Badass Therapists Building Practices That Thrive

What actually goes wrong in supervision, and how do you prevent it before it snowballs?

 In this episode, Dr. Ashley Stevens and I dive into the most common supervisor mistakes we see across counselor and social work settings. From over-hiring your very first month to being impossible to reach when supervisees truly need you, we unpack the decisions that create risk, rupture trust, and leave new supervisors feeling overwhelmed or bl...

What happens when supervision feels intimidating, chaotic, or “too big” to take on?

In this episode, Dr. Ashley Stevens and I pull back the curtain on the early days of supervising: what we didn’t know, what caught us off guard, and why becoming a supervisor is more doable (and more meaningful) than it first appears. From unexpected gaps in supervisee education to the business acumen no one warns you about, we break down the essenti...

What happens when supervision feels overwhelming before it even starts?

In this episode, Dr. Ashley Stevens and I name the invisible administrative weight (hours, paperwork, compliance) and show how structure, not heroics, turns supervision from exhausting to sustainable. With clear systems, even tentative supervisors lead with confidence.

The first trap is assuming that organizing must be complex. Clarity is the ultimate goal, not f...

What happens when clients don’t come back after the first or second session?

For supervisors, this pattern is more than a numbers problem. It’s a mirror. High early drop-off often reflects gaps in a supervisee’s session structure, boundaries, or clinical stance that can (and should) be coached, not shamed. When supervision reframes “ghosting” as actionable data, associates gain clarity, confidence, and practical tools to keep client...

Power and pay should never silence honest supervision, yet that’s exactly what happens when your supervisor is also your boss. We take you inside the messy overlap of employment and clinical supervision and lay out a simple blueprint to protect ethics, growth, and income without burning bridges.

We start by drawing a bright line between two documents most people blur: the clinical supervision contract and the policies and ...

What if the fastest way to grow isn’t doing more, but letting go—carefully? We pull back the curtain on how we hired and trained two very different assistants, one in Texas and one in the Philippines, and the systems that make those partnerships smooth, secure, and genuinely business-changing. From the first grading task to a multi-role teammate, and from a five-hour bookkeeping trial to dashboards, course ops, and content workflow...

What happens when therapists abandon group practices en masse? This phenomenon is sweeping across the mental health field, leaving practice owners scrambling to understand why their associates are heading for the exits. At the heart of this exodus lie several critical issues that, once recognized, can be addressed to create thriving, ethical practices where clinicians want to stay.

The financial relationship between practi...

Toxic supervision relationships damage our profession, but preventing them requires simpler solutions than many realize. Drawing from recent surveys and proposed rule changes, this episode dives deep into what makes supervision relationships thrive or fail.

At the heart of preventing problematic supervision sits the humble supervision contract - a document not currently required by licensing boards but essential to establi...

When supervision goes sideways, what's a pre-licensed therapist to do? In this candid conversation, Dr. Kate Walker and Jennifer Marie Fairchild pull back the curtain on one of the most anxiety-producing challenges facing associates and interns—addressing problematic supervision.

Many therapists-in-training find themselves frozen when faced with supervision red flags, trapped between speaking up and risking their rela...

Ever felt trapped in a supervisory relationship that's stunting your growth rather than fostering it? You're not alone. In this candid conversation, we pull back the curtain on toxic supervision practices that plague the mental health profession.

Clinical supervision should be a developmental journey where new clinicians discover their unique therapeutic voice. Instead, too many face micromanagement disguised as ...

The digital landscape for therapists has fundamentally changed. Gone are the days when optimizing for search engines could guarantee visibility. Now, AI dominates search results, pushing even the most qualified professionals to page two or beyond.

This shift demands a return to relationship-based marketing – what I call moving from "shiny" to "sticky." Rather than competing for fleeting attention with e...