What is Triadic Supervision in Washington?
By Shannon Heers
Clinical supervision is an essential component of counselor education. It is also a requirement by the state of Washington for counselors, therapists and social workers to become independently licensed. The concept of approved clinical supervisors providing guidance and clinical oversight to supervisees helps with ensuring that legal and ethical standards are upheld, along with supporting professional development.
There are different formats for clinical supervision available in the counseling field. The different types of clinical supervision includes individual supervision, group supervision, reflective supervision, peer supervision, and triadic supervision.
The Regulatory Landscape in Washington
Triadic supervision can be defined in different ways. In the state of Washington, the Department of Health defines triadic supervision as involving one supervisor and no more than two licensure candidate counselors or social workers.
What this means is that for LMHCAs (Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associates) in Washington, triadic supervision is considered the same as individual supervision in Washington. Both individual and triadic supervision meet the requirements for LMHCAs to fulfill their “immediate supervision” hours for full licensure.
Understanding the Foundations of Triadic Supervision
Triadic supervision, as opposed to individual supervision, offers a more collaborative learning environment. With two supervisees and one clinical supervisor, the triadic group is not run as individual supervision with each supervisee. Instead, the learning focus is on the triadic group as a whole, and this creates a more collaborative experience.
In addition, triadic supervision is ideal for peer learning. Getting exposure to other clinicians through the group experience helps you to learn by observation. Sharing different perspectives on cases, obtaining new clinical insights, and being exposed to additional theoretical interventions can help you enrich your learning journey.
Group experience is another foundation of triadic supervision. While most graduate programs offer group counseling courses or curriculum, there is a distinct lack of additional training after graduate school in groups. Being a part of a group, even if just a supervision group, can help you start to understand group dynamics, albeit on a smaller scale than most counseling groups.
The dynamics of a triadic group are different than you find in individual supervision. The complexity of the interactions between you, your peer, and the supervisor offers many layers of learning. In particular, conflict may come up in the triad, and processing through the conflict and subsequent resolution is invaluable learning for supervisees.
Finally, opportunities for feedback is an essential component of triadic supervision. There is a moment to gain feedback not only from the supervisor, but also from your colleague. And you have the ability to provide feedback back to your peer, creating a nice feedback loop. This helps you to increase your self-awareness while also contributing your insight to other cases.
Benefits of Triadic Supervision for Mental Health Counseling Associates
There are a number of positive benefits of doing triadic clinical supervision, as a LMHCA in Washington. Triadic supervision is an exciting and dynamic way to learn, through shared experiences and mutual support. All of this yields significant individual growth and professional development.
An occupational hazard of the counseling profession is the isolation that many therapists experience. Even if you are working within a team, there may be few opportunities for collaboration or connection with others. And especially for private practice therapists, feeling alone and isolated is all too common. Triadic supervision provides the chance to connect meaningfully with other therapists.
One of the biggest benefits of triadic supervision is gaining different perspectives on clinical cases. One supervisee may approach a client from a psychodynamic perspective, and the other supervisee from an Internal Family Systems viewpoint. Neither are wrong, and both modalities offer different interventions that offer multiple perspectives on the case.
And finally, a significant benefit of triadic supervision is that it can be more affordable than individual supervision. Triadic supervision groups are usually priced at a lower cost than individual supervision, so that benefits associates or agencies who are paying for clinical supervision.
The Triadic Supervision Process
While every triadic supervision group is different, there are some similarities in the roles of the clinical supervisor and the supervisees. Usually, but not always, you will be meeting with the same peer and supervisor in each triadic group that you attend.
The clinical supervisor holds many roles in triadic supervision. Here is a list of several roles that the supervisor upholds:
- Guide and Mentor
- Facilitator of Learning
- Case Review and Feedback
- Individualized Development Plans
- Monitor Professional Competence
- Addressing Personal and Professional Development
- Group Dynamics Management
- Modeling Professionalism
- Cultural Competence Advocate
- Gatekeeping and Evaluation
- And Create a Supportive Environment.
That is a lot of things that the clinical supervisor is responsible for! While triadic supervision is a great way for supervisees to learn, this format of supervision does require some supervisor training.
There are many ways that supervisors can facilitate triadic groups. Depending on the supervisor, there may be a check-in round, case presentations, and/or professional topic discussions. Supervisors may bring in hypothetical ethical dilemmas to review, or assign readings or homework for supervisees to do in-between sessions. How the triadic supervision is run is highly dependent on the supervisor’s style.
Overall, though, the process of professional development through triadic supervision is clear. Case consultation, done all together with everyone’s input, helps to advance supervisee learning. As does getting to know and trust your triadic group, for learning occurs best in a supportive environment where group members can show up authentically and vulnerably.
How to Find a Triadic Supervision Group
It can be challenging to find a triadic supervision group in Washington. Not all supervisors offer this type of supervision format, primarily because it does require additional training and it can be difficult to find and match potential group members with each other.
Here at Firelight Supervision, we offer triadic supervision regularly. Because of the volume of supervisees that we support, we are often able to find you a suitable triadic partner within 1-2 months. Triadic supervision is a great alternative to just individual supervision, but it’s not intended to be used for all of your required supervision hours.
How we can help
For more information about our triadic supervision openings, contact us for a FREE 20-minute phone consultation. Firelight Supervision offers LMHCA triadic supervision from our Washington state approved clinical supervisors. Get started today!
If you’re looking for support and clinical consultation around your clinical work, check out our Clinical Consultation Community, where you can develop professionally within a community of other private practice therapists, just like yourself.
If you are located in Colorado or Washington, we provide clinical supervision for mental health counselors. Our trained and experienced clinical supervisors can provide you with individual supervision or group supervision, based on your clinical areas of interest.
Author Bio
Shannon Heers is a psychotherapist, approved clinical supervisor, guest blogger, and the owner of a group psychotherapy practice in the Denver area. Shannon helps adults in professional careers manage anxiety, depression, work-life balance, and grief and loss. Follow Firelight Supervision on Instagram and Facebook.