Integrative relational supervision group

01373 746 624 01373 746 624 / 07949 153 431 07949 153 431
10th December 2017, 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Counsellors and trainees
£30
The Spring Room, Forest Row Community Centre, Hartfield Road, Forest Row, RH18 5DZ

Integrative relational supervision 

I’m calling this an integrative relational supervision group because the model I work with is integrative (see below) and there will be an emphasis on the relationship between the supervisees and their clients. ‘Relational supervision' sometimes means that the supervision focuses on the relationship between the supervisee and supervisor. Although we will be mindful of this, the client/counsellor relationship will be our main focus

At the first meeting in November the group decided it wanted to meet on a monthly basis and that we would limit the numbers to a maximum of six to give each person enough space to talk about their work.

Integrative and relational?

When I describe my approach as integrative, I don’t mean ‘eclectic’ although the term ‘integrative’ is sometimes used this way; employing the metaphor of a ‘toolkit’ from which the counsellor selects an appropriate technique to the client’s presenting problem. For me, it’s much more about the way I think about clients and my interactions with them. In doing this, I integrate my humanistic belief that human motivation is essentially positive, though sometimes subject to considerable distortion, with my psychodynamic assumption that every communication, including initial enquiries and phone-calls, between client and counsellor has both a literal and a symbolic (unconscious) meaning; both being equally important.

Although most counsellors and therapists now recognise the importance of the relationship in the therapeutic process, the therapy culture, like the culture within which it operates, is still information and technique driven. The myth is that the better informed we are, the more secure we feel. Facebook groups for counsellors often have requests for ‘a good book on...’, either for the counsellor or for their client. Nothing wrong with this at all, but when the security of the counsellor is based on them feeling informed the ‘expert’ the relationship becomes distorted.

In this group, my aim is to support practitioners in trusting their own humanity and presence as a means of creating the healing relationship that counselling and psychotherapy have the potential to be.

For further details contact Geoff on: geoff231@mac.com 

See also my article on supervision in this directory and my video about the group on my website www.geoff-lamb-psychotherapist.com.

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Hosted by Geoff Lamb

Geoff Lamb is a registered psychotherapist who has been practicing since 1985. He was involved in counselling training for 30 years and was the director of Inter-Psyche, a counselling training institute based in the NHS, which offered a BACP accredited diploma in counselling, diplomas in supervision and couple counselling and a programme of CPD