The Supervisor Who Moved to Spokane
Dr. Alina Lin has supervised Maya Ortega, a psychologist associate, for 19 months at a Bend group practice. The supervision contract on file with the Board names Dr. Lin as the sole supervisor. In March, Dr. Lin takes a job in Spokane, puts her Oregon license on inactive status, and moves. She tells Maya they will keep meeting weekly by video and that she will 'sign off on the hours' when Maya finishes, because the Board 'won't care about a few months.' Maya, who carries 24 active clients, keeps treating all of them for six weeks. During that stretch a 9-year-old client says her stepfather 'throws her against the wall' and shows Maya a bruise on her upper arm. The practice owner knows nothing about the move. Maya asks whether a colleague at the practice, a licensed professional counselor, can provide 'backup supervision' and keep signing insurance claims until a psychologist is hired, and whether Dr. Lin can still verify the six weeks.
1. May Maya keep seeing clients? Analyze the supervision arrangement and what happens to the six weeks of hours.
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No - not until a valid supervisor is in place.
- Oregon lets a psychologist associate practice only under an approved supervision arrangement with a psychologist whose Oregon license is active. The filed contract is not paperwork for its own sake: it establishes who is legally responsible for the associate's clinical work. The moment Dr. Lin's license went inactive, that arrangement stopped satisfying the rule. Weekly video meetings were never the problem; licensure and the contract are.
- Maya's continued practice is practice outside her authorization. Good faith does not cure it. An LPC cannot supervise a psychologist associate; supervision must come from a licensed psychologist acceptable to the Board.
- Corrective steps: suspend clinical work under the associate credential; tell the practice owner and clinical director; arrange emergency coverage and continuity or transfer for the 24 clients; then line up an Oregon-licensed psychologist and file the new or amended supervision contract with the Board before resuming.
- The six weeks: hours logged without valid supervision are not creditable and must not be reported. Dr. Lin cannot retroactively 'sign off.' Certifying supervision she did not provide would be a false statement and would damage both her record and Maya's application.
- Maya should self-report the lapse rather than wait for the Board to find it. A prompt disclosure with a remediation plan is treated very differently from concealment.
2. What does Maya do with the 9-year-old's disclosure, and does Dr. Lin's inactive license change anything?
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The reporting duty is Maya's, personal, and immediate.
- Oregon requires any person with reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused to report to the Department of Human Services or law enforcement (ORS 419B.010). An admitted act that leaves a bruise on a 9-year-old is reasonable cause. Maya calls the child welfare hotline or law enforcement now, then files the written report if the agency requires one.
- The duty is non-delegable. It does not require Dr. Lin's approval, the practice owner's approval, the mother's consent, or the stepfather's consent. An agency policy that routes reports through a supervisor cannot delay a report Maya is legally required to make; she may consult after reporting.
- Do not investigate: no interviewing the stepfather, no photographing undressed children, no repeat interrogations of the child. Document the child's words verbatim, the location and appearance of the bruise, the date and time of the call, the person who took the report, and any report number.
- Dr. Lin's inactive license is irrelevant to this duty. The obligation attaches to the treating provider. Do not notify the stepfather, and coordinate any conversation with the mother with the agency so the child is not put at risk of retaliation.