Ackerman’s Director of Training, Marlene F. Watson, PhD spoke with Psychotherapy Networker about the future and business of live clinical supervision. In the article, The New Supervision: Are We Meeting the Needs of Today’s Therapists?, Dr. Watson explains that Ackerman’s nonprofit model allows for in-depth therapeutic training that is becoming exceedingly rare in today’s educational climate.
Ackerman still provides intensive training in family therapy, including four hours of live supervision per week in the Live Clinical program, during which trainees work with families behind a one-way wall (or online platforms during the pandemic), and four hours of live or video supervision for trainees in an externship. Ackerman and several other institutes are outliers for continuing to provide that level of live, in-depth training. Watson explained that the center can maintain its in-depth training program because it’s buoyed by charitable funding, not only fees from a business model.
In contrast, as universities across the country have moved to a more corporate model, their administrations have tended to view intensive training programs as costs that won’t return financial dividends, several clinicians told me. Meanwhile, under pressure to generate revenue, many graduate programs have begun accepting more candidates without expanding their faculties. While plenty of schools and internships do provide in-depth supervision, there are no standards, and what trainees are provided varies widely depending on their school and degree.
—Meaghan Winter, The New Supervision: Are We Meeting the Needs of Today’s Therapists? Psychotherapy Networker, November/December 2021.
Image: © ISTOCK/FATCAMERA / Courtesy of Psychotherapy Networker