Badass Therapists Building Practices That Thrive

If you have ever opened five or six tabs trying to compare supervisor training programs and wondered why they all seem to say the same thing, this episode is for you. I get questions from clinicians at every stage of supervision. Some have finished training and suddenly realize they do not know how to evaluate a supervisee. Others are considering becoming supervisors but feel nervous about complai...

If you are thinking about becoming a clinical supervisor but still wondering whether you are ready, this episode will help you look at the decision through the eyes of people who have already made it. I sat down with Tabitha Westbrook and Cyndi Doyle to talk about what they worried about before becoming supervisors, how they chose their training, and what became important once they were responsibl...

Have you ever looked at a brand-new associate and wondered, How did this person graduate without learning this? Supervisors do not control what happens inside graduate programs. But when a clinician enters post-graduate supervision without skills we would reasonably expect them to have, that gap eventually lands in our office. In this episode, Dr. Ashley Stephens Durbin and I talk about the pressu...

A full calendar can hide a lot of cracks. After a busy season in private practice, I want you to look beyond the number of new clients you gained and ask a different question: What happened to your systems while you were busy? In this episode, I walk through the post-surge audit I want therapists and supervisors to conduct after their calendar fills. We look at intake paperwork, AI consent, unfini...

Has supervision started to feel more like a weekly conversation than an actual evaluation process? I know how easy it is for evaluation to slip when your caseload is full and your supervisees seem to be doing fine. The problem is that "fine" is not something you can measure, document, or rely on when a serious concern shows up later. In this episode, Dr. Ashley Stephens Durbin and I talk...

Most associates do not know what good supervision is supposed to feel like until they have experienced it. That creates a problem. In this episode, I feature Dr. Tara Fox, clinical director and assistant clinical professor at Sacred Heart University, to talk about what actually raises the standard for clinical supervision. We look at the relationship from both sides: what associates should be aski...

If you have ever bought a continuing education course and wondered whether the material would actually help you in practice, this episode is for you. A certificate tells you that you completed something. It does not automatically tell you whether the training was current, accurate, practical, or designed by someone who understands the work you are about to do. In this episode, I feature Jennifer M...

Fall tends to bring a surge of new clients into counseling practices, which makes this a good time to look at the paperwork those clients are actually signing. In this episode, I walk through several parts of your intake paperwork that can quietly become outdated as your practice changes. Your technology may be different. Your rates may have changed. Your no-show policy may be stricter than it use...

If you have ever wondered whether online supervisor training can be too easy, you'll want to listen in. I use AI. I create online courses. I believe technology can make us more effective. But when technology starts replacing the thinking, feedback, and human interaction that professional learning requires, we have a problem. In this episode, Dr. Ashley Stephens Durbin and I talk about immersi...

If your phone, inbox, or website inquiries suddenly pick up when fall arrives, the real question is not how many people contacted you. It is what happened next. I see therapists spend a lot of energy getting found, then lose potential clients somewhere between the first inquiry and the first appointment. Usually, the problem is not a lack of interest. It is a system with too many contact channels,...

Most supervision problems do not begin with a supervisor trying to break a rule. They begin with an assumption that was never verified, a concern that was never documented, or a responsibility that nobody clearly assigned. In this episode, I feature Robert Romig, Deputy Executive Director for the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council, Sarah Faszholz, MFT and Social Work Board Administrator, an...

I see a lot of supervisors working incredibly hard to support their supervisees while still feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or blindsided by preventable problems. Most of the time, it is not because the supervisee is irresponsible. It is because expectations were never turned into systems. In this episode, I talk about the difference between expectations and standards in supervision. Expectations...

AI went from a "someday" conversation to a "this week" conversation very quickly. Clinicians, supervisors, agencies, and clients are already using it, sometimes before anyone has stopped to discuss privacy, consent, or documentation. In this episode, I look at AI use from two directions. First, I talk about how clinicians are using AI to record sessions, draft notes, generate t...

Business questions will enter the supervision room. That does not mean every business question belongs there. In this episode, Sarah Rivera of La Luz Counseling in San Antonio talks about what happens when an LPC Associate owns and operates a private practice. This is a relatively new supervision reality, and many supervisors are still deciding where their responsibilities begin and end. Sarah wal...

If you are sitting in supervision every week thinking, Something about this does not feel right , this episode is for you. New associates are expected to enter supervision and somehow know what a good supervision experience should look like. But if this is your first supervisor, how would you know whether the lack of structure, missing evaluations, or disorganized paperwork is normal? In this epis...

The ACA Code of Ethics is being rewritten, and if you supervise, teach, manage clinicians, or practice counseling, these changes affect you directly. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Bret Hendricks, who served on the ACA Ethics Code task force, to walk through the biggest proposed revisions and what they mean for counselors in real-world practice. We unpack how the profession is moving beyond...

If your caseload feels quiet in September, it's probably because of what you didn't do in July. Every fall, the same pattern shows up. Schools start back, associates finish summer intensives, and suddenly supervisees and clients are looking for help. The clinicians who are ready for that shift are usually the ones who started building the structure before September. In this episode, I ta...

If you've been shopping for supervisor training, don't miss this episode. More than simply a box-checking exercise, the training you complete becomes the foundation for how you guide associates, make ethical decisions, and protect both your license and theirs. With AI making it easier than ever to create online courses, it has also become easier for low-quality "certificate mill&quo...

Your intake process is doing a lot more than collecting signatures. It is shaping the expectations your clients and supervisees will carry into every interaction that follows. In this episode, I unpack some of the most common intake mistakes I see therapists and supervisors make. The surprising part is that these mistakes rarely become obvious during the first meeting. Instead, they show up weeks...

If you listened to the episode for new grads and thought, oh no, that sounds like my supervision setup, this episode is for you. I want to be very clear. There is no shame here. Many supervisors step into this role because someone asked them to, because their workplace needed them, or because their state required very little training before allowing them to supervise. You only know what you know....

Most supervisors worry about paperwork last. Licensing boards look at it first. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ashley Durbin to talk about the supervision paperwork that actually matters. We move beyond forms and checklists and look at the complete documentation system every supervisor needs. From contracts and evaluations to supervision notes, hour tracking, malpractice insurance, and emplo...

If there is a difficult conversation you've been avoiding, this episode is for you. I know most clinicians do not avoid hard conversations because they don't care. We avoid them because we are not sure how to define the problem, connect it to a standard, and communicate it in a way that actually leads to change. In this episode, I walk you through the five-step framework I use when addre...

Most supervisors are comfortable giving feedback. Far fewer have a system for evaluating supervisees. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ashley Stephens Durbin to unpack the difference between feedback and formal evaluation, and why that distinction matters more than most supervisors realize. We discuss what happens when concerns are discussed but never documented, why evaluation protects both s...

If you work with clients, chances are you are already working with someone who is bisexual or pansexual, whether they have disclosed it to you or not. In this episode, Joyce Miles Jacquote joins me to unpack what bisexual and pansexual clients are actually navigating behind the scenes and what therapists need to understand to provide affirming, ethical care. We talk about minority stress, identity...

A hybrid practice can feel flexible and efficient, until the lack of structure starts creating problems. When therapists move between telehealth and in-person sessions without a clear system, small decisions quickly turn into ethical, logistical, and clinical challenges. Questions about HIPAA, crisis management, informed consent, and scheduling all become harder when there is no defined default. I...