Self-pay and employer-sponsored supervision compared

Supervision through Motivo comes to you in two forms, and the differences are worth knowing before you accept either.

Self-pay supervision

The supervisee found you in the directory and arranges their own supervision. They decide how often you meet and they pay for it.

You are still paid by Motivo, not by the supervisee, so you never invoice them or chase a payment.

There is no account manager on these relationships. Motivo support is there for both of you, but the working arrangement is between you and the supervisee.

An intro call is required before a self-pay match can be made.

Employer-sponsored supervision

An employer partners with Motivo and offers supervision to its pre-licensed clinicians as a benefit. The employer sets requirements the supervision has to meet.

Each employer partner has a Motivo account manager who acts as the go-between for you, the employer, and the supervisees. They handle the introduction, explain the employer's requirements, and are who you go to when something needs to change.

How the intro call happens varies here. Sometimes the employer runs it, sometimes the account manager arranges the match without one, and sometimes the supervisee books it themselves.

Where they differ in practice

Notes. For self-pay supervision, notes are optional. Keeping them is good practice, but nothing requires it. For employer-sponsored supervision, notes have to meet the employer's requirements and be submitted with attendance, ideally within 24 hours and no later than five days after the session.

Administrative hours. Self-pay supervision does not compensate administrative work. Some employers do pay for it, in addition to session time. How many hours and at what rate is set by the employer, and your account manager covers it during outreach.

Group and dyad sessions. If your state permits them, you can run group or dyad sessions with self-pay supervisees, though you have to build that caseload yourself. For employer-sponsored supervisees, the employer approves group and dyad arrangements first. In both cases you cannot put self-pay and employer-sponsored supervisees in the same session.

Changes to the arrangement. Raise any change to a self-pay arrangement with the supervisee directly. For employer-sponsored supervision, go through the account manager so the employer's requirements stay satisfied.

What does not differ

State board regulations apply the same way to both. Who pays has no bearing on what your board requires of you or what your supervisee's board requires of them, and meeting those requirements is the supervisor's responsibility in either model.

Employers who do their own matching

Some employer partners prefer to find supervisors themselves rather than have an account manager do it. An account manager still supports the account, but the employer browses the directory and requests an intro call with you directly.

On that call you and the employer agree how supervision will work. If you both want to proceed, the employer onboards their supervisees and you approve each match from Supervisees > Pending. Keep in close contact through that stretch, because the account manager is not brokering it for you.

Telling them apart in your account

Employer-sponsored work arranged by an account manager arrives in Opportunities. A self-pay supervisee reaches you as an intro call request under Intro calls.