Stellar Supervision Series: Addressing Supervisee Imposter Syndrome
Stellar Supervision Series is a video series featuring clinical supervisors who provide empowered leadership ideas that shape the field of mental health. Stephanies video interview on addressing supervisee imposter syndrome can be found here.
Hi Stephanie! I know this conversation will be so relatable to many! Tell our viewers who you are and what you do! Why do you offer Supervision?
I’m Stephanie Konter-O’Hara, LPC, LMHC and I am the owner and operator of WellMinded Counseling which has locations in Colorado and Florida where I am duly licensed. I offer supervision to interns and provisionally licensed people due to my passion for teaching and help guide new therapists. I have a great experience with my supervisor when I first graduated from school and wanted to pay it forward.
You speak about recognizing imposter syndrome in supervisees. Why is this important to you?
It’s important to me because building a therapists confidence is just as important as building their skill set. I believe that if the therapist feels confident and comfortable in their sessions then their clients will sense that, and perhaps have some mirror neurons activated where they can both feel as though they are in a safe environment and ready to tackle some of the mental health concerns they came in with. Another reason why I believe this is valuable to recognize is that as as a supervisor I may have thrown them into a situation that perhaps is beyond their scope, and slowing down to teach them when to refer out, when to learn, and when to ask for help is another key thing for me to do as a supervisor.
What does this challenge look like in supervision?
It may look like the supervisee seeming uneasy when they talk about a case with their body language, or perhaps verbally expressing doubt, asking for excessive amounts of reassurance/validation from the supervisor, not taking on new clients, trying to refer cases out to other providers that they are skilled in managing are think are all signs that the supervisee may be struggling with imposter syndrome. When I notice this calling attention to it, and opening the conversation up to them can often feel like a huge relief to the supervisee, and is an opportunity for building skills and strengths.
What ideas do you have for supervisors or supervisees for tackling imposter syndrome? Skills or questions to ask?
I think calling attention to the supervisees strengths is a great way to to start, have them list out to the supervisor ways in which they have been successful before, and what techniques they utilized in the past to ease their concerns. Challenge the supervisee to take some additional CE courses that perhaps can build up their skill set, encourage them to read books, listen to podcasts that as a therapist myself have found helpful. I often like to use self-disclosure to share a time where I felt doubt, or felt like an imposter, and how even to this day I know I don’t know everything and am still growing as a professional. Supervisees I think can reflect on their established skills and acknowledge what they already know and let go of this idea of needing to know everything.
Where can people find you to work with you? (social, website etc)
Please can find me at www.WellMindedCounseling.com, on spotify the podcast Millennial Mental Health, and on instagram and facebook @wellmindedcounseling