Here are four Meetup groups for those of you 
in Arizona to check out. Consider adding one of these to your 12 month marketing plans for 2012.
Arizona Health Professionals Meetup Group
Hospice and Palliative Care Resource Connection
The East Valley Group of Wellness and Beauty Professionals
And, if you know of other meetups in Arizona that would be appropriate for mental health professionals, feel free to leave the info below!
All mental health professionals including 
counselors, social workers, psychologists, creative arts therapists, music therapists, art therapists, dance / movement therapists, addictions specialists, and interventionists need clinical supervisors in order to continue their professional development efforts and to satisfy their requirements for licensure.
Every month, I get inquiries about where to find clinical supervisors. Here is where I suggest that you begin looking for your clinical supervisor . . . .
Check out the faculty at your nearest university. Many times the mental health instructors there will provide clinical consultation / supervision.
It is common for administrative supervisors in community mental health to also provide clinical supervision on the side.
Professional development workshops, annual conferences, and traditional mental health-focused networking events like Meetups and the New Jersey Association of Women Therapists provide ample opportunities for you to seek out possible supervisors.
Social networks including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are also terrific places to scan mental health professionals and post requests for potential supervision.
Some professional associations actually have websites that allow clinical supervisors to post their services and also allow you to post that you are looking for such services.
I’ve just updated our list of online directories for mental health professionals. Those are also good places to scan for those providing clinical supervision.
Look within your own network – both among your peers and those who are more seasoned than you in their experience with mental health. They may already be under supervision and happy to share their positive experiences and their cautionary tales with you. And, if you are really fortunate, they might share their supervisors with you, too.
I always appreciate it when my supervisees pass my name along to their peers and I’m sure your supervisors will, too. Feel free to leave their name, contact info, and where they are (geographically). (No self-promotion this time, please. Let your supervisees sing your praises, instead. It will carry more weight.)
And, I’m sure I’ve missed other places to find clinical supervisors. Please drop in and let us know where you found your favorite supervisor.
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Related Posts
9 Steps You Can Take to Insure a Great Supervisory Experience
10 Questions You Must Ask Your Potential Supervisor
Clinical Supervision and ‘Money Gouging’
With the holidays fast approaching, you are likely to have lots of opportunities to network face to face and online. And, for many of you that “opportunity” comes with additional stress. Here are a few polishing tips to help you make the most of your networking chit-chat . . . .
Show up with a purpose. Know what you want to
accomplish by the time the networking ends. Do you need to meet a great printer? Find the most attractive business card in the place, introduce yourself, and ask for the name of their printer! Need to great marketing coach or consultant? Ask around!
Act like the host. Don’t hang out on the sidelines and wait for someone to approach you. Take a breath, put a genuine smile on, extend your hand and introduce yourself. Find your courage and take the initiative. It puts others at ease – which makes you likeable and memorable – two things that you need in order to grow your practice.
Come prepared with a resource to share. Take the time to prepare for your networking event by identifying a common need and showing up with a solution for that need. It might be a book you have read or a copy of an article. It could be a website or the name of a community support group or an introduction to a colleague.
It’s all about them, not you. This means that your conversation . . . whether face to face or online . . . needs to focus on them – their needs, their desires, and their work. How does that work for you? It allows you to then meet their needs by positioning yourself as a resource.
Find the deal maker. If you regularly attend a networking group, pay attention to who wields influence there. Whether on LinkedIn or at your town’s local networking group, there are always one or two individuals who seem to make things happen. Those are the deal makers. They may or may not be the most popular; but they will hold relationships, knowledge, and power that they can share with you to help you build your practice.
Forget quid pro quo. Networking is not about meeting someone to, in turn, get a referral. It doesn’t work that way. Networking is about building long term relationships and good will.
Ask for introductions. If you have come to the networking event with a specific need of your own and believe an introduction to someone there can help, don’t be shy about asking to be introduced. It’s a great way for someone else to make herself useful; and, it’s an easy way to build your network.
Look for opportunities to introduce people. Helping others meet like-minded people is a generous and gracious thing to do. Know two people who like the same type of music? Introduce them to each other. Know two people who are interested in writing. Introduce them. Know two people who are active in social justice movements? Play ScrabbleSlam? Love blogging? You get the idea. . . . By helping others build their networks, you are also strengthening your own.
Listen more than you talk. You would think this one is a no brainer but I’m always surprised at those in our profession that have verbal diarrhea. This is especially true for those of us who may be described as having “big” personalities. And, when you do talk, contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way rather than filling the air with unsolicited opinions and advice.
Tamara’s Bonus Tip: And, for those of you who really get anxious about your networking, here’s one of my best tips . . . . Take 3 conversation starters with you. Mine are . . .
So . . . are you up for a little practice building homework? Identify one place (face to face or online) where you will commit to networking . . . with intention and with a plan. Put your plan in writing. Really commit to it. Try out these polishing tips and then join us back here to share your own tips. What’s working for you and what’s still a challenge?
This is the 3rd part of a 3 -part series. 
To see the previous post in this series, click here.
Last Wednesday, I talked with you about some of the reasons that working in a community agency is a really smart step on your journey toward private practice. Here’s a few more thoughts to help you appreciate the path to private practice via an agency setting.
One of the challenges to any new mental health professional is a general lack of knowledge about the community resources. Yes, many communities have a “Blue Book” of community resources but that is not sufficient to support your clients and minimize your liability in private practice.
By spending time in an agency, you will have time and experiences that allow you to develop a knowledge and understanding of specific agencies’ strengths and challenges. For example, if you were in private practice today, would you know
Of course, those questions are just a fraction of the resources that you will need to know in private practice. And, working in an agency for a few years will build up your knowledge of community resources faster than anything else!
And, while you are building up that knowledge of community resources, you will also be building up your address book as you continue to meet and problems solve with other agencies and professionals in your community. You may see this initially as simply “doing your job.” But, the truth is, you are planting seeds! Once you leave the agency and move into private practice, you will see that you have fostered many relationships with individuals and organizations. If you’ve done this right, you will know many who can and will be eager to send clients to you for counseling and support!
Here, in Colorado, many new therapists eschew agency work and opt to immediately hang out their shingles only to find that they struggle in private practice. I can’t say that I’m really surprised. If you haven’t planted the seeds to help clients find their way to you, it’s not likely that you will have great success in private practice. There are many paths to building a successful and vibrant practice, but working in an agency is definitely one that can pay off in dividends if you have the wisdom to pursue it!
Have you worked in a non-profit or agency of some type? What have been the benefits for you? Are you now in private practice and didn’t take this route? I hope regardless of your path, you’ll take a moment to drop in here to chat and let us learn from your journey.
This is the 1st part of a 3 -part series. 
Dorlee M, in New York blogs on Social Work Career Development. Earlier this year, she wrote in asking why I have have repeatedly stated that working in a community agency (nonprofit, hospital, or organization) is the smartest thing a new graduate can do.
Here’s 8 reasons why I believe new mental health professionals (and coaches) should spend at least 3-5 years gaining their clinical sea legs before stepping out into private practice.
Not sure what I’m talking about? Check in on Wednesday for Part 2 of this post as I explain. And, if I’ve left off other benefits to working in a community agency, feel free to add them below!
Tamara G. Suttle, M.Ed., LPC has maintained a private clinical practice since 1991 and founded Private Practice from the Inside Out in 2003. She has spent almost 20 years consulting and teaching marketing strategies to health care professionals like you. You can learn more about her clinical practice at her website.
Email Tamara
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