Why Group Supervision in Colorado is Essential in Your Licensure Journey
By Kristen Dammer
Congratulations! You’re on your way to becoming a therapist, after graduating with your Master’s Degree and starting your professional job or private practice. Building your clinical hours, understanding your supervision needs, and grappling with the entire road to licensure progress can be difficult to navigate.
While individual supervision is a well-known requirement in Colorado of licensure supervision for counselors and social workers, group supervision offers unique benefits as part of your therapeutic development. Here are four reasons why to consider adding group supervision into your professional development and licensure requirements early on in your process.
Group Supervision is Cost Effective
According to DORA requirements, both provisionally licensed social workers and counseling candidates can count group supervision hours towards their required supervision hours. For social workers working towards their LCSW in Colorado, up to half of the required 96 supervision hours can be group supervision.
For licensed professional counselor candidates in Colorado, LPCC’s can also have half of the required supervision hours through group supervision. So up to 50 of the 100 required supervision hours for LPCCs can be done through group, at a ratio of 25 group supervision hours per each 1000 clinical hours accrued, in a 12 month time period.
Individual supervision for both counselors and social workers is often double the cost of group supervision. In Colorado as an LPCC, to be on track to become fully licensed as an LPC in two years, you’ll need to accrue at least 20 clinical hours a week along with 4 clinical supervision sessions per month. Adding group supervision can significantly save you money.
If you are seeking external clinical supervision from your place of employment or for your solo private practice in Colorado, Firelight Supervision may be a great place to look at for group supervision options that are more affordable than just doing individual supervision for yourself!
Group Supervision Offers Diverse Perspectives and Case Exposures
Group supervision offers another primary advantage over individual supervision, which is more exposure to client-related scenarios. Because a group includes more of your peers rather than just your individual supervisor, you end up learning from each other in the group. This broadened scope of case examples you will be exposed to offers a chance for therapists to understand a variety of clinical presentations.
In group supervision, you may often present cases during the group and receive feedback from other group members. The diversity in case presentations can help you learn more about thinking outside the box and understand different therapeutic styles and relationships.
Building Clinical Skills and Confidence in Group Supervision
Hearing everyone’s perspectives and different approaches during the supervision group can increase your confidence and build your experience with more comprehensive treatment planning.
After you present your case to the group, you will receive feedback from multiple perspectives. Having a collaborative environment develops deep critical thinking skills that are so valuable to develop as a therapist. Often the lens you see your client through might be too zoomed in on what you “think” the client challenge might be. Group supervision offers a chance to widen the lens and see more of the big picture.
Emotional Support from Group Members
Joining a supervision group offers you a chance to build your tribe of people who “get it.” The group will instantly understand your stress about the road to licensure. You will gain emotional support and have a place to ask all the questions you might be too self-conscious to ask in other settings.
And having a place to share your challenges and successes and receive encouragement and understanding is an invaluable part of your professional development. Often there is a sense of isolation that comes with private practice and even other clinical settings. Group supervision offers emotional support and a sense of belonging.
Group supervision is a helpful part of the development of your therapeutic self. Group offers a broad range of perspectives, emotional support, and is cost efficient. Engaging in group supervision is an opportunity for therapeutic growth. Group supervision is a valuable part of your path to licensure.
How we can help
If you are searching for a group that fits your supervision needs and are located in Colorado or Washington, check out our supervision group offerings.
Author Bio
Kristen Dammer is a clinical supervisor, therapist, and blogger with Firelight Supervision and Catalyss Counseling. Kristen specializes in trauma, ADHD, and perinatal counseling with adults and is trained in EMDR. Kristen enjoys providing clinical supervision and consultation to beginning to advanced clinicians in private practice, hospital, and agency settings.
