Time set aside for you
Regular meetings with space to review your cases, practice skills, and follow up on what happened after our last conversation.
Clinical supervision for Texas LMSWs
Grow toward your LCSW with a clear learning plan, real clinical conversations, and someone invested in helping you understand the work. Build the skills and confidence to make thoughtful decisions with your clients.
Whether you’re joining or building a private practice, working in healthcare, or serving clients through community agencies, schools, or other settings, we’ll connect your learning to the responsibilities of your role. Supervision can help you think through direct care, teamwork, documentation, workplace systems, and the direction you want your career to take.
Start a supervision conversationSupervision with Dr. Rachel Gardner, DSW, LCSW-S · Texas-approved clinical supervisor.
What I bring to supervision
Dr. Rachel Gardner, DSW, LCSW-S
I bring a doctorate in social work and clinical experience in private practice, academic healthcare, outpatient care, adolescent intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization programs, and child crisis services. My work with adults, couples, children, and families gives me several perspectives on relationships, development, and the systems surrounding a client.
My military career included work as a Chinese linguist, a Black Hawk pilot, and in intelligence, human resources, and sexual assault advocacy. I have also worked in private investigations and taught art. These experiences shape how I approach culture, leadership, careful observation, creative problem-solving, and decisions under pressure.
In supervision, I connect those perspectives to the situations you encounter. I’ll share how I think through a case, evaluate information, work with other professionals, and navigate the practical demands of a clinical job. You’ll have room to ask questions, practice, and develop an approach that fits your strengths and goals.
What you can expect
You can bring uncertainty, a difficult session, or a skill you want to practice. My goal is to share the practical knowledge I use in clinical work, help you understand the reasoning behind it, and make space for you to develop your own judgment. We’ll connect the curriculum to your work setting, responsibilities, and professional goals.
A clear learning plan
A 24-month workbook framework with weekly meeting pages, practice examples, useful notes, and review points, adapted to your setting and goals.
Support with direction
Specific feedback, shared next steps, and a written plan for consultation between meetings, including contact methods and response expectations.
Formats & session rates
Space for learning and conversation.
Individual attention alongside the group
The planned group structure includes at least one individual progress and development session each quarter: time to focus on your goals, discuss questions privately, and review how you are growing.
The duration and fee arrangement for quarterly individual meetings will be confirmed in your supervision agreement.
The journey
From getting started to practicing with greater confidence.
Get to know each other
We discuss your work setting, goals, learning needs, and the kind of supervision that will help you grow.
Build the foundation
We agree on a supervision plan, meeting schedule, documentation, employer arrangements, and consultation expectations.
Learn through your work
We combine real cases, focused teaching, skill practice, reflection, and manageable activities between meetings.
Review your development
We revisit your goals and records, identify what needs more practice, and prepare for your next professional steps.
From the Texas Supervisee Meeting Workbook
A learning path you can follow.
The workbook organizes 24 monthly themes and 104 planned meeting pages. You prepare a question, bring a deidentified example or practice case, take notes, and leave with one next step.
The sequence adapts to your work and development. Urgent safety and ethical questions come first. Actual qualifying experience, meeting time, and current board requirements determine your licensure timeline.
Months 1–3 · Start safely
- Start the job safely. Roles, scope, supervision accountability, law and ethics, and the first caseload.
- Meet a new client. Inquiry and fit, fees and coverage, consent, confidentiality, first sessions, rapport, and repair.
- Respond to safety concerns. Risk, reporting, consultation, and a first-quarter review.
Examples of your work: A role and supervision map, a first-session outline, and a safety response plan.
Months 4–6 · Understand and document
- Understand the whole person. Clinical interviewing, case formulation, culture, strengths, and collaborative goals.
- Think through diagnoses. Alternative explanations, depression and grief, anxiety and trauma, bipolar and psychosis presentations.
- Write notes and plans. Useful notes, diagnosis and service codes, treatment plans, and documentation review.
Examples of your work: A formulation, a differential diagnosis worksheet, and a sample note and treatment plan.
Months 7–9 · Navigate care and evidence
- Find the right care. Levels of care, referrals, transitions, and coordination.
- Find help for different people. Service maps for children, adolescents, adults, older adults, and specific needs.
- Read a research article. Study design, methods, results, uncertainty, and relevance to a client.
Examples of your work: Referral maps and a structured research appraisal.
Months 10–12 · Choose and evaluate methods
- Sort evidence from sales claims. Science and pseudoscience, training claims, certification, and opportunity cost.
- Try several therapy methods. Behavioral, cognitive, motivational, solution-focused, and emotion-regulation approaches.
- Choose and review an approach. Trauma and family approaches, feedback, outcome monitoring, and intervention sequencing.
Examples of your work: A training decision memo, a method comparison, and a monitored five-session plan.
Months 13–15 · Work with complexity
- Work with different people in the room. Individual, group, couples, family, and child therapy considerations.
- Handle overlapping diagnoses. Developmental history, personality patterns, trauma, substance use, sleep, and medical factors.
- Notice your own reactions. Self-disclosure, countertransference, repair, and consultation.
Examples of your work: Intake checklists, a complex-case map, and a reflective process note.
