Supervision Succession: The Importance of Professional Wills

As professionals, none of us want to think about dying suddenly. It’s painful to explore how our death would impact our families, our colleagues, and our communities. And yet it’s a necessary evil to think about and prepare for, especially when considering the professional impact on clients and supervisees. 

It is an unfortunate reality that our sudden demise would impact the people who count on us most for emotional support and growth. For clients, challenges can include the lack of closure, resulting grief and loss, and having to start over with someone new. For supervisees, it too can be the unknown, grief and loss, and unanswered questions about their progress as professionals.

Addressing the Unknown

 The emotional toll of your sudden death on your supervisees is complex. Perhaps in their grief and loss they are angry, hurt, and panicked, not only about losing you and your supportive relationship, but also feel angry, hurt, and panicked about being left in a lurch. For supervisees who haven’t had their hours signed off yet, your death can be a difficult element to navigate in having to identify solutions that licensing boards will honor or accept.

TIP: Have supervisees complete supervision and clinical hour forms each month for you to sign off in a timely fashion. Keep copies for future reference.

Having Plans in Place

Identifying solutions is part of your role as a clinical supervisor. One element that can give both you and your supervisees comfort should something unexpected happen to you would be to implement a Professional Will. A Professional Will identifies next steps if you were to become incapacitated or die suddenly. They usually identify one to two professionals in writing that agree to take care of your business affairs as executors, including supporting your supervisees and clients with the aftermath. Professional Wills usually include:

·      Identifying 1-2 professionals to execute directives

·      Identifying passwords and access to EHR and/or files if needed to support client outreach and transfers

·      Access to supervisee files to support transfer and action steps

·      Directives about what to do with your business after your demise

TIP: Share your professional will with your spouse or loved ones as well as your identified executors. Be sure to obtain consent from executors before writing them into your Professional Will.

Making it Easier

Professional Wills cover a lot of ground in your business when identifying plans and next steps for executors to follow. We recognize this is a heavy topic and that many people haven’t yet dedicated time to putting a Professional Will together. The good news? Mental health colleagues have simplified the process so you can successfully write your own Professional Will with minimal challenges! Check out Cathy Wilson’s book One Last Act: A Mental Health Clinician's Guide to Professional Wills to take the first steps in drafting your Professional Will, found at Amazon.com.