Professional Supervision

Participants in this course must have successfully completed a training in counselling, counselling psychology, psychotherapy, coaching or a related profession, or have an equivalent level of training and experience; have a minimum of a year’s experience post-qualification; be a member of a professional body, and have professional indemnity insurance.

For qualified TA professionals, the workshop meets the criteria set by UKCP for Continuing Professional Development (CPD). If you work in a different modality from TA, it is likely that the course will still afford CPD credit – please check the criteria of your own professional organisation. A certificate of attendance will be provided on request.

Students who pass the assessment for The Berne Institute Diploma can, if they wish, be awarded 100 credits towards the Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Supervision (120 credits). To gain the required additional 20 credits, the student must complete one additional written assignment and a presentation on a supervision case study, plus two more supervised supervisions.

To obtain a Masters’ Degree in Professional Supervision validated by Middlesex University, a further 60 credits (thus, 180 credits in total) must be earned by Dissertation. This is a written study of 13,500-15,000 words on one of the following subjects:

• Outcome of Research Study on Professional Supervision
• A Supervision Case Study
• A Literature Review on an aspect of Supervision.

Unit One: The Supervisory Relationship

• Introduction to the course
• Creating a learning environment
• Purposes and philosophies of supervision
• Tasks and roles in supervision
• Working with difference and diversity in supervision
• The supervisory relationship

Unit Two: Contracting and Increasing Developmental Direction

• Outcome contracting in supervision
• Process contracting in supervision
• Appropriate contracts and contextual factors
• Shame, support and challenge
• Managing supervision boundaries
• Assessing developmental stages of supervisees
• Facilitating developmental direction – developmental models

Unit Three: Ethics, Harm and Legal Issues in Supervision

• Values and ethics – the monitoring role of supervision
• Enabling supervisees to think ethically
• Legal considerations
• Supervision in the wider environment
• Organisational, social and political considerations
• Addressing safety issues in supervision
• Supervision via phone, e-mail, MSN or Skype

Unit Four: Supervision Process

• Identifying key issues
• Process models of supervision
• The use of transference, countertransference and parallel process
• Incorporating key issues into supervisory process
• The supervisor’s use of self

Unit Five: Supervision Philosophy and Integration

• Consolidating and integrating philosophy of supervision
• Creativity in supervision
• The meta perspective
• Imagery and language
• Dual relationships
• Endings in supervision
• Integration

Assignments for the Diploma:

• One 2,500-word essay on “The Supervisory Relationship”
• Reflective Journal
• Presentation on a model of supervision
• Two observed supervisions at training weekends
• Two supervisions observed and passed at the PEW
• One 2,000 word essay on “Personal Philosophy of Supervision”
• Full participation in process

Participants in this course must have successfully completed a training in counselling, counselling psychology, psychotherapy, or a related profession, or have an equivalent level of training and experience; have a minimum of a year’s experience post-qualification; be a member of a professional body, and have professional indemnity insurance.