What is Secondary Supervision?

*Video Credit* Internship Logbooks https://www.provisionalpsych.com.au/offers/sAVoXgih/checkout 

SO MANY QUESTIONS

Have you ever asked yourself why do I have a secondary supervisor? Have you ever wondered why Provisional Psychologist Hub members have 40? One might say that our provisional psychologists are just trying to be over achievers? Perhaps? Or maybe what they are doing is arming themselves with a wealth of knowledge and experience at their disposal in preparedness for when they need it. 

LET'S LOOK AT THE IMPORTANT PLAYERS 

Your Principal Supervisor - The Yoda to your internship, the Owl to your Winnie, the Dumbledore to your Harry. This is the person who will provide you with oversight and guidance throughout your internship, so it is important that you find someone who has the right attributes for you. What are those attributes you ask? Well don't worry, I am here to tell you. 

• Knowledge and understanding of the guidelines of your pathway. 
• An understanding of your work role. 
• Strong communication and organisation skills. 
• An ongoing appointment that is a mutual match to your availability (regular access to supervision is key).

Your secondary supervisor - the Dr. Watson to your Sherlock and the Alfred to your Batman. They carry a wealth of knowledge that will support you, that you are only going to use when you need it. They provide relief and backup to your principal and can provide diversity in your guidance, a key component to broadening your knowledge and perspective.

Secondary supervision is often used to compliment the sessions you have with your principal supervisor, but you don't just have to have one of these. Why operate in a silo when you can have a team of avengers that support your internship. 

IT TAKES A VILLAGE!

There is a wealth of support for provisional psychologists but it's important to ask. 

Let's see how it works at Provisional Psychologist Hub with this tale of no woes! 

Jess started her internship with a role in School Counselling. She selected an experienced board approved supervisor who had previously worked in and alongside schools. Jess shared her availability and her principal held a time slot that worked for both of them until Jess' application was approved. 

In the meantime, Jess' principal referred her to Provisional Psychologist Hub to obtain a secondary supervisor. Jess' principal had some experience with psychometric assessment but recommended that Jess find someone who was stronger in this area to cover the range of assessments she needed to demonstrate for her internship. 

Jess contacted the Provisional Psychologist Hub support team and was able to get answers right away. She was referred to purchase their Application Consultation, which allowed Jess to follow the step by step professional development to complete her application with the Hub before submitting to their online portal so that they could assign a secondary supervisor. Jess made a note of her request for experience with psychometrics, which she was already assured could be met, and was provided a secondary supervisor who was going to make a great Dr. Watson, but the support team reminded her that this wasn't everything she needed.

Provisional Psychologist Hub advised her that while they were providing her a secondary supervisor, she would be given the option to add all 40 supervisors at the hub to her internship so that she could book with anyone she needed on a needs basis. They got her started on some early workshops to ensure that she had knowledge to feed into her supervision sessions and even shared a bonus workshop with her application consultation. 

Jess was overwhelmed with the knowledge that she now had not just a principal supervisor, but a team of people looking after her interests. She enrolled in the professional development so that she could prepare for her first day, while her application was processed with the PsyBA. Four weeks later, Jess was approved and prepared. Her principal wasn't available immediately so she booked using the online portal at Provisional Psychologist Hub and spent her first two weeks with a secondary supervisor who was an experienced school counsellor and made a great fit. Jess got an appointment reminder and uploaded logbooks to her secondary supervisor to a link in the email and by the end of each session she had signed logbooks and easily stayed on ratio in preparation to start with her principal. 

Jess setup a plan with her principal and decided to book one session a month with a supervisor experienced in psychometric assessment so she could stay on top of this competency as she progressed. 

Are you at the start of your internship? BOOK APPLICATION CONSULTATION to get started on secondary supervision. 

Are you already approved but wishing you had a village? Get started on PAY AS YOU GO supervision and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT