Last spring, Beck Institute was excited to host 55 CBT supervisors for a first-of-its kind workshop, “Training CBT Supervisors.” This was a unique training for experienced CBT practitioners who wanted to improve their supervisory skills. The workshop was designed and led by CBT Program Director, Dr. Allen Miller, and Assistant CBT Program Director, Dr. Sofia Chernoff. The purpose of the training was to improve the participants’ knowledge and practice of CBT supervision, demonstrated by improved accuracy in scoring CBT sessions using a revised version of the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (referred to as the CTRS-R).
Introducing the participants to the CTRS-R was a key part of this training. The original Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale was published in 1981 by Dr. Aaron T. Beck and Dr. Jeffrey Young, and was designed to illustrate 11 specific elements of a good CBT therapy session. However, despite its popularity and utility, the scale is highly subjective, which resulted in different supervisors providing vastly different ratings for the same therapy session. The CTRS-R was developed to address a need for clarity around the specific behaviors that fulfill the criteria for each of the 11 items, resulting in a more accurate and objective instrument. The CTRS-R was developed by Beck Institute and is currently being used in its world class CBT supervision program.
The workshop also included discussion of cultural adaptations for supervision, including supervising therapists from different cultures, and supervising therapists who treat clients from different cultures. Drs. Miller and Chernoff reviewed the structure and expectations for the supervisory relationship and conducted a demonstration of providing feedback within the context of supervision. Participants were given the opportunity to role play providing feedback in small groups. The workshop also covered special topics in supervision, including group supervision, a new supervision model developed by Beck Institute to make clinical supervision more accessible.
One important element of the workshop took place on Day 3, at the request of the participants. Dr. Miller went line-by-line through a session transcript and explained how each item on the CTRS-R related to the material in the transcript. He discussed with the workshop participants in great detail the thought process behind the score for each item on the CTRS-R. Dr. Chernoff commented that the participants were extremely engaged with the material being presented, asked fantastic questions, and even expressed interest in a follow-up meeting to continue to discuss the application of the workshop material to their own supervision practice.
The workshop was held on three consecutive Fridays, to allow participants the opportunity to practice their new skills prior to the next session. Participants agreed to participate in research aimed at improving Beck Institute’s supervision program and process for training supervisors. Prior to the first workshop, participants were asked to score a transcript of a therapy session using the CTRS. Participants then scored transcripts using the CTRS-R between each session and at the conclusion of the workshop. Preliminary results showed that participants improved their scoring following the workshop.
In addition to this measurable improvement in supervision skills, participants found the workshop to be professionally valuable and enriching. One participant, Beck Institute faculty member Dr. Robert Reiser, commented, “I found the training provided by Dr. Miller and Dr. Chernoff on the newly revised CTRS to be invaluable… Novice, intermediate, and more advanced CBT supervisors could benefit from this thoughtful, well-designed workshop which offered richly detailed feedback, was highly interactive and engaging, and provided small group experiential opportunities for practicing delivering feedback.” Beck Institute is looking forward to continuing to work with this highly dedicated group of supervisors in the future.
Are you looking to improve your supervisory skills? Join us in April, when we hold this popular training again!