Psychologists who elect to provide supervision are obligated to be competent in both supervision and in the activities supervised. Competence can be attained through education, training, and experience some of which may include coursework or training addressing the core components of effective supervision and supervised experience providing supervision.
Supervisors serve multiple roles when preparing individuals to be licensed psychologists. Supervisors protect clients served by supervisees, build alliances with supervisees by supporting and monitoring supervisee growth and development, and provide honest feedback and evaluation to supervisees. Supervisors also serve as “gatekeeper” to the profession. To effectively balance these roles, supervisors must effectively document supervision.
The Minnesota Psychology Practice Act (“Act”) requires supervisors to maintain documentation of the supervision and services provided to an individual seeking to be licensed as a licensed psychologist (“supervisee”).
Documentation of supervision assists supervisees to meet licensing requirements, provides legal protections to the supervisor, and assists in the tracking of a supervisee’s professional development in the postdoc. Primary supervisors are required to certify that supervision requirements for licensure have been met, effective documentation is critical to meeting this legal obligation.
Recordkeeping Requirements
The Act requires supervisors maintain accurate and legible records of services for each supervisee. Supervision records should focus specifically on the accurate and timely documentation of supervisee performance related to expectations for competency and professional development.
In Minnesota, the following should minimally be contained within a supervisory file:
☐ Supervisee personal data.
☐ Accurate chronological listing of all supervision sessions.
☐ Accurate chronological listing of fees charged to the supervisee, if any, and payments received.
☐ Documentation of the supervision, including where applicable:
☐ Methods of supervision, data, and or reports.
☐ Initial supervision plan and any subsequent revisions.
☐ Name of the supervisor, and designated supervisor, if any.
☐ Notes for each supervision session, including any interventions.
☐ Consultation with collateral sources [related to the supervisee].
☐ Problem descriptions [related to the supervisee].
☐ Documentation that informed consent for supervision was given, including written informed consent documents, where applicable.
☐ Documentation of supervision or consultation received [related to the supervisee].
☐ Copies of all correspondence relating to the supervisee; and
☐ Copies of all supervisee authorizations, if any, for release of information and any other documents pertaining to the supervisee.
/boards/assets/Licensure_Supervision%20Records_Handout_07.25.2016_tcm21-251924.pdfDownload printable file (PDF)
