[This is the third of a three-part post on clinical supervision
in Hawaii.  The first post can be found by clicking here.]

As frustrated as Shari sounded last Monday, the good news is that Hawaii does have licensure!  In part 2 of this series on Thursday, my colleague underscored some of the real challenges for new mental health professionals in Hawaii (and other states) that have only recently adopted professional licensing.

In spite of the growing pains for new and young professions, I want to offer some hope and possibilities for securing high quality clinical supervision.  If the agency or organization in which you are providing counseling does not provide free clinical supervision, I have four suggestions to help you out:

1. If you have not pitched the idea of group supervision (rather than individual supervision) to your employer, perhaps you should.  After all, it serves the best interest of everyone for employees to be adequately trained and informed and it is much more economical than individual supervision.  It may be that your employer does have $500 / month in discretionary funds that could be used for this purpose.
2. Why not join with several colleagues who are also in need of supervision and pool your own resources to pay a competent supervisor to provide group supervision to you?  (If you do so, remember that your fees for supervision are tax deductible as a business expense.)
3. A different approach might be to contact your professors where you went to school to see if any of them could provide clinical supervision for a fee.  Many instructors moonlight in their own practices by seeing clients or by providing clinical supervision.  And, if the one you ask, cannot work with you, s/he’ll probably know someone else of comparable skills to refer you to.
4. And, finally, you may want to take your concerns directly to the American Counseling Association or your state chapter of your professional association.  (Shari, I looked just now but do not find an active state chapter of ACA or the American Mental Health Counselors Association in Hawaii.  Someone, please let me know if this is incorrect.)

While the requirements and costs associated with becoming an Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice are considerable and many of us found it necessary to moonlight in another job or simply to gain the necessary hours of supervised clinical work, the good news is that these requirements can also result in additional professional opportunities and personal gains if you  have the focus and intention to leverage them.

Have you found a fabulous clinical supervisor?  Or, have you found it difficult to find a fabulous clinical supervisor?  Here is a good place to brag on your supervisors (so that others will know the good guys).  And, it’s also a good place to let us know what difficulties you have run into with supervisors so we can help problem solve with you!