counselling supervision

Counselling supervision for qualified counsellors - £35 for 1 hour.

Non Line Management supervision for counsellors and / or professionals working with young people in demanding situations - £35 per hour.

Supervision is a confidential working relationship in which resources of the Supervisor arid supervisee are directed in regular sessions, towards maximising the competence of the supervisee in helping clients. The aim of supervision is to provide an attentive and supportive environment within which the individual can develop new options for managing themselves and their work with greater satisfaction and effectiveness, this is achieved by:

1.   Considering responsibility for standards and ethics
2.   Sharing the responsibility for the professional development of the supervisee's skills, knowledge and understanding
3.   Providing opportunities for `discharging and recharging batteries'

The Counselling Supervision I offer is based upon my person ‑ centred training and experience. I am happy to arrange a preliminary meeting to discuss and individuals needs for which there will be no charge.

I seek to provide a service that is anti‑discriminatory in nature and endeavour to ensure this commitment is reflected in the supervisory process.

Supervisees normally contract for weekly, fortnightly or monthly sessions usually for one and a half hour's duration, dependant upon the individual's volume of client contact, type of client contact, experience and/ or professional requirements.

I encourage regular reviews regarding the effectiveness of the supervision to ensure good practice and to maintain an open and honest relationship, which will promote personal and professional requirements.

I am available to be contacted between supervision sessions if there is an issue with a client that can not wait until supervision. I can either arrange a supervision session or arrange telephone supervision depending on the nature of the issue to be discussed. I will provide receipts for all work undertaken and complete BACP / College paperwork as required.

I treat all information disclosed to me as confidential. Where a professional disagreement about client care cannot be resolved I consult with fellow professionals. This might include relevant organisations, college, placement provider or professional body, if I believe a supervisee's work with a client causes serious concern and where mutual course of action cannot be agreed. Issues of client safety and safety of those surrounding the client are given primary importance as are fitness to practice.

In the case of trainee counsellors, I will adhere to all the protocols and complete all the necessary paperwork required by the overseeing college, whilst following BACP guidelines for good practice.

Telephone Counselling.

I will adhere to the same standards and ethics as face to face counselling.

Issues for consideration include our legal liabilities to each other, any employing organisations and to clients. This includes the action to be taken if I have serious concerns about a supervisee's practice‑particularly in the area of safety as outlined above.

If you wish to contact me between sessions please leave a message on the answer phones of the numbers given. Please ensure that you leave your name, contact details and options when you can be contacted. DO NOT leave any confidential information regarding client issues on the answer phone.

This is offered either to further support counsellors who already have a counselling supervisor, or to support staff who are not counsellors but who work with demanding clients / workloads.

The following issues are typical of what would be covered in non line management supervision. It would not be possible to cover each issue in every supervision, but these issues should be covered sporadically.
Supervisee’s can also talk to their supervisor informally between sessions.

WORKLOAD – How is the supervisee coping with their workload? Are they achieving a balance of tasks in term of ongoing and developmental work? Does their workload reflect the funding requirements of the organisation?
STAFFING ISSUES – How is the supervisee getting on with their co – workers? Are there any issues they wish to raise re relationships with team members, or any other staffing issues.
CLIENTS – Are there any clients the supervisee wishes to discuss? Are there any that they are concerned about in terms of risk?
TRAINING NEEDS – Discuss both individual training needs and whole team training needs that the supervisee may have identified.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT – Personal and career development. Identify the areas where the supervisor or the agency can help with this.

Both the counselling and non line management supervision are confidential to the supervisor and the supervisee. It is at the supervisee’s discretion if she wants to tell her line manager about anything discussed with the supervisor. Generally, there will not be any need for the supervisor to contact the line manager to discuss the content of a supervision session. However, if the supervisor was concerned that the worker was engaging in bad practice, or if they were concerned that the worker was being badly treated by the organisation, they would have the right, with the supervisees knowledge to talk to the workers line manager. If the supervisee was being disciplined, the supervisor would be informed of this by the line manager, with the supervisee’s knowledge.

During the first supervision session, the supervisor will ask the supervisee what their previous supervision experience has been and what they feel the purpose of supervision is. They will then share their views of the purpose of supervision in this environment and agree on a way forward with regards to the supervision content and the demands of the organisation.

PROBLEMS IN THE COUNSELLING AND NON LINE MANAGEMENT SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP

If the counsellor / worker is unhappy with their supervision, they should first discuss this with the supervisor. If the situation cannot be resolved, they should inform their line manager, who could call a three way meeting to try to resolve the difficulties. If the situation cannot be improved, the worker is welcome to request a change of supervisor.

Types of Supervision available and rates: