Approved Clinical Supervisor Eligibility Criteria
Please read this entire page and the application form before beginning your application process to assess your eligibility. Click the plus sign to learn more about criteria and guidelines.
Criteria to apply to become an ACS Candidate (Step 1)
A successful applicant
- is an active BCACC member in good standing
- holds a master’s degree in counselling psychology (or in a related field)
- has at least 5 years of post-graduate clinical experience with a minimum of 1000 direct client contact hours
- maintains professional liability insurance and must ensure that the insurance covers the provision of clinical supervision services
- has satisfied the professional and ethical conduct requirements
- Received at least 75 hours of supervision post-graduate
- at least 50 hours of supervision must be individual/paired supervision
- the remainder of 25 hours must be either individual/paired supervision or group supervision (facilitated by a clinical supervisor)
- peer supervision hours are not acceptable
- will pay a non-refundable one-time application fee of $100.00
Criteria to receive the RCC-ACS Designation (Sept 2)
A successful supervisor candidate
- has met the following training requirements
- completion of a 30-36 hour clinical supervision foundations/fundamentals course, before providing clinical supervision for the ACS program training component, within the last 5 years of the application submission
- The pre-approved clinical supervision course is available on the How to Apply and FAQs page
- provision of 100 hours of clinical supervision over a period of 12 to 24 months following the completion of the clinical supervision fundamentals course
- with a minimum of 70 hours of individual/paired supervision and the remainder of 30 hours can be group supervision facilitated by the supervisor candidate
- to a minimum of 4 supervisees for a minimum of 3 months period of relationship per individual supervisee
- The preferred ratio is 1 individual supervision hour per 5 client contact hours
- reception of a minimum of 18 hours of supervision-of-supervision from a qualified Supervisor of Supervision over a period of 12 to 24 months
- completion of a 30-36 hour clinical supervision foundations/fundamentals course, before providing clinical supervision for the ACS program training component, within the last 5 years of the application submission
- will show evidence of 30 hours of professional development every three years, in the area of clinical supervision in order to maintain the BCACC Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS) designation
- will pay a $35.00 annual renewal fee for the Approved Clinical Supervisor designation due at the annual BCACC membership renewal
Qualifications of a Supervisor of Supervision
A qualified Supervisor of Supervision is who
- has a minimum of master’s degree in counselling psychology or in a related field
- is a certified/designated supervisor from a professional/regulatory body (e.g., ACS, CCS, CACFT-S, CACFT-SM etc); or pre-approved by BCACC
- has a minimum of 5 years of clinical supervision experience
- has participated in receiving or providing supervision of supervision and is willing to attend BCACC’s Supervisor of Supervision orientation
- can provide at least 18 regularly scheduled supervision-of-supervision sessions, a minimum of one hour per session
Supervision of Supervision Guidelines
- Before contracting to work together, the supervisor candidate and the Supervisor of Supervision should compare the goodness of fit between their philosophies of supervision, their clinical approaches, and their interpersonal styles.
- Upon agreeing to proceed, a contract should be developed between the Supervisor of Supervision and the supervisor candidate that delineates fees, hours, time and place of meetings, case responsibility, and caseload process and review.
- The schedule of meetings should be such that the supervisor candidate is able to receive 18 hours, a minimum of one hour per session, of supervision-of-supervision while providing the 100 hours of supervision requirement within a period of 12 to 24 months.
- The Supervisor of Supervision will provide comprehensive oversight of the supervisor candidate’s supervision of counsellors/trainees/supervisees; paying particular attention to individual and group supervision, giving sufficient time to work through developmental phases, resolve therapeutic difficulties and ensure the supervisor candidate can evaluate the development of appropriate clinical skills and competencies of counsellors/trainees/supervisees.
- The Supervisor of Supervision will provide ongoing feedback to the candidate and submit a final evaluation report to BCACC.
Cost
- Application Fee (one-time, non-refundable): $100.00
- Annual Renewal Fee: $35 (due at BCACC membership renewal time)