Clinical Supervision Guides›Evaluating Supervisees and Remediation
Last updated: November 4, 2026
A remediation plan is a written agreement between a supervisor and a supervisee to correct a specific problem in the supervisee's work: it describes the concern with examples, the competency expected, the actions and support, how progress will be measured and the dates of review. Most concerns never need one, because feedback in session fixes them. This guide covers how to evaluate supervisees, when a concern needs a plan, the gatekeeping steps from first feedback to ending supervision, scripts for the hard conversations, and a free remediation plan template.
The template is part of the Sentio MFT program's free clinical supervision toolkit.
This is an optional aid from the Sentio MFT program's clinical supervision toolkit. This is not a BBS form.
Download the remediation plan PDF
How Should Supervisors Evaluate Supervisees?
Evaluation runs on two clocks. Feedback happens in every session, tied to what you saw in a recording, a note or a rehearsal. The formal assessment happens at least once a year and when supervision ends: California requires the supervisor to assess the supervisee's ongoing strengths and limitations and to give the supervisee a copy of every assessment (16 CCR 1833.1(a)(9)). Our supervisee evaluation form gives that assessment a structure, with ratings in ten areas and a narrative tied to the goals in the supervisory plan.
Evaluation is fairest when nothing in the formal assessment is new. If the yearly assessment is the first time a supervisee hears about a limitation, the feedback came too late. The American Psychological Association's 2025 supervision guidelines ask supervisors to keep accurate and timely documentation of supervisee performance, and when a serious concern arises, to document it in writing with dates and specific behaviors, communicate it to the supervisee, and develop a remediation plan that includes timelines.
When Does a Concern Need a Remediation Plan?
Most limitations are ordinary development and belong in next period's goals. A concern needs a written remediation plan when one or more of these is true:
- Clients are at risk: missed risk assessment, unsafe boundaries, or a pattern that leaves clients worse off.
- Ordinary feedback has not worked: the same concern has been raised in several sessions, with rehearsal, and has not changed.
- Professional conduct is at issue: late or missing documentation, misrepresenting hours or work, or a breach of the law or ethics code.
- The supervisee cannot use supervision: avoids bringing cases or recordings, or cannot hear feedback without the session breaking down.
- Personal circumstances are affecting the work: illness, burnout or a crisis that is showing up in sessions.
The last two call for care in how the plan is framed. A supervisor is not the supervisee's therapist, and a plan should name the effect on the work and the supports available, such as reduced caseload or a referral for the supervisee's own care, without diagnosing or treating the supervisee.
What Are the Gatekeeping Steps in Clinical Supervision?
Gatekeeping means making sure that supervisees who become licensed are ready to practice independently. In practice it is a sequence, and each step is documented before the next one starts.
- Raise the concern early, in session. Name the behavior, give an example and agree what to try. Record it in your session note.
- Write it down if it continues. Dates, behaviors and their effect on clients, in the language you would want the supervisee to read.
- Consult before you escalate. Talk with your own consultant or supervisor, and with the employer, or the training program for a trainee, as your supervision contract provides.
- Agree a written remediation plan. Meet, explain the concern and the expected competency, agree actions, supports, measures and review dates, and give the supervisee a copy.
- Support the plan and review it on the dates set. Add rehearsal, observation or reading, and record each review.
- Decide at the final review. Close the plan, extend it, modify it, or end supervision.
- If supervision ends, follow the notice rules. Give at least one week's written notice before you stop signing for further hours, sign for hours earned in good faith under the required supervision, complete the final assessment and give the supervisee a copy, and sign the Experience Verification for the hours completed.
For a trainee, the training program's own remediation process usually runs alongside yours, and the program needs to hear early. Our guide to ethics and liability in clinical supervision covers the duties behind each step.
Remediation Plan Template
Remediation plan
| Item | What to record (example wording in italics) |
|---|---|
| Supervisee; supervisor; setting | |
| Date of the plan; review dates | Review 1: ____ Review 2: ____ Final review: ____ |
| Who else receives the plan | For example, the employer's clinical director, or the training program for a trainee, as agreed in the supervision contract |
| Concern | The behavior, with dates and examples. In three recorded couples sessions (March 4, March 18, April 1), escalating exchanges ran for five to eight minutes before any intervention. |
| Why it matters | The effect on clients, on the supervisee's development or on the setting. Clients left two of these sessions more distressed than they arrived. |
| Expected competency | What the supervisee will do, observably. Interrupts escalation within the first exchange and restores structure. |
| Feedback already given | Dates of the sessions in which the concern was raised, and what was agreed then. |
| Actions for the supervisee | Specific tasks with dates. Rehearse interrupting escalation in each supervision session; read [chapter]; bring a recorded conjoint session every two weeks. |
| Support from the supervisor | What you will add. Thirty minutes of rehearsal each week; live observation of one session a month. |
| How progress will be measured | Recordings, observation, notes or ratings, and the standard that counts as met. |
| Changes to caseload or duties during the plan | For example, no new couples cases until Review 1. Agree these with the employer. |
| Possible outcomes | Met and closed; extended with new dates; modified; or, if the concern continues and clients are at risk, the supervisor may end supervision after at least one week's written notice before stopping signing for further hours. |
| Supervisee's response | The supervisee's own account and any disagreement, in their words. |
| Signatures and dates | Supervisor; supervisee; copy given to the supervisee on ____ |
Review record (one for each review date)
| Item | What to record |
|---|---|
| Review date | |
| Evidence reviewed | |
| Progress on each expected competency | Met / Partly met / Not met, with examples |
| Decision | Close the plan / Continue to the next review / Modify the plan / End supervision |
| Next steps and next review date | |
| Signatures | Supervisor; supervisee |
What Can You Say in a Hard Feedback Conversation?
