Foundations of Trauma-Focused Supervision
Supporting Ethical, Attuned, and Competent Trauma Work
A Training for Clinical Supervisors – Led by Melanie Reese, LMFT, CCTP
Investment: $180
Date: TBD
Time: 9:30 am to 12:30 pm Central
Continuing Education Credit: 3 credit hours
Questions: melaniereeselmft@gmail.com
COURSE OVERVIEW
Offered by Groundwork Trauma Education, this three hour training provides licensed mental health professionals with a trauma-informed framework for supervising clinicians who work with trauma. The course meets Tennessee’s requirement for three hours of continuing education in counseling supervision for supervisors.
Supervising trauma work requires more than clinical oversight. Supervisors must be able to assess competence, support pacing and regulation, attend to countertransference, and monitor ethical risk when clinicians are working with complex trauma presentations. This training focuses on the unique responsibilities of trauma-focused supervision, including gatekeeping, evaluation, documentation, and supporting supervisees through high-intensity clinical material.
Participants will learn how to apply nervous system awareness, attunement, and trauma-informed principles within the supervisory relationship while maintaining ethical clarity and appropriate boundaries.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
• Core responsibilities of supervisors supporting trauma-focused clinical work
• How trauma impacts supervisee regulation, decision making, and pacing
• Identifying risk points and ethical concerns in trauma treatment
• Supporting supervisees with countertransference and vicarious activation
• Assessing supervisee readiness and scope of competence
• Gatekeeping and remediation considerations in trauma-focused supervision
• Documentation standards and audit-ready supervision practices
• Cultural, systemic, and relational factors in trauma supervision
WHO IS THIS TRAINING FOR?
This workshop is designed for:
• Licensed mental health professionals who supervise or plan to supervise clinicians
• Supervisors working with therapists providing trauma-focused services
• Clinicians seeking to meet Tennessee’s supervision continuing education requirement
• Supervisors who want a clearer framework for supporting trauma work ethically and effectively
This is an educational training. It is not a certification in supervision and does not replace required licensure or credentialing standards.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Identify core supervisory responsibilities specific to trauma-focused clinical work.
Describe how trauma and nervous system activation can impact supervisee performance and decision making.
Apply trauma-informed supervisory strategies to support supervisee regulation, pacing, and ethical practice.
Recognize at least two ethical or risk-related concerns that commonly arise in trauma supervision.
Outline documentation practices that support ethical, compliant, and audit-ready supervision.
Groundwork Trauma Education has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7927. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Groundwork Trauma Education is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.