Code of Conduct for Supervisors

This course has been developed specifically for Board Approved Supervisors and those supervising provisional psychologists, registrars, and early career clinicians. It explores the new Code through the lens of supervision, focusing on how regulatory expectations translate into real supervisory practice.
By Kaye Frankcom and Dr Aaron Frost

  • Psychologists with 50+ years’ combined experience
  • Experts in compliance, ethics, and practice management
  • Lead authors & trainers for national-level professional development
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This course is designed for:

  • Board Approved Supervisors
  • Psychologists supervising provisional psychologists or registrars
  • Practice owners supervising early-career clinicians
  • Experienced psychologists preparing to become supervisors

Understanding the New Expectations for Ethical and Effective Supervision

The introduction of the 2025 Psychology Board of Australia Code of Conduct represents one of the most significant regulatory shifts in Australian psychology in decades. While the Code applies to all psychologists, its implications for supervisors are particularly important.


Supervisors are not only educators and mentors; they are also part of the profession’s safety infrastructure. The revised Code makes this responsibility more explicit by placing greater emphasis on risk awareness, documentation, cultural safety, systems thinking, and supervisory oversight.

This course has been developed specifically for Board Approved Supervisors and those supervising provisional psychologists, registrars, and early career clinicians. It explores the new Code through the lens of supervision, focusing on how regulatory expectations translate into real supervisory practice.

Rather than simply summarising the Code, the course aims to support supervisors to interpret, question, and apply the new standards with confidence and nuance.

The training combines written material, reflective questions, case studies, quizzes, and discussion videos with Associate Professor Kaye Frankcom and Dr Aaron Frost, where the complexities and tensions within the Code are explored openly and practically. 

Why This Course Matters for Supervisors

The new Code reflects a broader shift in health regulation toward risk-based, enforceable standards of conduct rather than aspirational ethical guidance. 


For supervisors, this shift has several implications:

  • Supervision is now recognised as a site of risk identification, not only skill development.
  • Supervisors are expected to help supervisees recognise foreseeable risks and document their decision-making.
  • Issues such as boundaries, consent, impairment, cultural safety, and systemic responsibility now require more explicit discussion in supervision.
  • Supervision records and reasoning may become critical evidence if practice is later reviewed by regulators.

Handled well, these changes do not diminish the supervisory relationship. Instead, they strengthen it by making supervision more deliberate, transparent, and protective for clients, supervisees, and the profession.

Course contents

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, supervisors will be able to:

  • Understand the structural and regulatory shifts introduced by the new Code of Conduct.
  • Identify how these changes affect supervision, oversight, and risk management.
  • Support supervisees to make transparent, well-reasoned ethical decisions.
  • Recognise and address supervisory risk zones, including boundaries, impairment, documentation, and system failures.
  • Integrate cultural responsiveness and reflective practice into supervision.
  • Conduct supervision in a way that is ethically robust and defensible under the new regulatory framework.

Course authored by

Kaye Frankcom
Clinical & Counselling Psychologist
GAICD, GAICG, B.A, B.S.W, Grad Dip. Counselling. Psych., MA (Clin), MA (Science in Medicine (Pain Management), FAPS
Associate Professor of Psychology (Deakin University)
Kaye has been a leader in psychology for 35 years, including clinical governance, developing a model of care for your practice, and balancing clinical and business standards.  She was the author of the APS private practice standards.
Dr Aaron Frost
Clinical Psychologist
BBehSc BPsych (Hons) PhD (Clin) FAPS FCCLP

Director of Benchmark Psychology, STAP and PREP
With a career spanning over 20 years, and including private practice, public sector, research, academia, consultancy, and training, Aaron has been an influential and forward thinking leader in psychology.