Maintaining Balance with Supervision
I have been a Clinical Supervisor for many years, and I have learned so much from the people that I supervise. I am grateful for these relationships, and I think that they have kept me eager to learn and open to new approaches. They also challenge me to constantly be aware of my own self-care practices.
As I embark on a new chapter, I am taking on the role of supporting and training other supervisors. As I take this next step, it is giving me the opportunity to think about lessons I have learned.
As I reflect, these are some of the things that stand out to me:
Find a schedule that works for you. People ask me all the time how many clients you should see in a week. You have to listen to your own body and brain to know what works best for you. For many of us, sitting too long is hard on our bodies. So, experiment with different schedule to see what works best for you.
Find what refuels you. Once you find those things, make sure to schedule them. For me, this means weekly hikes with friends, quiet time alone, family time, house projects, travel, and being outside. This also means stretching and growing as a clinician and trying new things.
Find your tribe. Look for communities to join. Allow yourself to play different roles in this communities. Don’t set yourself up to always be the one in charge or the one doing all the work. For me, this means going to conference where I can see friends that I have made in various states over the years, volunteering with organizations I support, and working hard to take care of the relationships I value. Take advantage of supervision groups.
Learn new things. Keep up the training, reading, and professional development. This keeps you fresh and helps prevent burnout.
Balance your caseload. Variety is key for me. While I am a specialist, I still want to a variety of people with various issues in a day. This allows me to stay more engaged and to learn new things. This is also why I enjoy supervision. I like spending time with other therapists. This is also why I do groups. The energy of doing individual work and group work is so different. For me, group work is energizing in a different way from individual work.
Be patient with insurance companies. It is very easy to get angry when sitting on hold for hours verifying benefits or researching why a claim was denied. Yet, this is the reality of many of our jobs. So, I try to schedule times when I can call insurance companies and have these discussions when I am not rushed between clients. I try to pick out a productive task I can work on while hold….like working on this blog(smile).
Be patient with yourself. Simple mistakes sometimes create extra work for us or conflict in relationships. Yet, we are human and these things are going to happen. Give yourself some grace. Take a deep breathe and repair.
Take time off. I hear lots of reasons folks don’t take time off. Yet, nothing repairs and refreshes us like taking a step away. When I take time off, I find that I’m eager to return to work and have the ability to see challenges from a different perspective.
Know your signs of burn out. Always make time for self reflection and to check in with yourself to watch for signs of burn out or secondary stress/trauma. Sometimes, our friends or family see it before us. Make sure to pay attention to feedback you get from people around you. Common signs to watch for:
Disillusionment
Lack of interest
Pervasive feeling of boredom, stagnation, apathy, frustration
Overscheduling
Inability to get refreshed by usual coping skills/activities
Loss of interest in professional resources
Periods of irritation, depression, and stress that do not lift when situation improves
Be patient with your clients. Change is hard for all of us. Each of us approaches and deals with change differently. It reminds me of when see see a child staring down at the water. We know they will have fun once they are in the water, but they need to make that decision for themselves and not be pushed when they aren’t ready. Even though, it is so hard not to want to push! Take a deep breathe and give them time. Consider approaching the issue from a different perspective.
Make time for your own healthcare. Caregivers can sometimes be the worst patients! We get so invested in helping others that we forget to take care of ourselves. So, make sure to take the time for your own medical and behavioral health care. Don’t just ignore those aches and pains. They may be trying to tell you something. Continuing our own therapeutic work also allows us to go deeper with clients and to develop our intuition.
Laugh. This is heavy work that we do, but we have to keep our perspective and continue to find humor in our lives. If you aren’t laughing, you are taking yourself and your work too seriously. Take a step back. Find the fun again.
Watch your boundaries. When you start making exceptions to your rules, pay attention to that. We have certain rules in place to protect our clients and ourselves. Bending or breaking these rules can lead to serious problems. So, notice this and take advantage of supervision to bring it up. For example: If you have the boundary that you do not allow clients to text, but you allow one person to do this; notice this and consider what it is about. Are you taking on too much responsibility? Are you getting overly involved? Do you need to take a step back?
Work as a team. As much as possible, collaborate with other healthcare providers working with your client. This helps with consistency in treatment, but also makes sure one clinician isn’t having to make hard decisions on their own. Also, we cannot all be good at everything. Don’t be shy about having someone help you with the parts of the jobs that you struggle with. For example: Consider allowing someone to help with scheduling, billing, business development, and marketing. This gives you more time to focus on the part of the work that you love.