Best Practices When Working with Resistant Supervisees is a 6-hour continuing education training designed for clinical supervisors in addiction counseling and behavioral health settings. The course provides a comprehensive, developmentally informed framework for understanding, assessing, and effectively addressing supervisee resistance across multiple domains—including behavioral, cognitive, emotional, ethical, and clinical-complexity challenges.  Drawing upon established clinical supervision models (Ellis, Powell, Stoltenberg & McNeill, and others), the course explores the root causes of resistance, the developmental stages of counselor growth, and the unique challenges inherent to addiction treatment environments. Participants learn evidence-based supervisory interventions tailored to each supervisee’s developmental level and the presenting form of resistance.  The training includes case applications, structured strategies for managing countertransference, burnout, ethical dilemmas, and co-occurring disorder challenges, as well as best-practice guidelines for evaluating supervision effectiveness and promoting professional growth. 

Learning Objectives 

1. Explain the nature and developmental role of resistance in clinical supervision. 

2. Identify the root causes of supervisee resistance using behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and contextual indicators. 

3.  Apply stage-appropriate supervisory interventions tailored to the supervisee’s developmental level. 

4. Utilize best-practice strategies for addressing five major supervision challenges specific to addiction counseling. 

5. Demonstrate practical skills for resolving supervision challenges using real-world case scenarios. 

6. Evaluate the effectiveness of clinical supervision within an ethical, culturally responsive, and outcomes-oriented framework.