Counselling Supervision'Supervision is a formal arrangement for therapists to discuss their work regularly with someone who is experienced in both therapy and supervision. Whatever the chosen format, the supervisory relationship is at the heart of effective supervision (Millar 2007; Stafford 2008). The supervisor’s goal is “to do whatever seems most likely to send the other person away more aware, more informed, skilled and encouraged than she was when she came in.' BACP Information sheet Counselling Supervision is independent of any line-management supervision a practitioner may have. For over ten years I have been offering supervision to counsellors. I offer supervision to person-centred therapists, and also to those from other theoretical backgrounds including Cognitive-Behavioural, Psychodynamic, and Integrative therapies. My approach to supervision involves an active encouragement for you to find and develop the way of working that best suits your skills and personality. Over the years I have worked with newly qualified and experienced practitioners as well as with students. I was for many years an approved supervisor on the Strathclyde University postgraduate diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Supervision is a particular kind of professional conversation. The supervision I attempt to offer is inspired by Tony Merry's idea of a collaborative enquiry, Keith Tudor and Mike Worrall's encouragement to think, question, and roam imaginatively, and Elke Lambers' emphasis on the developing and congruent humanity of the therapist. I am also influenced by Brigid Proctor's descriptions of the 'normative, formative, and restorative' functions of supervision. Supervision offers a regular opportunity to reflect on how you are experiencing your work with clients; to celebrate what is apparently going well and also paying attention to those things which are perhaps not. It aims to contribute significantly to the well-being and safety of practitioners and clients, and is increasingly viewed as an important safeguard for the public. I attempt to listen 'without agenda' as Ernesto Spinelli puts it, in order to allow you to look at things holistically. Through this, my task is to support you to 'hear' and experience yourself more fully, in order for you to be able to meet, understand, and respond to your clients more fully. In supervision, significant time is spent looking at specific aspects of client work (sometimes described as 'case work supervision') including the central importance of the developing relationship. We may also spend time looking at how your work is affecting you, and perhaps at how your wider life is affecting your client work for good or ill. Other areas of exploration may include:
Supervision is your time to explore the issues of importance to you in a respectfully supportive and challenging environment. Whilst it shares many features with therapy, it is significantly different in that at all times, the meetings are ultimately at the service of your work and your clients. The areas outlined above are therefore 'on the menu'. Supervision Contract Like counsellors, many supervisors agree a 'contract' with their supervisees. I find the legal and legalistic connotations of this word unhelpful, so instead seek to find an agreed way of working together, so that we can both be clear about what we can expect of and from each other. I call this 'Preparing the Ground', some of the details of which are on this information sheet. |
'(Time to) ... reflect, to think, and to question; ... to be curious, critical, and creative.' Tudor & Worrall 'The function of the supervisor, then, is to create an atmosphere that will enable the supervisee to find his or her own style of being a therapist. By doing so, the supervisor also models the growth-promoting environment of congruence, acceptance, and empathy.' Villas-Bowen British miners in the 1920s fought for what was termed ‘pit-head’ time – the right to wash off the grime of the work in the boss’s time, rather than take it home with them. Supervision is the equivalent for those who work at the coalface of personal distress, disease and fragmentation.’ Hawkins & Shohet |
Supervision for those in other roles and professions
Whilst non-managerial supervision (sometimes called professional consultative support) is an ongoing (and for me welcome and valued) obligation
for counsellors and psychotherapists, other professions do not generally require it. This means that many people working in jobs involving a high level
of human relating receive minimal support to explore the rewards, costs, and complexities of the work as well as reflecting on issues that may be challenging on a personal or organisational level. Sometimes a lack of this kind of support can lead staff to experience lower levels of engagement in work, reduced effectiveness, less satisfaction, and increasing stress leading ultimately to 'burnout' ('hardness of heart or sadness of soul' as the writer
Ted Bowman puts it).
Supervision of this kind offers a regular opportunity to talk confidentially with an understanding, encouraging, accepting, yet challenging person in order to support oneself and to develop work effectiveness, sustainability, work-life balance, and personal satisfaction. It can be helpful for people working in various roles, including but not limited to health and social care, complementary therapy, education, emergency services, religious and pastoral ministry, management, personnel work, and politics.
for counsellors and psychotherapists, other professions do not generally require it. This means that many people working in jobs involving a high level
of human relating receive minimal support to explore the rewards, costs, and complexities of the work as well as reflecting on issues that may be challenging on a personal or organisational level. Sometimes a lack of this kind of support can lead staff to experience lower levels of engagement in work, reduced effectiveness, less satisfaction, and increasing stress leading ultimately to 'burnout' ('hardness of heart or sadness of soul' as the writer
Ted Bowman puts it).
Supervision of this kind offers a regular opportunity to talk confidentially with an understanding, encouraging, accepting, yet challenging person in order to support oneself and to develop work effectiveness, sustainability, work-life balance, and personal satisfaction. It can be helpful for people working in various roles, including but not limited to health and social care, complementary therapy, education, emergency services, religious and pastoral ministry, management, personnel work, and politics.
