The Certification Program

Furthermore, while patients leave their therapy programs with heads full of knowledge, they’ve rarely been given the skills to enable success once back in the real world, resulting in limited ability to effectively navigate recovery outside of therapy.

Our certification is unique in the US. Building upon the therapeutic interventions clinicians have already learned in their degree and licensure programs, we take training a step further and teach them how to deliver the best group therapy possible in live sessions. Going beyond theory and into practice, we give clinicians the real-world tools and techniques necessary to provide significantly better outcomes for every patient in a treatment program's groups. Successful completion of the program provides participants with 10 NAADAC-approved CEUs and an Official Certification as a Certified Group Therapy Expert.

Regular auditing and supervision of sessions is a critical component of any effective program. According to the late Dr. Kathleen Carroll, "There is growing consensus that monitoring, supervision and feedback are needed until the clinician can demonstrate adequate fidelity and skill, as randomized training studies of clinicians have highlighted that workshops are necessary, but clearly insufficient in teaching clinicians to implement evidence-based treatments effectively 15."

Most programs have a section in their SOP Manuals calling for such regular auditing of sessions, but the fact is that they are rarely conducted. This is where the Institute comes in. We have a robust process for implementing and facilitating regular session audits combined with feedback sessions in order to help counselors and therapists become the best they can be, ensuring sustained and continuing improvement for patient outcomes.

Our auditors are expertly trained in not just engaging and effective session delivery, but also in the art of effective feedback delivery. When it comes to the practice of therapeutic interventions, clinicians can, understandably, be very sensitive. If constructive feedback in particular is not presented correctly, clinicians will not be receptive and may even become resistant to coaching and development. This is why the team here at the Institute not only comes alongside your team during audits and feedback delivery, but actively coaches your team to be able to present feedback in a way that will be well received and, therefore, effective.

The Institute will:

• Disseminate and implement regular session audit, supervision, and feedback protocols
• Provide audit forms if not already in place
• Setup notification and communications around regular audit schedule
• Audit sessions in conjunction with the Clinical Director, ACS, or relevant staff member (via remote live stream)
• Align on feedback and provide coaching related to feedback delivery post audit (via remote live stream)
• Co-present feedback to counselors and clinicians (via remote live stream)
• Collaborate with Clinical Director or other relevant staff member to deliver targeted trainings to clinical team based on observed gaps or areas for improvement
• Handle all tracking and record keeping related to audits and supervision
• Create real-time dashboards and provide regular reporting to the executive team on both compliance and individual clinician's progress
• In conjunction with patient outcomes data, provide analysis comparing individual and facility-level session delivery progress with patient outcomes gains

Costs

Pricing depends on the number of clinicians and facilities we are implementing supervision at. In addition to all of the components above, our team will act as an outsourced Clinical Training Supervisor. Our sliding scale starts at $50,000 per year and goes up from there.