Supervising in the Middle: Leading Clinicians Through Systemic Chaos with Clarity and Compassion

Clinical supervision doesn’t happen in a vacuum—especially when your supervisees are navigating overburdened systems like justice, education, child welfare, or healthcare. Supervisors are often “in the middle,” managing clinician needs, client care, and institutional pressure. This course equips you to lead with clarity and compassion in these complex settings.

Supervision within system-heavy environments can feel like juggling ethical tightropes while managing burnout in real-time. In this course, you'll gain tools and insights to supervise with greater confidence, clarity, and purpose—even when external systems seem unmanageable. Whether you’re already supervising in these environments or preparing to do so, this training will help you develop the leadership mindset and tools needed to guide clinicians through the emotional and ethical weight of systems work.

Dr. Domonique Rice, Ph.D., IMFT-S, is a nationally recognized leader in behavioral health and systems supervision. With more than 15 years of experience across child welfare, juvenile justice, and public mental health sectors, she brings deep expertise in guiding clinicians through the overlapping realities of direct service and systemic complexity. Her work as a director at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing and as a nonprofit founder gives her a uniquely informed perspective on both the barriers clinicians face and the leadership strategies that create resilience and change.

Dr. Rice’s approach blends trauma-informed supervision, contextual responsiveness, and reflective practice. She helps supervisors identify parallel processes between organizational stressors and clinical relationships, and she introduces actionable strategies like systemic mapping, structured reflection, and targeted supervision planning. These methods allow supervisors to ground their work in clarity, ethics, and compassion, even when navigating the emotional toll of bureaucracy or institutional dysfunction.

Participants will explore how clinical supervision can serve as a stabilizing and empowering force in chaotic systems. Topics include the ethical dilemmas that arise when clinicians are caught between client needs and institutional constraints; the impact of vicarious trauma and moral injury; and how supervisors can serve as buffers and advocates for clinician wellness and ethical integrity. This course is particularly valuable for intermediate to advanced professionals overseeing staff in public sector or community-based settings.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand systemic stressors: Learn how to define the role of clinical supervision within complex systems and identify the common stressors that impact both clinician performance and well-being.
• Apply supervision frameworks: Implement contextual frameworks, parallel process, and reflective supervision to address layered clinical and systemic challenges.
• Use practical tools: Utilize supervision planning templates, systemic mapping techniques, and structured reflective questions to guide supervision conversations and enhance clinical outcomes.

Why this course?

• Built for complexity: Unlike generic supervision trainings, this course directly addresses the realities of supervising clinicians embedded in high-pressure systems with competing demands and limited resources.
• Led by a systems expert: Dr. Rice brings a rare depth of insight, combining direct clinical work, supervision, leadership, and systems change expertise to meet the specific needs of behavioral health supervisors.
• Actionable and empowering: You’ll leave this training with real-world tools and frameworks that support your growth as a supervisor while empowering your team to navigate systemic stress with more confidence and resilience.

Learning Objectives:

• Define the role of clinical supervision within complex systems and identify common systemic stressors that impact clinician performance and well-being.
• Apply parallel process, reflective supervision, and contextual frameworks to address clinical and systemic challenges.
• Utilize supervision tools such as systemic mapping, supervision planning templates, and structured reflective questions to improve supervision outcomes.

As clinicians continue to serve in increasingly bureaucratic and overstretched systems, supervisors are uniquely positioned to protect their teams from burnout, guide ethical decision-making, and foster resilience. This course helps supervisors not only respond to systems—but lead within them. We invite you to join us in cultivating supervision practices that make a difference.