Akron Resources

Beck Institute supervisors are highly skilled cognitive therapists who have trained with Dr. Aaron Beck and/or Dr. Judith Beck. You will be matched with a Beck Institute supervisor based on your treatment specialty.

Supervision terms consist of 10 sessions over the course of 3 months.  Those of you who are signed up for Group Supervision will have one term of 10  60-minute sessions. Those of you who are signed up for Individual Supervision will have two consecutive terms of ten 45-minute sessions (for a total of 20 sessions over six months.) Sessions are held weekly, although we have factored in a couple extra weeks to better accommodate for illness, vacation, holiday, etc.

The first supervision term for all participants is scheduled to begin July 1^st and end on September 30^th. Those in Individual Supervision will begin another supervision term, immediately following the first supervision term This second term will run from October 1^st to December 31^st, and will be a continuation of regular supervision, unless you qualify for supervision of supervision.

Recordings will be submitted through a private, password-protected file-sharing service that Beck Institute is providing to all supervisees. Instructions on how to use this service are included above (see “File Encryption and Delivery Portal Instructions” under “Resource Documents.”)

A single session recording should be submitted at least three days in advance of your supervision call (approximately weekly.) Those of you in Individual Supervision will end up submitting 10 session recordings. Those of you in Group Supervision will rotate who is responsible for submitting the next week’s recording; for example, in a group of four clinicians, each clinician should expect to submit 2-3 session recordings across 10 sessions

Supervision calls may be conducted via telephone or video conferencing. If using video conferencing, you are not permitted to enable the “Record” feature as recording supervision calls are strictly prohibited. More details on specific programs will be provided to program participants.

You will need to use a digital voice recorder that converts to audio files.

We’ve found that saying something like the following helps:

“I have an unusual opportunity for you. You should feel free to say yes or no. I’m about to begin a special supervision program and if you do say yes, I think you’ll really benefit. Here’s what I’d do. I’d record our next few therapy sessions but I would never say or write down your full name. I’ll send the recordings to a special supervisor who will listen to it, then delete it, and then give me feedback. I always think two heads are better than one. You’d get the benefit of the expert supervision that I’ll be getting. [pause] What do you think? Do you want to be the client I choose? Or would you like to think about it?”

If you are in group supervision, just change the script to say:

 “I’ll send the recordings to a special supervisor and to a couple of my colleagues. They’ll listen…”

Beck Institute recommends that you record two consenting clients per week (or, in advance of your scheduled week, for those of you in Group Supervision.) Recording more than one client at a time is helpful in the event that the primary client you’re using for supervision misses a session.

We recommend using the same client for at least the first few supervision sessions. You can then move onto another client if that would be more helpful. You are not required to use the same client throughout your supervision term, nor switch to another client.

Both you and your supervisor will rate every patient recording you submit using the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS.) You will need to read the CTRS Manual first. A Passing Score on the CTRS is 40. A copy of the CTRS and CTRS Manual are provided as downloadable documents on www.beckinstitute.org/Akron-Resources.

In order to successfully complete the supervision program, you must attend all 10 supervision sessions, submit at least 7 session recordings to your supervisor, and obtain at least 3 CTRS scores of 40 or above as rated by your supervisor.

When you successfully complete the supervision program, you will receive a Certificate of Completion in the Beck Supervision Program.

You will receive a Letter of Participation documenting your participation in the supervision program.

To be eligible to participate in supervision of supervision, you must first successfully complete your first standard term of supervision (Individual) and receive 3 scores of 50 or higher on the CTRS. Please note that the standard to progress to supervision of supervision is a higher standard than is required to receive a Certificate of Completion. You must also receive a recommendation from your supervisor to begin supervision of supervision.

Supervision of supervision is structured the same way as regular supervision (10 sessions over the course of 3 months). However, instead of recordings of therapy sessions, you will send your supervisor recordings in which you are supervising your own trainees. You will then receive feedback from your Beck supervisor on how to become a more effective CBT supervisor.

Beck Institute will provide you with a copy of the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS) and CTRS Manual, a Cognitive Therapy Worksheet Packet, access to a secure file sending service to send your recordings, and a sample consent form to use with your clients. You will also be provided with copies of Beck scales (BDI, BAI, and BHS and, if applicable, the Beck Youth Scales). Please note, the BDI, BAI, BHS, and all Youth Scales are owned by Pearson Assessments and are provided as a special courtesy as part of your participation in the Beck Supervision Program. They are only to be used with clients with whom you are working within the scope of the Beck Supervision Program. Otherwise you will be in violation of copyright laws.