In my practice I see individuals and couples and I also provide consultation and clinical supervision to other counsellors. This blog post is for counsellors.

If you are a counsellor or student counsellor in British Columbia you are likely aware that BC Government has recently announced its intent to regulate psychotherapy under the Health Professions Act beginning November 2027.

As you prepare for applying to be regulated one question you may have is: Am I collecting enough Supervision hours? Even though you may be practicing great activities like peer supervision or case consultation you may not realize that these do not count towards clinical supervision hours.

As I researched how to become an Approved Clinical Supervisor with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors I learned what the differences are between Clinical Supervision and Consultation. I also took a rigorous 3-credit course on Clinical Supervision with Evangeline Thiessen, who consults on the BCACC Clinical Supervision board. She does a great job of summarizing various definititions of Clinical Supervision in her book, A Clinical Supervision Training Handbook: Becoming a Reflective Systemic Supervisor.

Clinical Supervision is:

An intervention provided by a more senior member of the profession to a more junior member or members of that same profession. This relationship is evaluative, hierarchical, extends over time, and simultaneously enhances the professional functioning of the more junior person(s) (Bernard & Goodyear, 2019).

You can already see the differences between consulting and supervision. Case consulting is generally a one off experience and not contracted. Supervision is generally contracted and could look like, for example, monthly sessions for a period of one year. Supervision is based on mutually agreed upon goals and has specific activities that are strived to be met each session. Supervision is evaluative and promotes long term growth.

Supervision also extends beyond the Supervisee to the development of the profession of counselling. In supervision, the therapist

attends to their clients, themselves as part of their client-practitioner relationships and the wider systemic and ecological contexts, and by so doing improves the quality of their work, transforms their client relationships, and continuously develops themselves, their practice, and the wider profession (Hawkins and McMahon, 2020 as summarized by Thiessen, 2023).

As a BCACC Approved Clinical Supervisor in training I am passionate about providing supervision to both new and experienced counsellors.

Learn about what supervision could look like for you at your developmental stage, whether you are new or very experienced. Gather clinical supervision hours in preparation for being a licensed psychotherapist.

Warmly,

Natalie Hansen, M.A., RCC, ACS Candidate

Individual and Couples Therapist in New Westminster, BC

(604) 816-6532

nataliehansencounselling@gmail.com