Certificate in clinical supervision

The course is designed to provide counsellors, psychotherapists, and other professionals working within the helping professions with the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills, self-awareness, and professional competence to become effective reflective supervisors.

The programme is founded on person-centred principles, offering a collaborative, relational approach to supervision and supervisory practice and designed to support the development of practitioners from different theoretical orientations and modalities.  

The course is based on the BACP curriculum for counselling supervision and is designed to prepare participants to apply for accreditation as an individual and group supervisor with BACP. The course is also informed by the competence framework for the supervision of psychological therapies (Roth & Pilling 2008).

Course objectives: To provide participants with a learning environment which offers;

• a sound theoretical understanding of different models of supervision and the supervisory process
• the opportunity to practice and develop their supervisory skills
• the opportunity to integrate theory and skills into their own individual supervisory style
• the opportunity to reflect on their development with other experienced practitioners
• the opportunity to develop their understanding of the ethical and professional responsibilities of providing supervision in different contexts through discussion and dialogue with other experienced practitioners
• the opportunity to gain experience of individual and group supervision within and out with the context of the programme

Course structure: The programme will be held at the TCS Centre Coatbridge. The course is delivered over six months, beginning in January and finishing at the start of June 2020. The programme consists of five modules delivered over five weekends, plus four peer-group supervision practice meetings.

Module one: January 2020; Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th              

Module two: February 2020; Saturday 29th and Sunday 1st March

Module three: April 2020; Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th                      

Module four: May 2020; Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th                       

Module five: June 2020; Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th

Course requirements

Attendance of at least 80% of course contact hours, including peer-group supervision. Missed attendance to be made up by an agreed activity with course tutors.

Completion of 20 hours of clinical supervision offered by you and provided to members of your profession, which can include individual (minimum of 12 hours) and group supervision.

Completion of 12 hours of peer supervision practice.

Completion of eight hours of individual supervision for supervision, provided by a supervisor who is independent of the course.

The successful completion of all course assignments;

• maintenance of a reflective journal work
• clinical placement portfolio
• the audio recording of a supervision session
• case study
• statement and presentation of learning and competence

Full course attendance and completion of the course assignments will lead to the achievement of a persona certificate in clinical supervision.

Entry requirements

The course expects participants to be able to draw on their own experience of supervised clinical practice, and therefore it is important that individuals feel sufficiently competent and grounded in their orientation as a practitioner in order to gain maximum learning and development from the programme. With this in mind, applicants will have a minimum of three years of practice, including training, and be qualified practitioners in a helping profession with at least 200 client counselling hours of supervised practice gained post-qualification. Applicants will also be members of a professional association, with relevant indemnity insurance.

Application process

If you are interested in the programme, please complete the application form and forward it to the persona office, along with the name of someone who knows you in a professional capacity (ideally your supervisor) and is willing to provide a reference. There is no formal interview process, however, the course tutors may contact applicants if any questions arise from the application form.

Closing date for applications is Monday, January 6th, 2020.

Course Fees: £1,100; this includes a deposit of £100 to secure a place on the programme.