| Question | Suggest Responses |
|---|---|
| How serious is this situation? | Heather can be held accountable for the supervisee's services, which threatens Heather's own certification. Since they have been out of touch, Heather is not aware of the quality of services being delivered, which adds more risk to her accountability. The situation is serious enough that Heather should take action right away. |
| Which ethical codes might Heather be breaking if she allows the supervision relationship to continue as it is now? | 10.05 Compliance with BACB Supervision and Coursework Standards. Behavior analysts ensure that ... BCaBA supervision is conducted in accordance with the BACB's standards -- Heather cannot comply with the standards for supervision without the supervisee's cooperation. |
| How might Heather proceed? | Documentation. Heather should be using e-mail to try to reach her supervisee. Phone messages and texts are less easily saved and reproduced as evidence of contact. Set a timeline for how to proceed. Heather will need to be very clear with the supervisee. She will need to specify action items and a time-frame so her and the supervisee know how to proceed. Heather could start by writing a professionally-formatted letter and attach it to an e-mail. -- The tone of the letter should be factual and professional and not reference the supervisee's personal issues or her empathy for his situation. -- In the letter, Heather should specify the number of attempts she has made to communicate and the outcomes of each (no response, cancellation, no-show). -- The letter should also reference the ethical code that may be violated and Heather's accountability for the supervisee's services. -- Finally, the letter will need to specify what happens next. Heather might state something to the effect of "Please respond within 3 days of the date of this letter. For the supervision relationship to continue, a supervision meeting will need to be held within one week. If no response is received, it will be assumed the supervision relationship has terminated and the BACB will be notified of the change." -- A phone call or text to let the supervisee know that the letter was e-mailed is a nice consideration. This will show the supervisee that the supervisor is still interested in helping, but is ultimately bound to the codes and standards. |
