retired and it appears that fewer LPCs are making the jump to earn their S.
This is in part of the process of earning the highly sought-after S and the risk that comes from guiding a newer therapist along the way. That big capital S is essential to the field growth. As a result, there are fewer S’s about, and more and more supervisors are taking on more supervisees. This isn’t an inherently bad thing. However, it does get bad when all they do is supervision. Generally, I’m of the firm opinion that to continue to help other therapists grow, you also need to be doing therapy and continuing to work on your own style.
4 Your supervisor has poor boundaries
The relationship between the supervisee and supervisor is complicated. This is partially due to paying for supervision, a requirement to move forward as a therapist. It is transactional, but it’s educational and it’s necessary. Whenever you sit down with your supervisor, the focus should be on getting better as a therapist. This is a critical period of growth for you. So, it shouldn’t become a vent session for your supervisor or a mini-therapy session for them either. The boundaries have to be set that you are here to learn, not to help your supervisor process the day-to-day hassles of life.
3. Your supervisor routinely provides wrong information
Information in the clinical mental health field doesn’t change often. The rules to becoming a therapist are fairly by the book. Get a Master’s degree, complete your practicum and internship, find a job, accrue hours, gain licensure, earn continuing ed credits, etc. Fairly standard, right? Right!
Except in the case of a toxic supervisor who will continue to provide incorrect information that puts your license and future at risk. A few examples would be “You can counsel with your door open. No, it’s not a violation of confidentiality” (Spoiler alert, it totally is) or “Your client doesn’t have to be in the state that your licensed in” (Yeah, they do actually. It’s why we have state licenses.)
If you find yourself receiving incorrect information on the regular, do yourself a favor and go ahead and bookmark your state’s administrative code. Here’s the link to Texas’s. If you ever find yourself wondering about the legalities of the profession, always go to your administrative board. Supervisors can be wrong, admin codes are never in the wrong. Additionally, if you are a therapist, please don’t hesitate to use the ACA’s ethics consultation services. It’s not a hotline by any means, but it is a resource that allows you to keep your ethics intact.
2. Your supervisor encourages fraud
I feel that this goes without saying but it needs to be said: a good therapist and supervisor should not be actively or passively to encourage fraud. It’s illegal and yes, it can and will cost you your license. I would like for everyone to take a moment to consider how much hard work and effort it took for you to get into graduate school, pass all of your classes, complete your practicum and internship, and pass the NCE. All that time and effort, just to be immediately thrown away because of financial fraud. It’s not worth it. Don’t do it.
1. Your Supervisor Changes the Pay Rate
It is an industry-standard for supervisees to pay for supervision unless supervision is provided for at their place of employment. Paying for supervision can vary anywhere between $50-$200, with the medium being around $100. I have seen pay rates going as far as $400, but those are few and far in-between. You will need to meet with your supervisor weekly to review progress, notes. In Texas, there is a minimum of 18 months to earn hours before you can apply for full licensure. That is an estimated 79 weeks of paying for supervision and continuing to pay until the board completes your application for licensure.
Even at the lowest pay scale, that’s an impressive $3,950. Industry-standard, you’re investing nearly $8,000 into your growth as a therapist. If you’re paying $400 for supervision, $31,600. Any changes upwards for the cost of supervision can be a financial killer for anyone who is trying to become stable, pay off student loans, and maintain their household. If your supervisor does decide to change the cost of supervision, you will need to consider the financial ramifications and whether or not your current supervisor is worth keeping.
These are a few signs of a toxic supervisor. Picking a supervisor and paying for supervision is an investment in your growth. You don’t want to pick the first person that shows up on your list. Do yourself the favor of putting in the time and effort of vetting supervisors before signing on. Remember, you will be spending a minimum of 18 months with your supervisor and learning from them. You’ll want someone who will push you to be the best therapist you can be.
As always, if you or a loved one are struggling is in crisis, experiencing severe emotional distress, or in need of immediate assistance, please do not solely rely on the information provided on this blog. Instead, we strongly encourage you to seek help from qualified mental health professionals or utilize the hotlines here. If you are seeking therapeutic services and do not know where to begin, please consider Psychology Today.
