Today we’d like to introduce you to Deseray Hamilton.
Deseray, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In the field of mental health, all graduates are required to complete a two to five-year supervision journey where they work under a seasoned mental health professional in order to get licensed. If you’re lucky, you get this experience for free. But for the rest of us, it’s a long-term emotional and financial commitment that can sometimes turn into a bit of a nightmare.
Supervision Support was created out of a nightmare. It took four months of searching, googling, and speaking to professionals in the field to secure a clinical supervisor. I was being quoted up to $500 a for supervision, and this was simply unaffordable with my very modest therapist salary. After four months of searching, I found a supervisor and was elated to finally start my journey towards licensure. But it wasn’t long before I realized that my supervisor and I were not a good match. However, I stayed, simply because the price point was low, and all I could afford at the time.
Towards the tenth month of supervision, it becomes crystal clear that we had to go our separate ways. I worked over 800 hours under her supervision, but she only agreed to sign off on 300 hundred of those hours. I tried everything in my power to keep things amicable in order to ensure she’d sign off and validate the hours, but to my surprise, she didn’t!
She stopped responding to emails, calls, texts… and just like that, the 300+ client hours and 20 supervision hours that we agreed to be signed off on was gone. I was devastated! The money and time spent for the past ten months literally disappeared, and there wasn’t much I could do about it.
I couldn’t imagine having to start all over, but I did.
When this happened to me, I vowed to create a space for interns to easily connect with supervisors who were ethically grounded, and genuinely wanted to guide and develop the next generation of eager, ambitious, and game-changing mental health professionals like myself.
The good news is, I found a pretty awesome supervisor whose incredibly supportive, upfront, and ethically grounded! I want to prevent what happened to me, from happening to others and make the process a bit easier and smoother than it was for me.
The directory is nationwide and houses almost 300 clinical supervisors across 25 states! I started a podcast that covers topics specific to clinicians in the early stages of their profession. I host a monthly virtual meet up for new clinicians where we talk and offer support to each other in this journey, and in June 2019… I launch my first conference!
Although Supervision Support was birthed out of something dark… that experience will shine light and life for a generation of therapists who won’t have to face the struggles I had to face.
I encourage my clients on a daily basis to push through an show up for themselves when everything seems to be working against them. I feel proud that I implement this same philosophy in my day to day life.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Building a business has been incredibly difficult. Working full-time, co-parenting and raising a child, and making time for myself has been challenging. However, every day I try to make time for each of those things and not guilt myself if one is not getting attention at the moment. I find that I suck at time management, but it’s been a goal of mine to learn how to balance my life in a way that energizes me, and time management is at the time of my list!
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am a Master’s Level Mental Health Therapist. I am currently working towards becoming fully licensed and aspire to work with women of color who struggle with overcoming toxic relationships. I created a national directory for new clinicians to find clinical supervisors who will supervise them on their journey towards full licensure. I also created a podcast that works in tandem with my directory where mental health professionals (licensed and unlicensed) talk about the pains and struggles of being a clinician. I am known for championing for fair, ethical, and supportive supervision for new clinicians and I am unapologetic about it! I am the proudest of how I turned a negative and damaging situation into something that will help clinicians like myself and change the game in supervision. What sets me apart from most in the field, is that I show up as I am with no intentions of doing anything that makes people comfortable. I speak from my chest, and I am authentically me. In mental health, professionals are so afraid of stepping outside of the picture perfect “therapist” role, they lack personality, and show no parts of themselves. I am in a different school. I make mistakes, my brand is a story of the underdog, and I boast from time to time. Supervision Support is bold, its an answer, and I am proud of where it’s going!
Tell us about your favorite and least favorites things about our city.
I remember when I was moving to Florida, my former boss told me Florida is where people come to die. This was partly true, because of a version of me had to die in order for me to develop into the entrepreneur that I am now. I love the hustler spirit of South Floridians. There are so many small businesses here. So many start-ups, the job market is so slow here, that it leaves you no choice but to make your own way and it’s exactly what I needed. To that end, If I could change one thing, I’d shift the job market to one that paid as well. The city could transform and attract a lot of younger population if we were compensated accordingly!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.supervisonsupport.com
- Phone: 718-825-1996
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/supervisionsupport
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
