Dr Marc Medina

I work from an Integrative/Existential framework as a supervisor and am qualified to Doctoral level. I am BACP Accredited and UKCP registered. Supervision is an important aspect of counselling and psychotherapy practice and is increasingly seen as a tool for ensuring high professional standards. I am a fully trained supervisor and currently supervise both qualified and trainee therapists. I believe that good supervision has two main areas of focus: Firstly, good supervision should include a thorough exploration with the therapist of the client's material; what the client is bringing to each session , how they are presenting, how the therapy is progressing, case formulations and risk assessment. This also includes discussion of how the therapeutic alliance is developing, what barriers may be appearing in the work and what the nature of the interaction between the therapist and client is and how they have together approached the problems that the client is looking to resolve. In terms of theoretical orientation I come from the integrative tradition but also have specific theoretical training to doctoral level in Existential/humanist psychotherapy and supervision. Being open to different ways of understanding a clients concerns is a valuable skill for therapists to acquire and I find that holding different therapeutic models in mind during our client encounters as well as in supervision can be a important way of deepening the work. Secondly, good supervision should be an opportunity for therapists to explore how they are feeling about their work with a particular client or clients in general. Looking at what issues a client may bring up for a therapist that resonate in their own lives, how this makes them feel about the client, and exploring how they can hold or use these feelings in the work is an important way of enriching the quality of the relatedness in the therapeutic encounter. Supervision is also a good opportunity for therapists to explore their strengths and weaknesses, recognize that we are all blind sided at different times with different clients and to use supervision to gain greater insight into how this may be affecting the work. Supervision sessions can also provide an opportunity to discuss any dilemmas that a client may be presenting in terms of keeping professional boundaries as well as being a place where a therapist can have space to explore any problems or frustrations arising from their client work that may be affecting their general sense of well being. The quality of the supervisor/ supervisee relationship is very important. I aim to create a potent as well as supportive atmosphere in which supervisees can feel encouraged and affirmed as well as feel safe to explore the difficult and troublesome aspects of their client work, without it becoming about being right or wrong. Professional and personal development in supervision is rooted in an understanding that by engaging with the difficult aspects of our work with clients we can increase our self awareness, develop a healthy internal supervisor, increase our effectiveness as therapists and thereby ensure that we are providing the best possible service to our clients. I do telephone as well as face to face supervision. Please feel free to contact me to discuss your supervision requirements or to arrange an initial session. My fees are £100 per session.