I'm not even sure how to start this post. For me, the past few days have been filled with uncertainty and concern. I ran three miles on Saturday at the reservoir. I've been holding clients, students, and supervisees' emotions, as well as my family's emotions. I've been actively reflecting on how to transfer the on-campus courses I teach to online without losing too much of the classroom dynamic. I met with a client today who experiences paranoia daily. She said to me, "You know how all of you are feeling about all this right now? This is how I feel every day." I had to pause after my meeting with her to process that.
On Friday, I sent the following email to those I supervise:
The school district I live in (and many others in the Denver Metro Area) just closed all schools for the next two weeks in response to the coronavirus. Therefore, with my kid home and my commitment to adhering to the WHO/CDC recommendation of social distancing, I will be shifting all supervision to Zoom or phone starting now. For now, we'll say for the next couple of weeks, but it could possibly extend depending on the containment of the coronavirus.
Today, I sent the following email to those I supervise:
None of us has lived through something like this before. Supervision is crucial as we hold ourselves and the people we serve in an unpredictable environment. I want to ensure that you can attend our meetings. While I cannot control your schedules or time in general (rats!), I can control the financial piece of our supervision. Therefore, I have decided to let you all set your own rate for supervision as we work through the effects of the coronavirus.
Moving forward, at the end of our meeting, I will ask you, "What can you afford to pay for our session?" No-cost supervision is absolutely an option for those of you experiencing financial insecurity. The rate ranges are unlicensed $0-$50 and licensed $0-$75.
Today, I posted this on Facebook:
We social workers and counselors are having conversations with clients that we never anticipated having. We are finding that we have so few answers and are simply providing a space for people to feel however they need to feel. Our training prepared us to hold all of this discomfort, uncertainty, and anxiety. But we are far from perfect!! We use supervision to process the work we are doing with clients, receive guidance on treatment, and process our treatment experiences with a seasoned professional (aka: supervisor).
Supervision is crucial, perhaps a smidge more than usual right now! I have been supervising for almost a decade and I continue to hold a private supervision practice. My big girl paycheck comes from the university I teach at and I can trust that I will keep getting paid. So, I decided to let the social workers and counselors I supervise set their own rate for supervision services for the foreseeable future, anywhere from the regular cost to no cost to remove the financial barrier and ensure that they attend supervision.
One of the people I supervise just called to say that she wants to sponsor a session a month for anyone who cannot afford to pay. I immediately started crying.
A final note
I don't know what I'm doing right or what I need to change. I'm going where my compassion leads me. I hope we use this moment as a motivator to immediately and drastically change the US by providing universal healthcare, ending animal consumption, and distributing a universal basic income.
Take care of each other, in whatever ways you can!