Supervision

SUPERVISION - An ethical requirement for counsellors and Trainee Counsellors

I offer face to face supervision in York , Thirsk, Leeds and the surrounding areas,  as well as online supervision for those who are further afield .

I work as an integrative supervisor, which means I am able to draw upon a range of theories and approaches. Supervision provides practitioners with regular and ongoing opportunities to reflect in depth all aspects of their practice in order to work as effectively, safely and ethically as possible.

Supervision also sustains the personal resourcefulness required to undertake client work.

I particularly specialise in supervising the work of couples, children and young people and like to work creatively to explore together new ideas and ways of working. My own work with children and young people was supervised and inspired  by the late Nick Luxmore (November 2019) Nick was a school counsellor and psychotherapist he published 12 books aimed at professionals working with young people and he wrote regularly for psychology today.

Some supervisees prefer not to work in a creative context and this is something I totally accept and appreciate, there are so many ways of working that there is no need to push any particular idea. Supervision aims to facilitate the practitioners development and practice by increasing awareness, knowledge and expertise.

I draw primarily from the process model of Hawkin and Schohet (1989) however the process of supervision is essentially integrative relational. The model has seven modes that facilitates, develops and informs the process of supervision:

• Reflection on the content of therapy sessions between you and client.
• Exploration of the strategies and interventions used by you.
• Exploration of the therapy dynamics and therapeutic relationships.
• Focus on your counter-transference.
• Focus on our supervisory process as a parallel to the therapy process.
• Focus on my supervisor's counter-transference.
• Focus on the wider context such as the organisation you are working in.

When working with students in training it is an ethical  supervision requirement that I work collaboratively with training and placement providers in order to ensure that the trainee’s work  with clients  satisfies professional standards.  

The relationship in supervision is very important to me, working with supervises to build trust, helping them to feel safe to explore what they need, listening to them with congruence and offering a collaborative approach where we can explore together by having meaningful conversations that support both the development of self and the relationship with the client. 

I am a qualified online counsellor, which means I am able to supervise online and telephone work for those who meet the competency framework outlined by BACP. I have experience in supervising Relate’s online service in schools in which I held the position of supervising and supporting the online service for young people to support mental health in schools.

I also facilitate groups where counsellors, practitioners, school staff teams, social teams and nursery staff  meet together to gain professional support from each other, an opportunity to share new ideas, to feel heard and understood, and to explore sound ethical practice.     

Individual supervision sessions are usually a minimum of 1.5 hours per calendar month for BACP accredited members, and for students a minimum of 1.5 hours per calendar month, at a ratio of 8 hours counselling to 1 hour supervision, with supervision every 2 weeks
Group supervision is usually 1.5 hours per month.