I am strongly opposed to any reduction in the current continuing education requirements for supervision in Virginia. The process of supervision and continuing professional education are both critical for high quality clinical social work practice. If either of these elements are weakened it could cause harm to the public as well as the social work profession which heavily relies on training and supervision to uphold ethical principals.

Making the decision to become a clinical supervisor is a tremendous responsibility and reducing the training requirements may encourage practitioners to enter a supervisory role underprepared for the challenges that can arise. Based on my experiences in supervision training, the continuing education courses have not been redundant and have provided dyadic feedback between participants. These trainings have provided information about emerging risks, lessons learned, and best practices in supervision.

Clinical supervision is more than an administrative task and should be held to high standards. Supervision is not only used for new practitioners but also experienced professionals that need to be able to trust the judgement of their supervisor. 14 hours of supervision training every five years seems to be a reasonable request for such an important role.