As a recent graduate student looking for a supervisor I understand the difficulty in finding someone. It took me over 40 letters with resume's, 63 calls, and 8 months, plus looking in DC, MD, and WV before I found a location. Having a list would make the process more efficient. Thank you for your consideration.

I have been in LPC and LMFT in private practice  for 25 years. I remember the maze I travel through to get good training and  supervision to achieve licensure. I support the petition to help new and aspiring therapists easily locate approved supervisors  to help them in the process of getting licensed.

As the Supervision Coordinator for the Northern Virginia Licensed Professional Counselors association, I and my professional organization support this petition.  We have numerous residents who are unable to find a supervisor to provide them with the supervision they need for licensure in the State of Virginia, and this list would be most helpful to them, as well as to supervisors who wish to provide supervision.

I recently moved to VA with a MA in Counseling from a CACREP-approved program in NJ. As I was looking into how to become licensed here, I was discouraged to discover that the pool of eligible supervisors in VA was limited to those who have taken extra training in supervision. The extra training makes sense, but it does not make sense for the increased quality control to cause increased difficulty for new counselors who are trying to find a convenient, compatible, and affordable supervisor. For this reason, I support this petition. Thank you for your consideration.

I believe that providing this list will facilitate the licensure process since the board will have an already approved list to give to applicants. This means that the necessary paperwork provided by suprvisors,in this area will go more smoothly.

I would like to voice my support for this petition.  Having a list of board qualified supervisors available to those seeking licensure will greatly assist the search process. I lost time in my efforts to work toward licensure due to searching for a supervisor.  A free, public list would benefit those entering the profession, especially if they are coming from out of state and do not have many local contacts to rely on, which was my experience.  Thank you for your consideration. 

Providing a list of board qualified supervisors to applicants for licensure seems like a basic and helpful service which would benefit everyone involved in the process.  It would make it easier for applicants to find qualified supervisors;  it could encourge LPCs to be trained as supervisors by making it easier for them to be found; and it could reduce the number of inquires to and paperwork handled by the Board in the long run by making information readily available to the interested public. Equally important, it would promote good will among us in the counseling profession.

I believe that providing this list will facilitate a smoother licensure process instead of continuing to add to an already stressful process by the Virginia Board of Counseling. This approved supervisor list will facilitate applicants easily finding a supervisor and not delaying the beginning of their supervised residency.   
Thank you for your allowing our voices to be heard. Donna C. Fortney, NCC, LPC

As a supervisor and chair of the student development comittee for Northern Virginia Licensed Professional Counselors I believe a list of supervisors would enable residents to have the most choice available.  Thank-you for considering this matter.  Dr. Robin Norris, LMFT

Please make it easier for aspiring LPCs to find appropriate supervisors.

Please consider this, as it is greratly needed to streamline the process! It took me quite a while to find a supervisor and then just as long to get them approved. It would appear that there is already some database in existence in order for the Board to check credentials of supervisors. Allowing us access could help relieve some of the time spent waiting to find out if the person the applicant chose meets the requirements for a supervisor. Thank you for your time and consideration!

I am in full support of the DHP providing a list of qualified supervisors for LPC residents on their website.  Unless a resident is fortunate enough to work for an organization that has qualified LPCs, it can be a challenge to find someone available and willing to provide supervision, particularly for those residing in rural areas.  This step would be an important one in supporting residents navigate a challenging licensure process.

I am in complete agreement with this, and not only for LPC but all licenses.  The Board advised me recently to call every LMFT in my area to see if they could supervise me before they would consider approving out of state supervision.  There are a few problems with that.  There is not a current way of knowing if those LMFT professionals are qualified to be supervisors, which is an uncomfortable conversation and a waste of time for the supervisee and LMFT contacted.  I can only imagine how time consuming that would be in an urban area with many, many licensed individuals.  Also, as an additional point to suggest, they should have a "Distance from zip code/address" search for potential certified supervisors.  I had to punch in every zip code in the surrounding area to find out if there were any LMFTs registered there.  If I could have searched in a range from my home it would have been a much quicker and simpler process.

I could see it as being helpful for those in rural areas seeking licensure supervision.

I would recommend a resource for potential residents to be able  to access a listing of supervisors qualified and willing to provide licensure supervision that is accessible to potential applicants.  It could be maintained by the DHP, or perhaps coordinated with another agency such as the Virginia Counseling Association with a reference link on the DHP website for supervisees to find easily.

NASW offers a listing of this sort for those seeking LCSW supervision, however, having a reference link from DHP website (for each profession) would make it easier for people to know about it.

Especially for those in rural areas, that have the most need for more people to become licensed and register for supervision to fill a missing need, access to qualified supervisors willing to take on additional supervisees would assist with the need of clients and supervisees.  The DHP license lookup feature identifies names of licensed people by city, but not address or phone number, whether they are qualified to supervise or willing to take on supervisees.  The DHP could better fill clients' needs by assisting with coordination with a link to a supervision list for potential residents, if not providing the list themselves.