Dublin Counsellor Blog
Therapist Supervision Dublin
Therapist Supervision Dublin: Supervisees often come to supervision and feel they should talk of client material only and leave their own issues for their own therapy.
As a counsellor/psychotherapist is their work, the two are interwoven and in understanding ourselves as a person this sheds light on our work as a counsellor and how we are relating to our clients. A win-win situation.
Supervision is never purely about the clients and is never purely about the counsellor. It’s about both and the in-between.
Internal Supervisor
Teaching a supervisee to move from affective experience of the heart, to reflective experience in the head and back again within themselves helps them develop their own awareness of self and their ability to register the counter transference with their clients. This is the development of their own ‘internal supervisor’.
This skill helps the counsellor/psychotherapist develop those skills in the client, increasing client emotional intelligence and awareness.
Well known supervisors Page and Wosket write: ‘Personal issues can be legitimately addressed (in supervision) if it increases the potential of the client work. It is sometimes necessary to engage in what amounts to therapeutic work with the counsellor…this is legitimate within supervision provided that the purpose remains that of understanding the counselling process and the overall intention is to enhance the work being done with the client.’
Separating issues
Addressing a supervisees personal issues in supervision is also important when those issues are interfering with client work. Supervisor and supervisee would work to separate them and understand them enough to unblock the client work. Of course if the supervisees issues are substantial further personal therapy would be required if not already happening.
Therapist Supervision Dublin
For a wider description of how therapist supervision works, and to see my own availability for supervision, check out: