Course Text and Schedule

 

 

Thiessen, E. W. (2023). A clinical supervision training handbook: Becoming a reflective systemic supervisor. Tellwell Talent.

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Class 1 – Foundations of Clinical and Trauma-Informed Supervision

September 16 | Instructor: Jen

​This session introduces the foundations of clinical supervision and the supervisor’s role in supporting both client welfare and clinician development. Participants examine the three core functions of supervision: normative, formative, and restorative. These include professional standards, ethics, accountability, teaching, feedback, clinical skill development, support, reflection, and sustainability. This session also introduces key trauma-informed supervision principles, including nervous system awareness, safety, pacing, relational dynamics, transference and countertransference, rupture and repair, and the impact of trauma on both clients and clinicians. Together, these foundations frame supervision as a collaborative but structured process that strengthens ethical practice, critical and reflective thinking, and long-term clinical and professional competence.

 

Pre-Class Reading:

• Review ethics and supervision standards from your professional college or association.

• Thiessen, E. W. (2023). The basic elements of supervision. In A clinical supervision training handbook: Becoming a reflective systemic supervisor (pp. 9–51). Tellwell Talent.

 

 

Class 2 – (Complex) Trauma and Its Impact in Supervision

September 23 | Instructor: Jen

This session provides participants with a foundational overview of trauma theory, post-traumatic protective responses, and how these concepts inform effective supervision. Participants will explore different types of trauma, including acute, chronic, complex, and developmental trauma, and examine how trauma affects the developing brain and autonomic nervous system. This class moves beyond traditional “thoughts, feelings, and behaviours” models to a more comprehensive framework that includes nervous system responses, Polyvagal Theory, and parts-based approaches.

Key concepts include neuroception, overactivation of protective survival responses, fight, flight, freeze-shutdown, submit, and please-see-me responses, and the distinction between logical and autonomic reactions. The session also addresses common barriers to trauma healing and highlights the role of supervision in helping clinicians understand regulation, pacing, and the development of adult and core self-capacities in clients.

 

Pre-Class Reading:

• Fisher, J. (2001). Dissociative phenomena in the everyday lives of trauma survivors. Paper presented at the Boston University Medical School Psychological Trauma Conference, Boston, MA.

 

 

Class 3 – Creating a Safe Supervisory Environment and Preventing Burnout

September 30 | Instructor: Jen

This session focuses on how supervisors create safe, supportive supervisory environments that encourage openness, transparency, honest self-reflection, and personal and professional growth.

Participants will explore how the supervisory relationship, clear expectations, and awareness of power dynamics help build trust and psychological safety in supervision. The class also looks at how therapists’ protective responses or defense patterns can appear both in therapy and in supervision, and how supervisors can help clinicians recognize and reflect on these reactions. A key focus of this session is understanding, tracking, and preventing burnout and vicarious trauma in clinicians working with complex cases.

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Pre-Class Readings:

• Thiessen, E. W. (2023). The supervisory relationship. In A clinical supervision training handbook: Becoming a reflective systemic supervisor (pp. 91–122). Tellwell Talent.

• Wilson, K., and Lizzio, A. (2024). Processes and interventions to facilitate supervisees’ learning. In N. Pelling and P. Armstrong (Eds.), The practice of clinical and counselling supervision: Australian and international applications (3rd ed., pp. 150–170). Routledge.

 

 

Class 4 – Ethical and Legal Standards in Trauma-Informed Supervision

October 7 | Instructor: Shirley

This session reviews key ethical, professional practice, and legal principles guiding supervision.

Topics include informed consent, the supervision contract, documentation, mandatory reporting, conflict of interest, and dual relationships. Participants will discuss and practice how to implement these principles while considering several supervision case studies.

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Pre-Class Reading:

• Thiessen, E. W. (2023). Ethically informed supervision and legal issues. In A clinical supervision training handbook: Becoming a reflective systemic supervisor (pp. 123–155). Tellwell Talent.

 

 

Class 5 – Reflective Practice in Supervision

October 14 | Instructor: Shirley

In this session, participants will explore reflective supervision models, including Gibbs and Kolb, and discuss how and why to integrate reflection for ongoing supervisee development and supervisor growth. Participants will identify ways to support safe and effective use of self, both within and outside of supervision. Reflective supervision models will be applied to case studies.

