Supervision

Supervision for you:

I offer supervision to practitioners within the helping professions - whether that is the NHS, Private Practice or a Voluntary Agency Setting, and work with Counsellors, Psychotherapists, trainees, Heath Professionals and holistic health practitioners.

My Professional background:

Having trained as both a BACP Integrative Humanistic Counsellor and a UKCP Mindfulness-based Humanistic Psychotherapist (Accredited, MA) I bring many years of experience with clients - in different therapeutic work settings - (NHS, Alcohol Services, Carers Services, Social Services, Education, Psychiatric Hospital) to inform my responses in supervision. I describe myself as a Humanistic, Integrative Supervisor.

I am a UKCP recognised Supervisor. I trained at 'The Centre for Supervision and Team Development', in Bath, UK (www.cstdbath.co.uk) where I received my UKCP Diploma in Supervision in 2019.

My approach as a Supervisor-

I offer a reflective, relational approach to supervision sessions, that is affirming in nature, where you will feel valued and seen as a professional and as yourself. In supervision, there is the opportunity to grow as a practitioner through honest and open enquiry, in an atmosphere of encouragement and collaboration that values human relationship and supports the natural development of our own supervisory relationship.

My approach is rooted in ‘mindfulness’ - this is the natural ability we each have to be more aware in our lives and to live as fully as possible in the present moment, with acceptance and compassion. This intention imbues my approach to our sessions as we enquire more deeply into your experiences with your clients and allow new awareness and perspectives to develop.

The UKCP and BACP provide definitions for understanding psychotherapeutic supervision which serve as touchstone for my practice as a Supervisor. These definitions focus on both the client’s and therapist’s welfare, wellbeing and growth through good, reflective supervisory work.

Opportunities for growth within Supervision.

By reflecting on and exploring client issues in supervision, new awareness can emerge, leading to different perspectives and inner responses to a client that shift and deepen your relationship with them. 

Supervision can be a space for you as a practitioner to be playful and honest about your responses to a client. Where you can try out ‘in practice’ new interventions, talk through and embody those aspects that may be emerging from the unconscious and on the periphery of your awareness. Away from a client, subtle energetic experience in the body can be tuned into, as can the ‘imaginative realm’, helping to hear the ‘call of the client in the relationship’ and your own deeper responses to your client more consciously, which can then come to life, through you, in future sessions together.

It is natural for difficulties and stresses to arise when working as a therapist - it can be challenging to be alongside someone who is really suffering and stay ‘present’ but also resourced. Supervision offers you a solid support, as we work to explore and resolve difficulties together, with a view to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of your clients. We all have times when work can feel tough and we doubt ourselves, or perhaps that our hearts ache from the impact of trauma and stuck-ness with clients. Throughout your work as a practitioner, I will hold your needs as a person with care as well as those of your client.

At times of increased risk and concern for clients it is essential to know that you have the advice and sounding-board available in your supervisor. As therapists, we need to know our supervisor has our best interest at heart, within current profession and legal requirements and will not shame or diminish us as we learn and grow through challenges.

The supervisory relationship also offers the rich potential of parallel process; that fascinating ‘something’ which can happen in our relationship - like an echo of the client and their relating style - that becomes alive and is re-enacted between us, paralleling your process with your client. Paying attention to this, with curiosity and interest, can bring new awareness and understanding to the therapeutic process and relationship, and potentially shape your approach to future sessions.

CPD and growth. Supervision can be an essential space for considering where you are going in your work and your career. Discussing and exploring this can be a fruitful aspect of supervision that keeps you fresh and resourced in your work. How you grow your work and career, build a business or navigate practical, financial, childcare and training considerations, are all important to explore.

Compassion fatigue and burn-out. Real life happens to us all, so it is with a compassionate and genuine response that I will share your world of work and life, as they interconnect and reflect on the impact of this for you.

Beginning Supervision Together:

Prior to beginning Supervision together, we will arrange a free Introductory session to meet and explore the possibility of working together. Through a dialogue, we can consider and understand your needs as supervisee, my approach to supervision, and see if we feel there is the potential for a working relationship to develop between us. The exploration of boundaries will be given careful consideration to ensure the Supervisory relationship is clear of limitations and nurtures an openness and freedom to be in relationship together.