Live, two-day CE intensive

Becoming an Approved Supervisor:

A Relational Supervision Intensive

A two-day intensive in relational, anti-oppressive clinical supervision, taught by systemic therapists, for the counselors and social workers who were never taught supervision this way.

save my seat
Becoming an Approved Supervisor · Early bird $425 through Aug 14 · Federal Way
Save my seat

Dates

September 11-12, 2026

Format

In person, Federal Way, WA

CE credit

15 NBCC hours

Meets WAC 246-809

Price

From $425

save my seat

Why This Training

Most of us learned to supervise the way we were supervised.

Through the case report and the individual lens. You track the therapist's technique, you talk about the client, and you hope the important things surface.

If you were trained as a counselor or a social worker, you were probably never handed a way to see the whole system in the room, the therapist, the client, the family, the agency, and the context around all of it.

That is what this training gives you. You leave able to supervise relationally and systemically, to notice the patterns that travel between the therapy and the supervision, and to hold power and context as part of the work rather than an afterthought.

It also meets the 15-hour supervision-training requirement to become a Washington approved supervisor under WAC 246-809, so the growth and the credential arrive together.

save my seat
Relational clinical supervision training, Federal Way, WA

What Makes It Different

Systemic and Relational at the Base


  • We do not add a systemic flavor to a generic supervision course
  • Systemic and relational supervision is the whole framework, grounded in family systems theory
  • Carried through every one of the fifteen hours

The Person of the Supervisor Is the Practice


  • Differentiation of self, attachment, and the neurobiology of co-regulation
  • Your own signature themes as supervisory material
  • Reflexive praxis: acting, then reflecting on your use of self, power, and social location

Context Is the Material, Not a Module


  • Power, culture, social location, and larger systems at the center
  • Narrative and anti-oppressive practice throughout
  • Because a clinician is never separable from their conditions

Leadership Runs Through It, and You Learn by Doing


  • How you carry authority, mentor, and shape the culture of the settings you influence
  • Sit inside a reflecting team and practice feedback that supports growth without shame
  • Work real dilemmas in a hard-case clinic. This is a working room, not a lecture hall
Three-panel illustration: a supervisor in reflective practice, a connected supervisory system, and a reflecting team in conversation

What You Will Leave Able to Do

By the end of the two days, you will be able to:

  • See the supervisory system, the supervisor, therapist, client, and context as one connected whole, and locate yourself inside it.
  • Use your own differentiation, attachment, and regulation as the instrument of good supervision.
  • Build a supervisory relationship that is safe enough to risk in and rigorous enough to grow in, and put it in a written contract.
  • Read the patterns that repeat across the therapy and the supervision, and intervene where change is possible.
  • Carry the legal and ethical duties of a Washington approved supervisor, including documentation, boundaries, and the declaration process.
  • Evaluate fairly, hold gatekeeping with care, and respond to clinical risk across the system.
  • Name power and social location in the room, and address bias without shame and without looking away.
  • Step into supervision as a leadership role, holding authority, mentoring, and shaping the culture around you with intention.

Published Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  1. Explain core family systems concepts, including circular causality, feedback loops, and homeostasis, and contrast systemic supervision with individual, linear models of supervision.
  2. Distinguish the three core functions of clinical supervision, professional growth, client protection, and gatekeeping, and explain how each shapes supervisory decision-making.
  3. Map the supervisory system, supervisor, therapist, client system, and context, and locate the supervisor within it from a second-order stance.
  4. Apply a person-of-the-supervisor lens to your own practice, using differentiation of self, attachment, and a basic neurobiological frame, and identify your signature themes and use of self as the instrument of supervision and leadership.
  5. Identify isomorphism and parallel process in a supervisory case and select an intervention at the appropriate system level.
  6. Coach a supervisee in shifting from a linear to a systemic case conceptualization, and distinguish first-order from second-order change in that work.
  7. Construct a written supervision contract that specifies goals, methods, evaluation criteria, confidentiality limits, due process, and emergency coverage.
  8. Demonstrate formative and corrective feedback using a relational, growth-oriented approach that keeps the conversation out of shame.
  9. Select and sequence systemic supervision methods, case presentation, video review, live supervision, and reflecting team, to fit a supervisee's stated learning goals and developmental level.
  10. Apply the legal and ethical requirements of a Washington approved supervisor, including eligibility, dual-relationship boundaries, recordkeeping, financial transparency, backup coverage, and the declaration and verification process.
  11. Apply a systemic ethical decision-making process to a supervisory dilemma, and explain the supervisor's vicarious liability for the client system a supervisee serves.
  12. Design a remediation plan with due-process elements and analyze how supervisor bias and system power affect evaluation and gatekeeping.
  13. Formulate a supervisory response to clinical risk and crisis across the supervisory system.
  14. Analyze how power, social location, and larger systems operate in the supervisory triad, and apply anti-oppressive, culturally responsive practices in supervision.
  15. Demonstrate reflexive praxis as a developing systemic supervisor and leader by producing a self-assessment of your use of self, power, and social location, and a personal action plan for completing the Washington approved-supervisor requirements, including the 25-hour supervised-experience component.

Instructional level: Intermediate to advanced.

How achievement is measured: Active participation in the experiential components, the reflecting-team demonstration, the feedback labs, the contract and remediation drafting, and the hard-case clinic, together with a post-course evaluation in which participants rate their achievement of each objective. Attendance is tracked across both days, since the certificate attests to 15 clock hours.

Who It's For, and How It Runs

Who This Is For

This training is built for licensed clinicians moving toward supervising the next generation, including licensed mental health counselors, licensed clinical and advanced social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists. It is designed first for counselors and social workers who want the systemic depth their training did not include, and it welcomes therapists across the clinical licenses.

