I feel that some sort of written agreement with a supervisee is very important.
It can be in the form of a brief outline or more formal. In the first session with a new supervisee, we discuss their goals for supervision and then their goals for how their practice will fit into their greater life. We talk about what they do presently for self-care and where they would like to change. To get a realistic baseline, I ask them to keep track of their time for a week or two and then what they learned from looking at their time usage.
By the third session, we are developing a contract which clearly includes at least:
- the goals for the supervision, both specific and within their greater life
- the use of our time together: specific client situations, self-development, self-care, and business development
- logistics as to frequency of meeting, duration of session, payment, and whether on the phone or in person
- the frequency of review and duration of the contract.
Some short examples of goals for supervision that I have seen:
- to be able to develop my own creativity and skills while working with my clients, to receive a reasonable compensation, and to end the day with energy
- to work with more children and make a 20% higher income
- to build on my skills and add an energetic understanding of the world and human interactions while developing a greater sense of self-awareness, autonomy, and self-esteem
- to keep my already successful and satisfying practice within a 40 hour week
- to retire from my full practice within the next two years, developing a practice/small business that can bring in $25,000/year, and move to a warmer climate
- to make working on climate change issues a key part of my life, both personally and professionally; to work with fewer cancer patients and more healthy people or people with other issues; to grow my business especially in my second location.