Supervision

What is Counselling Supervision?

For the counselling and hypnotherapy industries supervision is an incredibility important part of keeping us grounded and aware of our of limitations and issues, including burnout or compassion fatigue, as well as keeping our clients safe. It protects us from inappropriate actions or behaviour, transference and countertransference and keeps us updated on our Association’s requirements to continue working as counsellors. Counselling supervision can be done as individual or group sessions, whichever best suits the counselling.

The way I think of supervision, is very much like the picture below, my role is to be your eyes and ears to protect you and keep you safe. As well as protecting your clients and keeping them safe.

The ACA states:

“Supervision is the process whereby a counsellor can speak to someone who is trained to identify any behavioural and/or psychological changes in the counsellor that could be due to an inability to cope with issues of one or more clients. A supervisor is also responsible for challenging practices and informing supervisee’s of alternative theories and/or new practices, as well as changes in the industry. The supervisor is responsible for observing the mental health of their supervisee in turn protecting the public from poor practices. Counsellors can face issues such as transference and burn out without any recognition of the symptoms. A professional supervisor would notice the symptoms long before the counsellor. Supervision is a learned discipline separate from counselling.”

They go on to say:-

“Supervision is require to help the supervisee investigate and self-reflect on four important areas (Pelling, Barletta & Armstrong, 2010).

Identify any possible mental or emotional health issues. This is not inferring that the supervisor needs to counsel the supervisee. These skills are primarily observational and take an early intervention perspective.
Challenging the supervisee’s use of theories, modalities and ethics in relation to the client and workplace.
Helping the counsellor to further develop themselves as a professional within acceptable guidelines.
Helping the supervisee with business building skills or career development.”

The ACA requires a minimum of 10 hours of supervision per year and can be achieved by individual, group, face to face or online via Zoom sessions. I would suggest you regularly have supervision, cramming at the end of your membership year will not happen with me. If this is what you want, then I suggest you contact another supervisor. Supervision is too important to just ‘tick a box’.

For New Counsellors

For newly qualified counsellors and hypnotherapists who are still building their client base, struggling to find their direction, or unsure about their unique niche, I offer comprehensive support and guidance to help you establish a successful and fulfilling practice. My mentoring program provides all the relevant information you need to find your own way. This program includes forms, free websites to advertise on, marketing tips, administration options as well as mandatory requirements. Supervision can be expensive, especially when you have few or no clients, so I offer a group supervision option as a way to support and give back to new and emerging counsellors.

Individual and Group Supervision Costs

My fee is $125 for an individual 60-minute session. These fees are GST inclusive. Individual sessions can be face to face or Zoom.

For participation in a 2-hour group session, the fee is $75. These sessions traditionally are via Zoom & happen twice monthly (2nd & 4th Monday of the month 5pm-7pm AEDST). The first hour is usually some form of psycho education with the 2nd hour being pure supervision.

If you would like to start your own group, please let me know as I would be more than happy to help you with the process.

I’m available at various times of the week for supervision, so please feel free to reach out to me. You can contact me at 0414 718 338 or email me directly at Toni@TLCounselling.com.au with any questions you may have.

Looking forward to hearing from you & supporting you with your supervision needs.

Counselling Supervision Helpful Links

Feel free to have a look at the article on the power of supervision on my website

This link is an interesting article on the impact of supervision you might find helpful

Here is a link for supervision ethics and values which are interesting