Supervision
I currently have limited availability for supervision. Contact me for more information.
I bring to supervision a knowledge of a range of different theoretical approaches and considerable experience of practising in person-centred and narrative therapy. I also have many years of experience in mentoring teachers at all stages of experience and development.
My Approach To Supervision
In my own counselling practice, I would describe myself as a narrative practitioner, and I bring this same approach to my work in supervision. I am interested in working with you to make visible and explore the underlying theories, beliefs and values that underpin your work as a counsellor. For me, supervision is a process where we jointly examine and monitor your practice in the light of these ideas. My hope is that this may work to enrich and extend your practice, to develop your identity as a counselling professional, to support you in practising in line with the Code of Ethics and the policies of the context in which you work, to sustain you
when things get tough and to support you in providing the safest and best possible experience for the people you work with in counselling.
We all bring our own ideas and life experiences to the work we do. I see supervision as a place where we can work together to create new knowledge and understandings rather than privileging the knowledge of any of the participants. One important part of my role in the process is to bring questions which might invite us to think differently.
My expectations
I believe that supervision plays an important part in supporting good and ethical practice and that both of us need to commit to protecting the time and space that is given to it. That means being there as agreed and cancelling only when there is a genuine crisis.
I believe that supervision is different from a regular conversation and that both of us need to commit to engaging in the work, recognising that this engagement can be challenging and uncomfortable at times, and being willing to have difficult conversations if necessary.
I believe that part of supervision should involve looking at actual examples of practice and that you need to commit to bringing recordings of some of your work to our sessions.
I recognise that any two people will bring differences in culture, life experience, status, knowledge and belief and I believe that both of us need to commit to making these differences visible and examining how they may operate on our working relationship.
Confidentiality
Your privacy is very important to me. I will not talk about what happens in our meetings or give anyone access to any notes or other documents which are produced in our sessions. However, there are some things I want you to know.
Supervision: just as you might bring some of your work to supervision with me, I also have a supervisor and I might take some of my work with you to her. My supervisor also works within the NZAC Code of Ethics and will respect the confidentiality of anything I bring.
Risk of harm: I can’t promise to keep confidentiality if I believe it would mean putting you or someone else at serious risk or if I have serious concerns about your fitness to practice which still remain after these have been addressed in our supervision sessions.
Safety
I recognise that it takes courage for people to risk bringing their practice to supervision and I take very seriously my responsibility as a supervisor to provide a safe, non-judgemental and supportive space for this to happen. I will check with you regularly to make sure that you are comfortable with what is happening in our sessions.
I am a member of the New Zealand Association of Counselling (NZAC) and will abide by the NZAC code of ethics. You can find a copy of this code at http://www.nzac.org.nz
If you have any complaints or concerns about my performance as a supervisor, I hope you will feel able to talk to me about them. You can also raise them with the NZAC.