Professional, Tailored, Therapy

Clinical Supervision

Clinical supervision is a structured professional relationship in which a therapists brings their work to a more experienced therapist for reflection, support and oversight.

It’s a dedicated space to think about your clients. The ones you’re connecting well with, the ones you’re finding challenging to reach, the cases that are raising ethical questions, the sessions that left you unsettled. Its where you step back from the doing and actually reflect on what’s happening in the room.

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Supervision creates space to discuss boundaries, safeguarding, risk and wellbeing, which is crucial for protecting both client and therapist.

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Three functions of supervision

(framework developed by Peter Proctor)

The normative function: This is the oversight element. Making sure youre working ethically and safely. Checking that the people you see are genuinely well served. Identifying anything that might be putting a client or yourself at risk.

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The formative function: This is about development. Growing as a therapist. Deepening your understanding of the theoretical questions your clients raise. Developing new skills and perspectives. Reflecting on how you’re working and why.

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The restorative function: This is about you. The emotional weight of this work is real. Clients bring difficult things into the room and some of it stays with you. Supervision is one of the few professional spaces where that gets named and tended to. Where you can say honestly that a particular piece of work has got under your skin.

These three functions don’t happen separately, theyre woven together throughout.

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Supervision gives you somewhere to bring the work that genuinely stays with you. The client your worried about, the session that didn’t go as you hoped, the relationship that’s developing in a way that feels complicated, the case that’s made you question your own judgement. It also supports your development. Growing as a therapist through supervision is one of the most significant things good supervision does. It shapes the kind of practitioner you becomes, session by session, year by year.

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It’s genuinely collaborative. The supervisor is thinking alongside you, bringing their perspective and their experience without overriding your autonomy or your clinical instincts.

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It challenges as well as supports. Supervision includes moments of honest challenge, where something is named that’s difficult to hear. Where a blind spot is gently pointed to, where you are asked a question that unsettles your assumptions in a useful way.

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It feels safe enough to be honest. The quality of what you bring to supervision depends entirely on ow safe you feel to be honest. If you’re managing your supervisors impression of you rather than being straight about what’s actually happening in your work the supervision isn’t working.

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It tends to you as well as your clients. Your wellbeing matters. Looking after yourself as a therapist is something supervision should actively support.

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Creative Supervision

Creative supervision adds another dimension to clinical supervision. Working creatively allows the practitioner to bring new ways of thinking and perspective on their practice that extends beyond the formal demands of their professional role.

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There is no need to be artistic or creative to benefit from creative supervision, just a willingness to consider existing experiences in a new way.

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Using creativity and talking in supervision supports whole brain integration, allowing the unconscious mind to bring material to the conscious mind so the practitioner can understand their responses and their clients therapeutic journeys at a deeper level.

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Creative materials used in supervision include but are not limited to, sand and symbols, art materials, playdough/clay, Nesting dolls, picture cards and storytelling. These allow the practitioner to reflect on their clinical practice as well as exploring the process of their clients in a creative way, that can help bring fresh perspectives to their professional work and their own personal insights.

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Creative supervision parallels the therapy space, allowing for a safe supervisory relationship to develop. Supports the practitioners ‘felt sense’ of their own learning and their clients process. As they gain insight into their clients work and consider the transference and countertransference dynamics that arise.  These insights can then be integrated into professional practice to enhance the practitioners therapeutic work.

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Creative supervision allows practitioners to develop their therapeutic skills, techniques and interventions.

 

Benefits of Creative Supervision

• Bypasses the inner critic: engages the intuitive right hemisphere of the brain alongside logical analysis.

• Deepens empathy: enhances the ‘felt sense’ of a clients internal world and relational dynamics (countertransference).

• Manages stuckness: offers a new ways to view clinical blind spots when regular talking reaches its limits.

• Prevents burnout: provides an engaging expressive outlet that supports the well-being and resilience of helping professionals.

 

Who is creative clinical supervision for?

Creative clinical supervision benefits psychotherapists, therapist, counsellors, art therapists, creative therapists, coaches, social workers, medical practitioners, leaders and those involved in supporting, or caring for children, young people and adults.

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Creative Clinical Supervision can also support other professionals who are in helping and supporting roles including teaching assistants, ELSA’s, teachers, senior leaders, designated safeguarding officers, family support workers, domestic abuse support workers and many more…..

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When and where is supervision held?

Sessions are held face to face in Paignton or online, for a minimum of 45 minutes per session.

Sessions can be booked weekly, fortnightly or monthly for as long as you need.

Additional time can be booked if required for example, when managing a complex situation or a safeguarding concern.