Mindful Supervision

“Mindful Supervision: Trauma-informed Practices in an Age of Overwhelm” meets in person November 2, 2023, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm at Revolution Hall (Portland, Oregon). “Mindful Supervision: Advanced Applications,” a webinar for seasoned supervisors, begins September 21, 2023 (6 CEUs in supervision).

USING THIS LONG SEASON OF OVERWHELM as an opportunity for learning and growth, this foundational in-person workshop is a forum for clinical supervisors, new and seasoned, to explore their supervisory practices and update them in relation to long-term toxic stresses unique to this period.

Using research from the field of interpersonal neurobiology, this in-person workshop invites participants to review traditional beliefs about clinical supervision—which emphasize evaluation, monitoring, and fidelity to practice models—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 the trauma stories of their clients, magnified during this long season of worsening mental health and spiraling addiction. Integrating routine 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, in spite of challenges. Mindful supervision enhances creativity and critical thinking, unblocks learning, increases intentional use of 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 mindful practices.

By the end of this one-day, in-person foundational workshop, participants will:

Update their assumptions and beliefs about clinical supervision with key ideas from the field of interpersonal neurobiology;
Understand the ways toxic stress and vicarious trauma, magnified during the long season of the pandemic, can block learning and professional growth;
Practice mindful strategies that reduce stress and vicarious trauma and facilitate learning and growth; and
Witness an innovative model of clinical case consultation that emphasizes mindful presence.

The workshop has been approved for 6 CEUs (clinical supervision) through National Association of Social Workers.