Mindful Supervision: Trauma-informed Practices in an Age of Overwhelm

COMPASSION FATIGUE, BURNOUT, AND MORAL DISSONANCE ARE COMMON experiences for all clinicians, especially during times of prolonged crisis. Especially for those who are new to the field. This foundational in-person workshop is a forum for clinical supervisors, new and seasoned, to explore their supervisory practices and update them, with special attention to the unique challenges of supporting new practitioners in a post-pandemic era of unstable political conditions, global violence, and other extremism.

The workshop draws on research in interpersonal neurobiology to encourage participants to review traditional beliefs about clinical supervision and to update them. Participants learn to cultivate mindful attention during supervision, to bring an attuned awareness of the visceral dialogue to their 1:1 and group meetings, and to maximize rewards and minimize threats hard-wired into any relationship with an authority figure.

Most practitioners seeking supervision or consultation have significant exposure to their clients’ stories of trauma, magnified during this long season of worsening mental health and spiraling addiction. Integrating mindful habits into the supervisory relationship allows supervisees to stay in the “Window of Tolerance” for longer periods, increase vagal tone and perseverance, and find meaning, satisfaction, and joy in their work. Mindful supervision enhances creativity and critical thinking, unblocks learning, increases intentionality in the supervisory relationship, and enhances whole body wisdom essential to effective care, healing, and professional resilience.

The workshop also introduces a structured model for clinical case consultation that integrates the mindful practices participants will discuss in class.

By the end of workshop, participants will:

1. Update their assumptions and beliefs about clinical supervision with key ideas from the field of interpersonal neurobiology;
2. Understand the ways toxic stress and secondary trauma, magnified in an era of overwhelm, can block learning and professional growth;
3. Practice mindful strategies that reduce stress, mitigate vicarious exposure to trauma, and facilitate learning and growth; and
4. Witness an innovative model of clinical case consultation that emphasizes mindful presence.

Clinical supervisors must complete 6 credit hours every 5 years in supervision coursework. This workshop, approved through National Association of Social Workers, satisfies that requirement.

BIPOC REPARATIONS DISCOUNT: If you identify as a BIPOC, you are entitled to a 25% discount.

MILITARY DISCOUNT: If you served in the military, either currently or in the past, or you are a military spouse, there is a 25% discount.

GRADUATE STUDENT DISCOUNT: If you are currently in graduate school in a clinical discipline and wish to register, there is a 25% discount.

Contact the EVENT ORGANIZER at the bottom of the page for discount codes.

Host or Publisher Wayne Scott, MA, LCSW