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Philippa
Perry
MAHPP UKCP Supervisor
If you would like to consider me as a supervisor for you, please contact me by telephone 020 7713 0030 or email philippaperry@aol.com. We can then have a meeting to see whether we want to work together. There would be no charge for that initial meeting. My charges for supervision are £50.00 with concession of £40.00 for trainees.
First of all, here are some quotes that sum up the essence of what supervision is for me:
I believe the primary value of supervision comes from having a safe and supportive environment in which the supervisee can build on their own skills and insights as a practitioner, and in which the supervisee can reflect on any aspect of their profession and their client relationships. In my view, the ultimate aim of supervision is to enable supervisees to safeguard and enhance the service they offer to clients, to safeguard and enhance the supervisee’s own well being while doing it and to provide reflective space and stimulus for professional growth and learning. In
terms of subject matter, the primary focus of the supervision process is
the supervisee and the therapeutic process unfolding between them and
their clients. I believe for a supervisee to feel free enough to fully explore their feelings about their practice they experience a type of holding from the supervisor. A feeling of being held comes from trusting that the supervisor is aiming to understand the situation from the supervisee’s perspective as well as from the ultimate client’s perspective and their own perspective.
This
meta systems prospective is illustrated by the above diagram in Gilbert
and Evans’ book , Psychotherapy Supervision, ( 2000, p. 8). Holding
also comes from the contract between the Supervisor and Supervisee.
Broadly speaking, there are three types of contract.
Firstly, there is the formal arrangement between them
encompassing, frequency, times, place, professional membership
requirements, and code or codes of ethics.
Secondly there can be mutually agreed long term goals for the
supervisee’s professional development and thirdly, the short-term
goals for any particular piece of work that the Supervisor and
Supervisee contract to undertake together. Holding
does not come from a supervisor having all the answers or the
“right” solution to the supervisee’s dilemmas.
However, the supervisor can model resourcefulness, and can
facilitate the supervisee’s exploration. As
a relational supervisor, I aim to offer supervisees the same attunement,
congruence, connected relating and a safe environment which characterize
my psychotherapy practice. Just as I want a client to find his/her real self and have the
courage to fully realise that self, in my supervisory practice my wish
is not to sculpt and shape the clinical practice of a supervisee
according to my own preferences, but rather to foster an environment in
which the supervisee can build, develop, and shape their practice for
themselves. Although I may make my own preferences, beliefs, and
experience available as a resource, they are not the driving
force of a supervisee’s development.
A
tool that is useful when reflecting on and evaluating my supervisory
work is Clarkson’s Supervision Brief check list.
When reviewing a piece of work with a supervisee she suggests
looking specifically under six different headings: Contract
– was it fulfilled? Key
Issues – were they identified? Possibility
of Harm to client – was it reduced? Developmental
direction of supervisee – was it increased? Process
– was it modeled by supervisor? Relationship
– was it equal? I believe that ethical issues or concerns could be added to this list. According to Page and Woskett in “Supervising the Counsellor” (1994), the key ethical issues are:
As well as working within the guide lines of an established Code of Ethics, e.g. B.A.C.P. To sum up, on my Supervision Diploma course at Metanoia we did a brain storm session of what good supervision is and what it is not and this is what I chose from what our group and the course leader Paul Hitchings came up with: |
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Good
Supervision is: A formal
arrangement Boundaried Protected
time Contractual
and collaborative Regular Usually
given by amore senior person (but could be equal consultative
supervision) Furthering
of the development of the supervisee Protection
of recipients of services Contained
in a relationship conducive to learning Sensitive
to the needs of the supervisee Attentive
to feelings and thinking Good
modeling - congruent with the process and content with respect to the
issue at hand A
balance of support and challenge Encouraging
the supervisee to self assess Characterised
by mutual respect for competence, differing values, non-exploitation and
good modelling Constructive
feedback which enables effective monitoring, maintaining and extending
of levels of effectiveness Learning
through facilitated reflection Contextualised
within an ethical code Relevant
to other professional tasks e.g. research, programme development etc. Time
appropriately structured by Supervisor Helping
being practitioners to find their own way Evaluating
fairly and according to agreed criteria Adapted
to individual differences Supported
by training as supervisors Having
access to a variety of supervisory interventions
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Good
Supervision
is not: 'Overseeing' Therapy Formal
appraisal (except when supervision reports are required for students) Primarily
teaching The
feeding of set answers Primarily
managerial Over
or under structured Insisting
on one answer Role
locked Poor
negotiation Seeing
no reason to train as supervisors Having
a limited repertoire of supervisory interventions Giving
no feedback, vague feedback or punitive feedback Seeing
supervision as a low priority Allowing
interruptions/distractions during the supervisory time
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