Months 16–18 · Examine ethics and quality
- Make ethical decisions. Boundaries, consent, family and minor issues, cultural humility, and consultation.
- Check the quality of care. Clinical self-assessment, feedback, outcomes, and a focused improvement plan.
- Use AI carefully. Privacy, workplace approval, accuracy, bias, data handling, and human review.
Examples of your work: An ethical decision record, an improvement cycle, and an AI tool review checklist.
Months 19–21 · Understand professional systems
- Raise concerns well. Client safety, process failures, professional conduct, complaints, policy, and advocacy.
- Understand the money side. Employment and contracts, insurance, billing, pricing, liability, and records.
- Plan a future practice. Scope, business questions, workflows, financial readiness, and launch decisions.
Examples of your work: An escalation map, a practice comparison, and a staged readiness plan.
Months 22–24 · Prepare for the next stage
- Explore your career. Social work roles, associations, conferences, presenting, and professional identity.
- Keep the work sustainable. Imposter feelings, performance feedback, burnout, boundaries, peer support, and training.
- Bring it all together. A whole-case review, ethics and safety simulation, records audit, and transition planning.
Examples of your work: A career and sustainability plan, final portfolio, and supervisor evaluation.
A practical meeting book
Your learning has somewhere to land.
Each meeting page keeps preparation manageable. Spend about five minutes reviewing the topic and writing one question. During supervision, use the page to capture the discussion and your next action.
Monthly themes include a practice scenario and an example of what you can produce. Review meetings bring together your work, growth areas, and supervision records.
Sample · Month 9
What the results really say
Learn to interpret a study’s effects, uncertainty, harms, and meaningful change.
- Bring one question
- What can these results reasonably tell us about the client in front of us?
- Work through an example
- Compare the study with a clinical question from your setting.
- Capture your learning
- Write the key limits and what would change your decision.
- Choose your next step
- Identify one thing to check or try, then return to it together.
Standards you will practice
Know what good clinical work asks of you.
Safety and appropriate consultation
Recognize uncertainty, assess concerns, follow reporting and escalation procedures, and seek help promptly.
Reasoning you can explain
Connect observations, alternative explanations, a working formulation, treatment choices, and the client’s response.
Ethics and professional responsibility
Work with Texas rules, relevant law, NASW ethics guidance, employer policy, confidentiality, boundaries, and informed consent.
Evidence you can evaluate
Read research, question broad claims, assess a training’s value, and match an intervention to the client and your competence.
Accurate records and honest feedback
Document clinical reasoning and actual supervision, review your work, acknowledge gaps, and follow a specific improvement plan.
Respect for the person and context
Consider culture, development, relationships, strengths, access barriers, and your own reactions. Invite correction and revise your understanding.
Inside a meeting
Bring a case. Leave with a next step.
A typical meeting might follow this rhythm, with the agenda adjusted for urgent needs:
- Check in: What has changed, and what needs attention first?
- Think through a case: What do we understand, what is uncertain, and what decision is ahead?
- Learn and practice: Work through a skill, a clinical example, or a focused lesson.
- Plan and record: Agree on your next steps, capture your learning, and update supervision records.
Between meetings, you may try a skill, reflect on a session, or read a short resource. We’ll choose work that fits your current learning goals and workload.
Support along the way
Clear expectations help you feel supported.
Questions are welcome
We’ll explore your reasoning together and identify what you need to learn next. You can ask for an explanation, an example, or another chance to practice.
Feedback you can use
Regular reviews name your strengths, identify areas for growth, and give you specific steps to practice before we check in again.
A plan between meetings
Before starting, we’ll agree on how to reach me, expected response times, coverage, and your workplace’s urgent consultation procedures.
For urgent clinical concerns, follow your workplace’s crisis and emergency procedures. Consultation availability and coverage are defined in the supervision agreement.
Practical questions
Before we begin.
Who is this for?
Texas LMSWs pursuing clinical licensure whose roles provide eligible clinical experience. We’ll review your setting, needs, and fit before agreeing to begin.
Can I reach out before I have a clinical job?
Yes. A fit conversation can help identify what to ask a prospective employer and what needs to be in place before licensure supervision begins.
What does supervision cost?
Individual supervision is $150 per 60-minute session. Group supervision is $100 per person per 60-minute session. The group is designed around four participants, with a maximum of six. The schedule, payment terms, cancellation expectations, and quarterly individual meeting arrangement are discussed before enrollment.
Will the curriculum fit my experience?
We’ll start with your knowledge and experience, revisit foundations as needed, and adjust lessons and case work as you develop. Your progress reviews help shape the plan.
How will we keep track of progress toward licensure?
We’ll review learning goals and supervision records regularly, discuss current Texas requirements, and clarify what you and your employer need to document. The Texas board determines eligibility and licensure approval.
Take the first step
Tell me where you are in your journey.
Share your name, Texas license type, current or planned work setting, general availability, and what you hope to gain from supervision. Please leave client names and clinical details out of email.
Ask about supervisionWhat happens next
We’ll arrange a conversation about your goals, fit, and practical details. We’ll confirm fit, agree on the supervision plan, and complete the required arrangements before beginning.
806-318-8188