Supervision & Training
Focused on the critical role of supervision in the training of psychotherapists, this section offers resources and best practices for both supervisors and supervisees to enhance the learning experience and ensure the delivery of high-quality care.
174 articles found
Humanistic Therapy for Young Adults Diagnosed with Bipolar 1 Disorder
Introduction As noted in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5-TR Edition (5th ed., Text Rev.; American Psychological Association [APA], 2022), bipolar disorder is diagnosed on a continuum ranging from cyclothymia to bipolar 1 disorder. Bipolar 1 disorder is a form of bipolar illness characterized by the manifestation of a manic episode that […]
Michael Pica, PsyD
October 31, 2026
When the Record Becomes the Treatment: Psychotherapy, Documentation, and the Clinician’s Double Bind
The 2026 Lindsay Clancy trial has placed mental health treatment under unusually intense public scrutiny. Testimony and cross-examination have raised questions about assessment, diagnosis, medication management, continuity of care, telehealth, documentation, and what clinicians recognized or failed to recognize before a catastrophic outcome. Those questions matter. Yet the case is most useful to the profession […]
Limor Ast, LMFT
October 28, 2026
When the Map Becomes the Territory: A Model of Interpersonal Meaning-Making
Abstract Interpersonal experiences do not speak for themselves. We observe what another person does, but we still must make sense of what that behavior means. We remember events while also reconstructing their meaning, and information learned later through conversation, context, or subsequent events can become part of how we understand the original experience. Research in […]
Emily Williams, MA
October 26, 2026
What is Moral Scrupulosity OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is defined by the presence of obsessions (intrusive and distressing thoughts, urges, doubts, or mental images) that prompt compulsions (repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed to reduce the distress those obsessions generate; American Psychiatric Association, 2022). The lifetime prevalence of OCD is estimated at about 2.3%, although this number may be higher […]
Megan DeRiso, PsyD
October 19, 2026
Beyond the Hours: Clinical Supervision as Professional Identity Development
There is a moment in the development of almost every new clinician when the focus shifts from leaning on their educational scaffolding and guardrails to a deeper clinical longing for cultivating their own unique clinical voice. Early in training, the question is often, “What am I supposed to do?” With experience, it becomes, “What do […]
Louis Laves-Webb, LCSW-S, LPC-S, MSSW
October 12, 2026
Dancing with Clients: When Helping Becomes Something Else
Internship Like many therapists I know, I began my internship in grade school. I grew up in a dysfunctional family. Dad was an alcoholic; Mom was depressed. While they were together, they fought. After they divorced, their illnesses intensified. My childhood was anxious and confusing, like swimming in water with a strong undertow, always at […]
Steve Hauptman, L.C.S.W.
October 5, 2026
Identifying and Intervening with Patients Who Have Been Choked During Sex
Within the past decade, a growing number of adolescents and young adults have engaged in sexual choking or strangulation (SC/S; Sharman et al., 2025). Although it is normalized among many young people, the practice poses risks to their health and safety. Sexual asphyxiation, or “choking” (the latter being a popularized term), is actually “strangulation” because […]
Maria Turkson, Ph.D. + 1 more
September 29, 2026
Practice Committee Office Hours Update: Is Group Practice Income Actually Passive?
We invite you to join us for our next Office Hour discussions: For many psychotherapists and mental health professionals, group practice is presented as the natural next step after building a successful practice. And it’s the pinnacle of practice, right? You’ll get to retire, sit back and relax, maybe even reduce your caseload and let […]
Jake Jackson-Wolf, LCPC
September 28, 2026
The Family That Never Arrives: An Integrative Framework for Attachment, Ambiguous Loss, and the Ghost Family
A woman receives a warm text from her mother. Hope fills her heart. Maybe this time we can talk honestly. The woman changes all of her plans and contacts her mother ready to repair years of distance. The conversation remains pleasant until she mentions something painful. The words barely make it into the air before […]
Emily Williams, MA
September 9, 2026
The Moment Before the Intervention: What Informs a Therapist’s Next Move in Complex Trauma Treatment
The client enters the office and begins the ritual. The shoes come off, the blinds get tilted down, the lamps get adjusted, the phone goes face-down on the coffee table, the clock gets turned away. The therapist watches quietly. Over time, these small acts have become how this client crosses into the therapeutic space, whether […]
Shoshana Twersky, PsyD
September 7, 2026
The Ambiguous Nature of Clinical Supervision and its Impact on the Development of the Novice Supervisor
Pica (1998) described the ambiguous nature of clinical training and its impact on the development of student clinicians. That paper, which has become influential of graduate curricula, training, and research (Bailey et al., 2024; Bettney, 2017; Booy et al., 2025; Burgess et al., 2013; Everson, 2013; Pickard et al., 2023; Richardson et al., 2018; Witte […]
Michael Pica, PsyD
August 3, 2026
Danger, Not Damage: Attachment, Emotion, and the Somatic Language of Relational Threat
Bowlby’s insight was somatic before it was interpersonal: the attachment system is fundamentally a threat-regulation system. The infant’s nervous system is organized around a question it continues to ask throughout life: am I safe, and is help available (Bowlby, 1969/1982)? Viewed this way, attachment does not simply shape how clients relate to others. It also […]
Joel Jin, PhD
July 28, 2026