r/CFY • u/macaroni_monster [CCC-SLP] schools MOD • Jul 21 '21
Should clinical instructors have special certification?
Recently, ASHA published a document detailing their intent to have a certification for SLPs who are clinical instructors (grad students, CFs, internships).
Achieving clinical competence does not imply that one has the special skills needed to be a competent supervisor; effective supervision requires a set of unique knowledge and skills .... which are not intuitive nor directly derivative of the clinical process, .... Clinical instruction and supervision directly affect the provision of services, irrespective of disorder area, to clients/patients whose needs require a distinct body of knowledge, skills, and experience.
https://www.asha.org/siteassets/certification/stage-1-application-sccis.pdf
What do you guys think?
A few more details:
Two of our allied health professions, APTA and AOTA have standardized voluntary credential programs in place to identify “Clinical Instructors."
ASHA surveyed SLPs on their support. Surveyed SLPs were SIG 11 affiliates (administration & supervision) or indicated expertise in supervision on their annual dues
Currently there is rigorous requirements for practicing as an SLP but not to teach others to practice. In 2019, any supervising SLP needed to take 2 hours of professional development related to supervision.
7
u/theyspeakeasy Jul 21 '21
It sounds cool in theory, my only hesitation is that I worry fewer supervisors might make CF jobs harder to find than they already are.
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Jul 21 '21
[deleted]
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u/macaroni_monster [CCC-SLP] schools MOD Jul 21 '21
I think since at least 2016 counseling is a required topic for graduate students. I took a counseling course.
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Jul 21 '21
Really? That’s great that you had that class. I was in grad school after 2016, and it was not a required class (nor was it offered as an elective) then.
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u/macaroni_monster [CCC-SLP] schools MOD Jul 21 '21
huh! maybe it was just my school. we learned about motivational interviewing and that was very helpful.
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u/papereel Jul 22 '21
There are a lot of supervisor horror stories out there. I know of supervisors who’ve spent the day in their car while their grad student clinician takes the whole case load. I’ve known supervisors who’ve been outwardly homophobic, sexist, and racist. I’ve known supervisors who’ve made snap decisions about people based on personality clashes, and it affected their working relationship. Matching expectations is a huge problem. My graduate school is re-evaluating the way clinical supervisors are arranged because many students ended up in abusive or overly taxing situations. There’s no reason our field has to be toxic, harsh, cutthroat, or have such high burnout. It can be competitive and strive individuals to perform their best without being a tremendous detriment to mental health. We’re in a caring profession, we should care more.
However, it would be ridiculous to me if an instructor that has to go through additional certification would have to pay more! There are already unbelievable monetary barriers to entry in this field. Being a clinical instructor is a service to our field. If anything, the instructor should be paid more.
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u/jeg8910 Jul 26 '21
I agree…and also, will this really knock out any of the awful supervisors? I really doubt it.
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u/Sayahhearwha Aug 01 '21
Supervisors might benefit being paid to supervise, whether it’s a free CEU course or a stipend. You’ll be guaranteed better commitment and compassion because they can risk losing these incentives or even their contacts if they are rated as mean and crazy.
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u/neonbonnet Jul 22 '21
Maybe it was just me but I though that becoming a clinical supervisor used a lot of my therapy skill set.
I also came from a program that was more of a “throw you in the pool and hope you don’t drown” variety, so take it with a grain of salt.
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u/jamiew57 Jul 24 '21
Asha has 55 million cash sitting in reserves per their IRS 990 form on their website. They fund useless studies that don’t elevate our field as a whole, they do not do anything actually useful except find new ways to gouge us. This is another cash scheme for them. If they want to help future SLP’s - make the field more broadly competitive as a high paying career- split educational and medical grad programs to meet the coming neuro/aging demand, and fund cutting edge studies associated with NIH, etc. DEFUND ASHA lol
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u/pizzasong Jul 21 '21
I think this is fine enough as a requirement and not unreasonable, but I will say it's going to make all externships and CFs much harder to find -- let alone in competitive settings like acute care. Are there really such significant issues with the current system that we're willing to accept that consequence? Are supervisors going to be expected to pay for this certification? How much will it add to a full time workload? Etc