What is supervision
Supervision is a requirement for anyone working in the counselling profession and indeed in many other helping professions. Professional bodies will have their own minimum requirements that members are expected to meet. For example the BACP requires members to have a minimum of 1.5 hours of supervision per month.
Although supervision is a formal arrangement it is much more than than overseeing another counsellors work. It is a collaborative relationship where supervisor and supervisee “work together to ensure and develop the efficacy of the counsellor/client relationship” (BACP information sheet S2).
Inskipp and Proctor suggest that there are 3 main functions of supervision:
The normative task which ensures that ethical practice is adhered to, the formative task which aims to develop the supervisee’s skill, knowledge and understanding and the restorative task which enables the supervisee to discharge emotions and recharge their batteries.
Supervision protects clients and supports counsellors by involving a qualified third party. It can offer different insights which can enhance the therapeutic work and provides a safe space for supervisees to explore their own feelings and thoughts about the therapeutic alliance and their own personal development.
It is not only Counselling professionals who benefit from supervision. Individuals working in the areas of health care, social care or the emergency services are realising the benefits of having a safe space to explore the impact of their work on them which is separate from their line management
How I work and my experience
As a supervisor I aim to create an environment where you feel safe enough to bring all aspects of your work. What you want from supervision and how we can work together will be discussed in the first session and is something that we will regularly review. In my view supervision is a combination of support and challenge and the balance will vary depending upon where you are in your own professional development, your caseload and at times will be influenced by external factors.
As your supervisor I would aim to:
- Develop a working collaborative relationship with you to help you process, explore and reflect upon the therapeutic relationship in a non judgemental environment
- Help you develop your own internal supervisor
- Support you in taking care of yourself
- Support you in developing your awareness and identifying learning opportunities
- Address any ethical issues that may arise and ensure that adequate professional standards are met.
- Provide feedback to tutors and/or agencies as and when required
I work with my own clients using an integrative model incorporating humanistic and psychodynamic approaches. Essentially I work in a relational way with my supervisees as I would do with my clients. Monitoring the transference and counter transference in the supervisory relationship can be helpful in understanding what is going on in both the the supervisory and the therapeutic relationship. Establishing a non judgemental, congruent and positive relationship in supervision is as essential as it is in the therapeutic relationship. I am always happy to share my knowledge and experience. I have a special interest in trauma and am familiar with use of grounding techniques to help clients feel safe.
As well as working in private practice I have experience of working in the NHS and a number of voluntary organisations including drug and alcohol agencies. My primary experience is working with individual adults as well as older (+16) teenagers. I have worked with individual supervisees in private practice and I have also run a supervision group for students working in a drug agency.
If you feel that I may be able to help please call me in the first instance. I would be happy to arrange a no obligation initial meeting to see how we could work together.
Who I work with and fees
I welcome enquiries from:
- Individual qualified counsellors
- Newly qualified counsellors
- Trainee/student counsellors
In addition I welcome enquiries from those working in other helping professions such as healthcare, social care and the emergency services who would like to consider establishing some confidential support.
Also if there are 2-4 of you who would like to attend supervision together we can establish a supervision group. This can be an ideal way of reducing the cost and the BACP allows you to claim half the supervision time for groups of up to 4 people.
1 hour individual session £45
1.5 hour individual session £60
Group supervision – depends on numbers. Please contact me for further details.
I have recently attended the Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Supervision course at the Albany Centre, St. Albans.