Supervision

What is clinical supervision for you?

For some, supervision is a chore demanded by being a member of a professional organisation. For others, it is about problem solving; a pragmatic way to get help with client-work when feeling stuck. It could be a monitoring exercise; a part of the job that will hopefully keep us out of trouble. Or maybe, it's a challenging way to look at our work with clients; to keep what we do fresh and interesting; a reminder of why we came into the profession, and of what keeps us here.

I suspect that the approach we take to supervision says plenty about the approach we take to our counselling work; and that is something that I enjoy looking at as a starting point to a supervisory relationship.

For me, all of the above can apply at different times, although I’m pleased to say it rarely feels like a chore. And if it does, that can generate some very useful discussion and reflection on practice that always leads to a feeling of growth and renewal.

As your supervisor, I would aim to really explore with you what is happening in your client work, and equally what is happening to you both within and as a result of your client work.

I offer an opportunity for you as a therapist to work alongside me, another colleague, towards a shared set of client-focused goals; simultaneously challenging and supporting your unique experience of your work.

Our first (free) session will enable you to explore just what it is that you are looking for from your supervision. This, alongside discussion around some of the practicalities, will help us to decide how well we may work together and, if we wish, to inform the creation of a contract for our work.

Please note, I do not work with children myself and only supervise therapists' work with adult clients.

If you would like to discuss supervision further, please email me indicating when you are available. I will then get back to you with a suggested date/time when we can 'meet', and any further information you may need.

Counselling for Counsellors

…and trainee counsellors, of course.

There's a reasonable chance, if you’re reading this, that you’ve already been through the process of counselling, at least for a period of your life. Most training courses include ‘personal therapy’ as a requirement and most of us know the concept of ‘the wounded healer’; it seems that a good portion of those who go for training in the first place, do so following on from their own experiences of therapy.

So, assuming that, you’re sorted, right? We-e-e-ll… as we all know, it’s rarely that simple. Things change, we – our outlook, attitudes, priorities – change, and life continues, which means new things are always coming up to challenge us.

Hopefully, you will have built a really great therapeutic relationship with your counsellor before, during or since your training. But what if that isn’t in place?

There are many reasons why we could make it into and through the profession, without the benefit of having a counsellor; perhaps your counsellor is no longer working in the profession. Maybe your own ‘priority shift’, means that the counsellor who was ideal in the past, is no longer able to provide what you need. Is it possible, you didn’t meet that wonderful thing, ‘the right counsellor for me’ in the first place?

Or, could it be none of the above, but your knowledge of the profession itself, that’s getting in the way? That in learning about it from this side, you’re now a lot better at (inadvertently) covering up? That you’re hiding the things that you know deep within yourself could benefit from being brought out and shared with someone? And that you haven’t been able to find anyone who will both say the appropriately challenging things that will help you to really explore yourself, and who is able to hold you safely in that process?

I’m not promising that I’ll be ‘the right counsellor for you’, that would be ridiculous. But I can offer to bring my understanding, experience and awareness of the unique difficulties of being a counsellor-as-client into my work with another practitioner who wants to stop evading; one who wishes to continue to look deep and to explore their own process, from an existential perspective, in order to keep this wonderful process alive for themself, in both directions.

Whether you are in training, or beyond, or even past the profession altogether, if you have found your ‘knowledge’ has got in the way of your expression of your feelings when in counselling as a client, I understand the difficulty of inhabiting both chairs at once, and would like to try to help you to take just one at a time; to allow and help you to be the client, and person you need to be.

If you are interested in meeting, please get in touch to let me know when you are available.