These scripts are starting points. Each one names the behavior, gives the evidence and moves to what happens next.
| Moment | Script |
|---|---|
| Raising a concern for the first time | "I want to name something I noticed in the recording. When the couple started raising their voices at minute twelve, the exchange ran for about six minutes before you stepped in. Let's look at that moment and practice a way in." |
| When the concern repeats | "This is the third time we've talked about escalation in your couples sessions, and I'm still seeing it in the recordings. I'd like us to put a written plan around it so we're both clear about what we're working toward and by when." |
| When the supervisee disagrees | "You see it differently, and I want your account in the plan in your own words. What I need us to agree on is what we'll both look at to decide whether it has changed." |
| Presenting the written plan | "This plan describes the concern, what I'd like to see instead, what you'll practice and what I'll do to help. We'll review it on these three dates. Nothing in it should surprise you; if it does, tell me now." |
| At a review, when progress is clear | "In the last two recordings you stepped in within the first exchange both times. That meets the standard we set, so I'm closing the plan and moving this into your regular goals." |
| At a review, when it is not | "The recordings since our last review still show the same pattern. We have two choices: extend the plan with more support and a new date, or, if it doesn't change, talk about ending supervision. I'd like to try the first, and I want you to know the second is possible." |
| Ending supervision | "I've decided to end our supervision. This letter is my written notice, at least a week before I stop signing for further hours. I'll sign for every hour you earned under my supervision, give you a final assessment, and sign your Experience Verification." |
What Do California's Rules Say About Remediation and Signing Hours?
California has no remediation form or procedure for supervisors, but several rules shape what a supervisor can do. A supervisor has no obligation to sign for hours believed to be incorrect or suspect, but must sign for hours the supervisee earned in good faith under the required supervision; may require corrections and should keep records of those requests; and must give at least one week's written notice before refusing to sign for further hours (16 CCR 1833.1(b); Board FAQ for supervisors, question 38). The same answer notes that the Board may discipline a licensee who helps someone obtain a license through fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, so signing for hours that were not earned protects no one.
The CAMFT code of ethics asks supervisors to provide periodic performance appraisals and evaluative feedback (7.10). A remediation plan that names specific behaviors, sets dates and records the supervisee's response is the documentation the APA guidelines describe, and it is also the record you will want if a decision is questioned later. Our Clinical Supervision Guides list the other duties of a supervisor in the doing-the-work stage.
Keep reading
Supervisee Evaluation Form, the yearly and final assessment of strengths and limitations
Ethics and Liability in Clinical Supervision, gatekeeping, dual relationships and legal exposure
Clinical Supervision Contract Template, the evaluation and due process clause to agree at the start
Models of Clinical Supervision, developmental and competency-based approaches to evaluation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a remediation plan in clinical supervision?
A written plan, agreed between supervisor and supervisee, to correct a specific problem in the supervisee's work. It describes the concern with dated examples, the expected competency, the supervisee's actions, the supervisor's support, how progress will be measured, review dates and the possible outcomes.
Is a remediation plan disciplinary?
It is a support and documentation step. It gives the supervisee a clear target and time to meet it, and it records that the concern was raised fairly before any decision to end supervision.
Can a California supervisor refuse to sign a supervisee's hours?
A supervisor has no obligation to sign for hours believed incorrect, but must sign for hours earned in good faith under the required supervision, and must give at least one week's written notice before refusing to sign for further hours.
Who should receive a copy of a remediation plan?
The supervisee always. The employer, or the training program for a trainee, receives it as the supervision contract or the program's agreement provides.
References
American Psychological Association. (2025). Guidelines for clinical supervision in health service psychology. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/guidelines-supervision.pdf
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. (2025). CAMFT code of ethics (effective December 6, 2025). https://www.camft.org/ethicscode
Board of Behavioral Sciences. (2026). Important answers to frequently asked questions for supervisors (new 02/2026). https://www.bbs.ca.gov/pdf/publications/faqs_for_supervisors.pdf
Cal. Code Regs. tit. 16, § 1833.1. https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/Document/I018363124C8211EC89E5000D3A7C4BC3
