Supervision for Counsellors 

        & Psychotherapists

Supervision is an integral aspect of counselling and psychotherapy practice. It has to be engaged in for the number of hours per month required by your accrediting body/member organisation and the amount needed increases if you are a successful therapist with many clients and a demanding or challenging case load. The supervisory relationship itself is at the core, at the very heart of your professional practice. It is a consultative, collaborative relationship which enables greater awareness and enhances insight and understanding around your client work but also helps to ensure that your self-care and well-being are integral and form the core of your counselling practice.

What is considered to be the 'right' supervision will vary from therapist to therapist and the way that you work or would like to work will obviously be hugely influential. It is a professional relationship with boundaries and structure and should be provided by someone with greater experience and appropriate training. However, the process of finding a supervisor is not unlike finding the right therapist to work with and is not only about credentials and what looks 'good' on paper. The wrong choice can have a huge impact on your confidence and way of being as a therapist. There are a lot of therapists out there and many also practice supervision but what works for one person will not for another.  It is worth discovering what you intuitively feel about working with someone as a supervisor and it is ok to change who you work with as you grow and develop, if this is what feels right for you and your own practice. Good supervision is about rapport, resonance, containment and safety, it is about equality and respect. The knowledge and experience of a supervisor should not be communicated in a 'superior' way, it should facilitate and enhance confidence, growth and learning. 

The consultative support from an ongoing supervisory relationship enables ethical practice and encompasses both client and counsellor wellbeing and safety.  Supervision is the creation of a trusted, safe, containing relationship within a relaxed environment where reflection and discussion can take place.  It should be supportive, educative and inspirational as well as empowering, allowing you to develop and grow as the unique therapist you are, or are in the process of becoming.

If you are interested in meeting me then please make contact to arrange a session free of charge to ask me anything you want and just get a feel of how we might work together. This first meeting is offered without any obligation whatsoever. If you do then feel you might like to be a supervisee of mine, our first session after this one will still be considered 'exploratory' as I believe finding the right supervisory relationship to be very important so feel it is an understandably tentative process.

See my Counselling & Psychotherapy website for more information about my practice, which is based in Christchurch, Dorset.

I offer supervision individually or in groups and work face to face in Christchurch, Dorset or alternatively via Skype or telephone

website    www.therapeuticcounselling.org.uk

email   therapeutic.counsellor@outlook.com