If you practice in Washington, this meets the state's 15-hour training requirement for approved-supervisor status. If you practice elsewhere, the course carries nationally recognized continuing education and covers most of the content areas required for the national supervision credential, so it travels well beyond one state.

Full licensure is recommended, since approved-supervisor status requires it. Associates and students are welcome to attend for their own learning.

The Two Days

Day one forms the supervisor. We put everyone on the same systemic ground, then build the person of the supervisor, the supervisory relationship and contract, systemic case conceptualization, and the practice of holding power and context.

Day two equips the supervisor. We move into relational methods and feedback, Washington law and ethics, documentation and the operational duties of a supervisor, evaluation and gatekeeping, and holding clinical risk across the system.

Each day runs 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM with a one-hour lunch and two short breaks, delivering 7.5 hours of instruction per day and 15 clock hours across the two days.

Format and Logistics

  • When: Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12, 2026, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM Pacific each day
  • Where: In person at Ebony & Ivory Coffee Co., 33930 Weyerhaeuser Way S, Suite 100, Federal Way, WA 98001
  • Credit: 15 continuing education clock hours
  • Included: Participant workbook, a supervision contract template, a remediation template, and the Washington approved-supervisor requirements guide
  • Class size: Capped at 26 participants, small enough for live practice and a reflecting team
  • Who can register: Licensed mental health counselors, clinical and advanced social workers, and marriage and family therapists
save my seat

Continuing Education and Credential Fit

NBCC Continuing Education

Lovewell Initiatives, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7776. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Lovewell Initiatives, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

This training is eligible for 15 NBCC continuing education hours. Participants must attend both full days and complete the required evaluation to receive a certificate of completion.

Washington Approved-Supervisor Requirement

This training provides 15 continuing education clock hours and meets the 15-hour clinical-supervision training requirement to become a Washington approved supervisor under WAC 246-809.

One honest note, so you know exactly what you are getting. This course delivers the training the state requires. Washington also asks a new supervisor to complete 25 hours of supervised experience, which you earn on the job, separately from this course. We walk you through that path on day two so you leave with a clear plan.

Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS)

This training covers most of the content areas required for the Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS) credential, administered by the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE), so it counts toward the training component for clinicians building toward that credential.

Please Read This Carefully

This is a stand-alone training. It is not affiliated with AAMFT or COAMFTE, and it does not meet the requirements for the AAMFT Approved Supervisor designation or for AAMFT-approved supervision training.

It is built to meet Washington State's approved-supervisor requirement under WAC 246-809, which is a separate pathway from the AAMFT one. If your specific goal is the AAMFT Approved Supervisor designation, that credential requires AAMFT's own Fundamentals of Supervision course, not this training.

Certificate and Attendance

  • Participants must attend both full days to receive CE credit. Partial credit is not available.
  • Certificates are issued after you complete both days and submit the post-training evaluation.
  • Full policies, including refunds, grievances, and certificate delivery, are published on our CE Information and Policies page.

Commercial Support and Disclosures

This program received no commercial support. The presenters have no relevant financial relationships or conflicts of interest to disclose.

NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7776

Registration & Pricing

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION

$425

Early bird runs through August 14, 2026

register now!

STANDARD REGISTRATION

$495

Standard price starts August 15, 2026

register now!

Reduced Equity Rate

A partial scholarship for a limited number of clinicians for whom the full rate is a barrier.

Request one by email at [email protected] — no documentation needed.

Registration is capped at 26 participants.

Your Facilitators

Dr. Jennifer Sampson, PhD, LMFT

Dr. Jennifer Sampson, PhD, LMFT


Founder of Lovewell Initiatives, a licensed marriage and family therapist with a PhD in Family Social Science. She is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor and a Washington State approved supervisor, trained in the Person of the Therapist (POTT) model. Her work spans systemic theory, critical reflexivity, and anti-oppressive clinical training for mental health professionals and the institutions they serve.

Margaret MacLeod, MS, LMFT

Margaret MacLeod, MS, LMFT


Lovewell's Director of Continuing Education Initiatives, an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, and a Washington State approved supervisor. She is teaching faculty in a COAMFTE-accredited Couple and Family Therapy program in the Seattle area, a trained Person of the Therapist (POTT) model presenter at the state, national, and international levels, and a clinician and supervisor at Northwest Relationships, a social-justice-oriented group practice in Tacoma, WA.

Both facilitators are licensed marriage and family therapists, AAMFT Approved Supervisors, Washington State approved supervisors, and POTT trained, so you are learning systemic supervision from clinicians who live in it and lead in it. Their AAMFT Approved Supervisor status is a personal credential; it does not make this a program of, or approved by, AAMFT, as noted above.

Lovewell Initiatives builds leadership and clinical training rooted in systemic theory, critical reflexivity, and equity, for mental health professionals and the institutions they serve.

Frequently Asked Questions

September 11 and 12, 2026 · Federal Way, WA

Supervision is how good clinical work gets passed forward

It deserves to be taught as the relational practice it is. If you are ready to supervise with more depth, and to earn the Washington approved-supervisor credential while you do it, we would love to have you in the room.

save my seat
Continuing education compliance

Lovewell Initiatives is an NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider™ (ACEP No. 7776). Lovewell Initiatives, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7776. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Lovewell Initiatives, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

This program complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lovewell Initiatives is committed to creating accessible and inclusive learning environments. All venues are wheelchair accessible, and reasonable accommodations are available upon request. Please contact [email protected] at least 10 days before the event to discuss accessibility needs.

Lovewell Initiatives, LLC · PO Box 6841, Tacoma, WA 98417 · (253) 470-8246 · [email protected] · www.livelovewell.co

Refund and cancellation policy, participant grievance policy, and non-discrimination statement: CE Information and Policies

LIVE LOVE WELL.