Why Do Therapists Have Supervision?

Although counselling and psychotherapy aren’t regulated here in the UK in the way that they are in many other countries, one of the requirements to be insured for practice and to join any professional membership body as a therapist is to have regular clinical supervision.

However, professional requirements aren’t the only reason why therapists have supervision (and if a therapist is only in supervision because they “have to be”, well, I’d be cautious about working with them!). Therapy isn’t “just a chat”; it’s a complex process of working with a client to uncover conscious and unconscious patterns, and to support them to find new ways to manage in the world.

Without further ado, here are 7 reasons why therapists have supervision.

Address our own mindset issues that can emerge in our practice

Therapists are human first, and it’s common for us to encounter our own blocks that get in the way of building our practice and connecting with our clients. There may be a lot of stuff around not being a “good enough” therapist, charging for the professional service we offer, or about being seen so that clients know we have space and can work with them.

It’s important that these issues are addressed to minimise the chances of them negatively impacting on clients. For example, if a therapist doesn’t believe that they’re “good enough”, it’s likely that they will unconsciously project this out to clients. Those clients may respond by booking an initial consultation but not turning up for it, thus reinforcing the therapist’s beliefs of not being good enough.

Supervision is an opportunity to explore the underlying thoughts, feelings and beliefs that are informing these types of block in a supportive but challenging way.

Highlight our thoughts, feelings and any biases that may be impacting the therapeutic process and relationship

Therapists have reactions to our clients all the time, sometimes consciously, sometimes not, but either way, they will have an impact on the therapeutic process and relationship. Supervision provides an opportunity for a therapist to name these reactions - however difficult and uncomfortable this may be - so that they can be unpacked and explored.

Although the therapist’s reactions may stem from their own “stuff” and experiences, it’s important to keep in mind that they may be responding to something that’s being projected by the client. For example, if a therapist experiences a feeling of strong dislike towards a client, it may be that this is in response to a projection from the client that reflects the experience they expect - or have usually had - from other people, i.e. that other people don’t like them.

It’s also essential for therapists take any biases and prejudices to supervision, regardless of whether they’re consciously aware of them or not. This is because a key component of practising ethically as a therapist is to “do no harm”, and our prejudices and biases can be exceptionally harmful. Clients need therapists to accept and validate them for who they are, and who they are may challenge the therapist’s biases and prejudices for the better.

By unpicking what’s our stuff and what’s our clients’, therapists can also observe the processes that are playing out in therapy without getting as “hooked” by them. This means that they can stay present and grounded in the sessions, and regulate themselves as well as supporting their clients’ emotional regulation.

Notice and reflect on our thoughts and feelings, and identify ethical ways to respond

Client work brings up all sorts of stuff for therapists, and it can hook into lots of difficult thoughts, feelings and experiences we’ve had. For example, we might find endings especially challenging because our previous experiences of them may have been negative, such as a parent walking out and being left with feelings of abandonment as a result.

In a case like this, it would be important for the therapist to recognise that every relationship has an ending as well as a beginning, but that there is always an opportunity to have a different kind of ending to one they may be accustomed to. Supervision would be a great space to explore what this might look like, and how the therapist could manage the ending in such a way that both they and the client get what they need from it.

The therapist’s thoughts and feelings in and of themselves are valid, but it’s what the therapist does in response to them that’s where the need to have robust supervision becomes so important. If our response to difficult and / or uncomfortable feelings is inappropriate, we risk - unintentionally - harming the client, which is unethical.

Uncover our blindspots and ‘shadow’ sides

None of us knows what we don’t know (our blindspots), and we all have dark, uncomfortable parts of ourselves that we need to keep in check (our ‘shadow’ side). This is especially important for therapists, as we are often working with people who are in a vulnerable state, and are trusting us to support them through it.

By identifying and exploring our blindspots and shadow sides in supervision, therapists can get to know the signs and signals that are linked to them. This increases our self-awareness, which helps us to recognise when these darker and more challenging parts may come into play, and reduces the likelihood of unintentionally harming our clients by allowing them to go unchecked.

When therapists get to know the darker, murkier, more uncomfortable parts of themselves well, they are better able to support clients to identify and explore their own blindspots and shadow sides. This will help clients to develop their self-awareness, and will also enable them to grow and change.

Challenge and accountability as well as support and encouragement

We all need to be called out on our shit from time-to-time, and therapists are no different. Challenge in supervision for therapists may look like: being asked why we might relax certain boundaries with some clients and not others; identifying some of the self-sabotaging behaviours that may be getting in the way of us working effectively, and being supported to recognise when we may be at risk of burnout.

Being challenged in supervision doesn’t necessarily mean that a therapist is practicing unethically; rather, it presents them with an opportunity to reflect on the rationale behind certain choices and decisions. By doing this regularly in an environment that supports us so that we can better-support our clients, therapists are able to grow and develop personally as well as professionally.

Identify parallel processes that may be playing out

This is one of the most fascinating aspects of clinical practice! In a therapeutic context, a parallel process refers to the idea that we can (usually unconsciously) repeat patterns of behaviour and communication from the past in the here-and-now, and also that therapists may be experiencing the same situation(s) as their clients in real time.

One of the ways in which a parallel process could play out in supervision is if a client has talked about feeling “stuck” during a session with the therapist, the therapist then describes feeling “stuck” for ideas about how to work with the client’s “stuckness” during supervision, and the therapist’s supervisor feels “stuck” for suggestions that could help.

Parallel processes are often incredibly powerful, and usually play out unconsciously, so it’s important that they are identified and explored in supervision.

Support with identifying, establishing and maintaining appropriate and ethical boundaries

If you identify this as an area that you struggle with yourself, you may be surprised that it’s something therapists have to work on all the time. This isn’t an exaggeration, by the way, we really do have to work on our boundaries constantly.

Every relationship needs healthy boundaries to keep the people in them safe, and each person is responsible for establishing and maintaining their own boundaries for themselves. Supervision helps therapists to identify and maintain boundaries that keep themselves and their clients safe, and also gives us an opportunity to explore why we may find it easier to hold particular boundaries with some clients more than others.

When a therapist is able to do this effectively, the client can be reassured that they are able to ask for what they need and the therapist will only do what they can manage in response. This reduces the chances of a client worrying that they will be “overwhelming” or “too much” for the therapist because the responsibility is with the therapist to own their limitations.

I hope that this post has given you some helpful insights into why therapists have supervision. Ultimately, it’s all about therapists being able to keep themselves and their clients safe, and ensuring that they are practising ethically.

At the time of writing this post, my caseload is at capacity and I am not taking on new clients. If you’re interested in working with me in future, please keep an eye of my Facebook and Instagram accounts @emmapooleytherapy, or on my website for the latest updates on my availability.