 

Pre-Class Reading:

• Davys, A., and Beddoe, L. (2010). A reflective learning model in supervision. In Best practice in professional supervision: A guide for the helping professions (2nd ed., pp. 116–135). Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

 

 

Class 6 – Somatic Awareness and Managing Vicarious Trauma and Burnout

October 21 | Instructor: Jen

This session introduces a Somatic Experiencing-informed framework, SIBAM-ALOW, as a practical tool for trauma-informed supervision and clinical practice. Participants will learn how to access and work with right-brain, embodied nervous system experiences through sensations, emotions, body and behaviour impulses, imagery, and meaning-making. This tool can help clinicians and supervisees better understand what is unfolding in both therapy and supervision. By slowing down and noticing issues that may not easily emerge through thinking and discussion alone, this process can support nervous system regulation, deepen case understanding, and help mobilize supervisees and clients when therapy or supervision feels stuck.

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Pre-Class Reading:

• Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books. Chapters 6, 7, and 8.

And/Or:

• Payne, P., Levine, P. A., and Crane-Godreau, M. A. (2015). Somatic experiencing: Using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 93.

 

 

Class 7 – Case Conceptualization in Trauma-Informed Supervision

October 28 | Instructor: Jen

This session introduces trauma-informed case conceptualization through parts work and polyvagal-informed perspectives.

Participants will explore presenting concerns alongside trauma history, autonomic nervous system capacities, developmental issues, and prefrontal cortex capacities, while considering the roles of child parts, protector parts, and adult and core self-capacities. Practical frameworks, including the Karpman Drama Triangle, the Dandelion Model, the Stone Path metaphor, and nervous system “speeds,” are used to help participants identify stuckness, pacing challenges, and barriers to healing in both clients and therapists. Emphasis is placed on distinguishing cognitive, top-down assessments from embodied, bottom-up nervous system considerations, and on tailoring treatment through phases of stabilization, processing, integration, and self-development.

 

Pre-Class Reading:

• Fisher, J. (2013). Trauma-informed stabilization treatment: A new approach to treating unsafe behaviors. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 14(2), 1–16.

 

 

Class 8 – Cultural Competency in Trauma-Informed Supervision

November 4 | Instructor: Shirley

In this session, participants will discuss the importance of cultural competency in clinical supervision and acknowledge how culture influences trauma experiences and the supervision relationship. Participants will work on making unconscious biases conscious and identify strategies to address unconscious bias while integrating cultural awareness and humility into supervision.

 

Pre-Class Reading:

• Thiessen, E. W. (2023). Culture, diversity, and social justice in supervision. In A clinical supervision training handbook: Becoming a reflective systemic supervisor (pp. 241–281). Tellwell Talent.

 

 

Class 9 – Supervising Crisis and High-Risk Cases

November 11 | Instructor: Shirley

This session explores supervision strategies for supervisees working with high-risk clients.

Topics include differentiating between suicidality and self-harm, applying risk assessment protocols, creating a safety plan, and identifying practical ways to provide trauma-informed containment and care to clients and supervisees during crises. Participants will also discuss how to support supervisees who are new to working with crisis and high-risk clinical situations.

 

Pre-Class Reading:

• Knox, S., Burkard, A. W., Jackson, J. A., Schaack, A. M., and Hess, S. A. (2006). Therapists-in-training who experience a client suicide: Implications for supervision. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37(5), 547.

 

 

Class 10 – Moving from Therapist to Clinical Supervisor

November 18 | Instructor: Shirley

In this final session, participants will synthesize the trauma-informed supervision concepts covered throughout the course into a cohesive supervision practice model. Supervisors will engage in reflective activities as they notice shifts in their learning, thinking, and professional identity. Participants will explore how to develop a personal supervision style and philosophy, and create a plan to continue enhancing their learning, knowledge, skills, and abilities as clinical supervisors.

 

Pre-Class Reading:

• Thiessen, E. W. (2023). Lifelong learning for systemic supervisors. In A clinical supervision training handbook: Becoming a reflective systemic supervisor (pp. 283–318). Tellwell Talent.

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