CLINICAL SUPERVISION
CLINICAL SUPERVISION
A collaborative space for reflection, professional development and growth.
Alongside my psychotherapy practice, I provide clinical supervision to counsellors and psychotherapists as a PACFA College of Supervision Certified Supervisor.
I see supervision as much more than meeting a professional requirement or reporting on what happened in a therapy session. At its best, supervision provides a space to step back, think more deeply about our clinical work and remain curious about both the client and ourselves as therapists.
There are times when we need to think through a complex presentation or consider what direction therapy might take next. At other times, the most useful question might be about what is happening between ourselves and the client, why a particular client is affecting us, or why we are feeling stuck.
Good supervision isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about having a space where we can think more deeply about the questions.
MY APPROACH TO SUPERVISION
PACFA describes clinical supervision as a collaborative process that monitors, develops and supports practitioners in their clinical role, with a focus on both client outcomes and the professional development and self-care of the supervisee.
Those principles strongly reflect how I approach supervision.
For me, supervision needs to provide enough professional challenge to help us grow, while also creating enough safety for us to be honest about uncertainty, mistakes, emotional reactions and the moments when we simply don’t know what to do next.
I don’t expect supervisees to arrive with perfectly formulated cases or the right answer. Sometimes the most valuable supervision begins with:
“Something is happening here and I’m not quite sure what it is.”
From there, we can slow things down, explore the clinical picture and consider what might be happening for the client, within the therapeutic relationship and for you as the therapist.
A SPACE TO THINK, NOT JUST REPORT
Supervision can include discussion and reflection around:
- Case formulation and treatment planning
- Complex or challenging client presentations
- Trauma, attachment and relational dynamics
- Countertransference and therapist reactions
- Ethical dilemmas and professional boundaries
- Risk, responsibility and clinical decision-making
- Feeling stuck or uncertain about where therapy is going
- The therapeutic relationship
- Developing confidence and your own identity as a therapist
- The emotional impact of therapeutic work and practitioner self-care
Supervision should also change as you develop professionally.
Someone beginning their career may need something quite different from an experienced practitioner wanting a reflective space to examine complex clinical work. I adapt supervision to the experience, needs and stage of development of the individual therapist, rather than expecting everyone to work in the same way.
TRAUMA-INFORMED & INTEGRATIVE SUPERVISION
Much of my own clinical practice involves working with complex and developmental trauma, childhood abuse and neglect, anxiety, shame, attachment and relationship difficulties.
My approach to psychotherapy is integrative, drawing on EMDR, Attachment-Informed EMDR, somatic psychotherapy, IFS-informed parts work, Resource Therapy, Narrative Therapy and therapeutic breathing techniques.
This naturally informs the way I think about cases in supervision.
Rather than viewing a client’s symptoms or behaviours in isolation, I am often interested in understanding what happened, what may have been missing, what the client learned to do to survive or maintain connection, and what may now be occurring within the therapeutic relationship.
This can be particularly useful when working with complex trauma, where progress is not always linear and where issues such as dissociation, shame, protective responses, attachment, boundaries, dependency, avoidance and the therapist’s own emotional responses can become important parts of the work.
You do not need to practise the same modalities that I do. Supervision should help you develop your own clinical thinking and therapeutic identity, not turn you into a version of your supervisor.
THE SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP
Just as the therapeutic relationship matters in psychotherapy, I believe the supervisory relationship matters in supervision.
You need to be able to talk about the sessions that went well, but also the ones that didn’t.
There should be room to say:
“I think I got that wrong.”
“I’m really struggling with this client.”
“I don’t understand why I’m reacting so strongly to this.”
or simply:
“I have no idea what to do next.”
Those conversations are not signs of being a poor therapist. They are often where some of the most valuable reflection and professional development can occur.
My aim is to provide supervision that is supportive without avoiding challenge, reflective without becoming overly theoretical, and professional without losing the humanity of the work we do.
WHO I PROVIDE SUPERVISION TO
I provide clinical supervision to counsellors and psychotherapists, including practitioners at different stages of their professional development.
Supervision may be useful if you are looking for:
- Regular ongoing clinical supervision
- Support with trauma and complex presentations
- Case formulation and treatment direction
- A reflective space for challenging therapeutic relationships
- Support around boundaries, ethics or countertransference
- Greater confidence in your clinical decision-making
- Professional development as a counsellor or psychotherapist
Supervision can be provided in person in Sydney or online.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
I have worked as a psychotherapist and counsellor since 2013 and hold a Master of Counselling and Applied Psychotherapy.
I am registered with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) and am a member of the PACFA College of Supervision, having met the College’s standards for certification as a supervisor.
I am also an EMDRAA Accredited Practitioner, with much of my clinical practice focused on trauma, complex trauma and attachment-related work.
PACFA REG CLINICAL 22536
PACFA College of Supervision Certified Supervisor
EMDRAA Accredited Practitioner
Enquire about Clinical Supervision
Finding the right supervisor is important, and sometimes the best way to know whether we might work well together is simply to have a conversation.
If you’re looking for clinical supervision and would like to discuss your practice, what you’re looking for from supervision and whether I might be a good fit, please get in touch for a friendly, obligation-free conversation.