Streamlining the Process to Start Supervision

Supervisors and Supervisees no longer need to apply to AASECT for approval to start supervision. No more waiting for approval! Supervisee and Supervisor can begin to accrue supervision hours toward AASECT Certification once they have gathered required documents and signed and dated their contract. All of the details for this streamlined process can be found on AASECT’s website on the Supervision Guidelines page.

What To Do Now?

Except for eliminating AASECT’s Certification Committee’s prescreening, the process for initiating supervision has changed very little. 

New Process:

1. The Supervisor and Supervisee enter into a supervision contract.
2. The Supervisor and Supervisee exchange documents with each other rather than send them to AASECT’s office.
3. The Supervisee will include these documents in their Certification Application once they have completed supervision and other AASECT requirements for Certification.

Why This Change? 

To streamline services, be more user-friendly, save our members’ time, and reduce organizational expenses.  

How These Changes Occurred:

A team of AASECT reviewers re-examined the contract approval process.  A multi-disciplinary Board Task Force formed to design and implement recommended improvements to the process. Members of the Task Force included Neil Cannon, Task Force Chair; Sally Valentine, Certification Committee Chair, Luca Mauer, Eli Green, Konnie McCaffree, and Susan Stiritz, AASECT Certified Educator Supervisors; Eric Garrison, AASECT Certified Counselor Supervisor; and Melissa Novak and Chris Fariello,  AASECT Certified Sex Therapist Supervisors.   

The Task Force found the old process held up starting dates for supervision, added extra bureaucratic steps to the relationship of Supervisors and Supervisees, and created extra work and expense for everyone, including volunteers for the Certification Committee, who generously reviewed and approved submitted applications and documents. The Task Force found that Supervisors had more than adequately demonstrated that they could perform the task of screening appropriate supervision candidates themselves, without AASECT oversight.

Effective Date

To ensure nobody gets caught in the transition from the old policy to the new policy, the effective date is March 1, 2020.

Details and Resources

For more information, please review the updated Supervision Guidelines page on the AASECT website. Updates have been made to the Certification requirements page for each discipline. Certification applications and Supervision prototype contracts are also posted there. Updates to the Supervisor’s Handbook will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead, so please watch your email for the updated version.

Thanks to the many volunteers, members, and staff who keep AASECT’s policies and procedures relevant, productive, and accessible.

Please share questions, comments, or suggestions by emailing info@aasect.org or reaching out to any of the task force members directly.