Supervision requirements not being met

[Weezeeshak]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello, I am a psychological resident completing my postdoctoral training. The Board supervision requirements for the state I am working in are not being fully met. Specifically, I am left alone one evening a week and when supervisors are on vacation, even though the board requires that there are two licensed professionals on site at all times. I have brought this up in my evaluation and the supervisors ask if I feel unsafe. I informed them it is not so much about safety as it is an imbalance in the expectations. I meet their very high expectation yet do not feel it is fair for me to be making money for them while they are not on site. Since speakin to them about this they have arranged for someone to come in for one hour while they are both away tomorrow and they framed it to the other professional as "she feels unsafe". I am angered by this and do not see an easy solution. I do not want to raise attention to the board that my supervision requirements are not being met as I am worried about this disrupting the milestone I just want to complete in order to be licensed. I don't feel this is fair. Any thoughts, encouragement, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[erg923]

Sounds like a private practice? Always a dicey post-doc choice, as there is incentive to maximize billable hours and do the minimum necessary to train/supervise your post-doc.

My advice:
Print out the state's requirements for post-doc supervision from the board's website and literally read it to them during a meeting that that contains BOTH of them. If they not willing to do it, inquire what you should do to proceed ethically (quoting sections from the APA ethics code) with your training and future career.

If they ask you to commit fraud and lie to the board....? Your choice, I guess? You are ALL on very dicey ground at that point, right? Proceed if you wish...but I always tell my children to expect to be caught, and to think about the consequences.

Yes, sometimes states have ridiculous supervision requirements...but this is really beside the point here.