Why Clinical Supervision Matters: Holding the Therapist’s Process

Supervision is a beneficial relationship that offers support and understanding, enabling the supervisee to examine blocks and effectiveness in order to maintain a true, healthy relationship between the supervisee and their work. It can be a creative and playful space where different mediums such as art, sand tray, mindfulness and other resources will be offered to facilitate the process.

The primary focus of supervision

To provide a regular space for the supervisee  to reflect upon the content and process of their work,

 To develop understanding and skills within the work,

To receive information and another perspective concerning one’s work,

To receive both content and process feedback,

To be validated and supported both as a person and as a worker,

To ensure that as a person and as a supervisee one is not left to carry unnecessary difficulties, problems and projections alone, to have space to explore and express personal distress, re-stimulation, transference or counter-transference that may be brought up by the work,

To plan and to utilise personal and professional resources better,

To be proactive rather than reactive and to ensure quality of work.

My phylosophy as supervisor

As a supervisor I offer a safe, trusting and supportive relationship where the client's needs and wellbeing are at the centre of our engagement. I will be there for my supervisees, making a clear contract with them, understanding their stage of development (Hawkins & McMahon, 2020; Gardner & Yasenik, 2011), attending to the supervisee's learning styles and inviting them to participate in activities that are appropriate to their needs and to the work with the client being presented. I provide clear, owned, regular, balanced and specific feedback (Hawkins & Mc Mahon, 2020) to help the supervisee become more effective.

In supervision I use the definition proposed by Hawkins & McMahon (2020) where supervision is a shared journey in which I attend to the supervisee's clients, in the context of their therapeutic relationship, reflecting on themselves as part of the relational context and the wider systemic and ecological context. In doing so, I am committed to improving the quality of their work, to supporting the client relationship, and to the ongoing development of themselves, their practice and the profession as a whole.

As a Creative Arts Play Therapist I believe that fantasy, intuition and imagery are important sources of information in supervision and that we have undervalued this aspect of our lives. As a supervisor I will offer metaphors, symbols, images and fantasy to help supervisees conceptualise cases, reflect on the client-therapist relationship, attend to transference, countertransference, parallel process, gain perspective on the client's experience and understand the therapeutic process (Lahad, 2000). Creative supervision enhances the supervisee's self-development, intuition and ability to reflect on experience (Wilkins, 1995 on Schuck & Wood, 2011). My aim is to bring awareness to the unconscious processes that can enrich the understanding of case dynamics. (Schuck & Wood, 2011) and I will do this by listening to physical and emotional reactions and by increasing awareness of non-verbal communication.

In this journey I will facilitate space for self-reflexivity and offer a relationship that will take care of the supervisee's difficulties and issues arising from this work so that they can hold their clients appropriately. I am passionate about building a holding relationship by offering sensitivity, valuing both vulnerability and competence, offering knowledge and experience, and supporting personal and professional growth. I believe that a relationship of unconditional acceptance between supervisor and therapist is essential to ensure a similar level of unconditional acceptance between therapist and client.

“All therapist needs self-understanding and insight into their own motivations, needs, blind spots, biases, personal conflicts and areas of emotional difficulty as well as personal strengths” (Landreth, 2002, p.102)

I understand Creative Supervision as a process-centred approach in which the focus is on the interaction between client, therapist and supervisor: how the relationship between supervisee and client unfolds in the supervision session, both in the content and challenges brought by the supervisee, and in the process that emerges between supervisee and supervisor. As Hawkins (2020) states:“…the real shift comes when they start to look inside themselves, at their own responses to the client” ( p. 281)

I provide clinical supervision to other helping professionals and have experience of supporting staff in school settings. I am passionate about supporting those who work in high risk and high trauma environments. The emotional response to challenging situations ensures that they can provide the best care to those they support. By caring for their trauma reactions and triggers, they become more self-reflective and less reactive and can provide a more patient and compassionate type of care.

I work in accordance with Play Therapy UK's ethical framework, honouring the trust placed in me by the supervisee and the trust placed in the therapist by the client. I respect the client's right to self-determination and the supervisee's autonomy. I am committed to promoting the wellbeing of the client and the therapist. I undertake regular and ongoing supervision to improve the quality of services provided and I am committed to updating my practice through continuing professional development. I have an ethical responsibility to seek to minimise any harm caused to a client, even if the harm is unavoidable or unintentional. I hold insurance. I promote self-awareness and self-care in my supervisees and I undertake ongoing practice self-care activities.

References

Braton, Ceballos and Sheley, (2011). ‘Expressive arts in a Humanistic Approach to Play Therapy Supervision’, in Drewes, A & Mullen, J (ed) Supervision can be Playful. Boulder: Jason Aronson.

Cooper (2009) An illustrated Encyclopaedia of traditional symbols. London: Thames and Hudson.

Frick-helms, (2011). ‘Enhancing Role Play Activities in Play Therapy Supervision Groups’, in Drewes, A & Mullen, J (ed) Supervision can be Playful. Boulder: Jason Aronson.

Hawkins, P & McMahon, A (2020) Supervision in the Helping Profession. London: Open University Press.

Shuck, C & Wood, J (2011) Inspiring Creative Supervision. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Yasenik & Gardner, (2011) in When Approaches Collide: A decision Making Model for Play Therapists. Drewes, A & Mullen, J (ed) Supervision can be Playful. Boulder: Jason Aronson.