Phil Hoffer

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In my supervision sessions I strive to create a supportive learning environment which will allow my supervisees to explore their client work in order to provide a better service and to ensure adherence with ethics and best practice.I'm a Relational Integrative practitioner however I look to support my supervisees in developing their own model and the way they prefer to work. My integration is a blend of the Humanistic, Relational Psychodynamic & CBT schools of psychotherapy, plus influences from Transactional Analysis and  Transpersonal approaches.I use an integrative and creative approach to supervision which is underpinned by two models of Supervision: Van Ooijen's Three Step Model provides the overall structure for sessions; whilst Hawkins & Shohet's Seven Eyed Model provides a set of lenses through which we can view your work.The Three Step Model (Van Ooijen) breaks a supervision session into three stages:

What? What do you want to achieve? How? How are we going to achieve it? What Now? Now you have new knowledge what impact does it have?

The Seven Eyed Model (Hawkins & Shohet) provides a framework of lenses through which we can focus on specific aspects of your client work.

Lens 1 - The client's experience, what they present and how they present it Lens 2 - Strategies and interventions used by the supervisee Lens 3 - Exploration of the relationship between client and supervisee Lens 4 - Exploration of how the supervisee is consciously and unconsciously affected by their client work Lens 5 - Exploration of the supervisory relationship Lens 6 - Exploration of supervisors process during case presentation Lens 7 - Focus on the context for the work, e.g. agency, professional code of ethics, laws, social, cultural, political and economic, etc.

I strive for transparency in my supervision relationships and I hope that is evidenced by this profile. When forming a new supervision relationship I start by building a working agreement with my supervisees. I endeavour to document what are expectations of each other will be and how we might respond to potential difficulties within the supervision relationship.My role is threefold:

To provide a supportive space for supervisees to consider their work To create a supportive learning environment To identify and highlight ethical issues and/or concerns over the practice of supervisees

As well as examining the content of client cases I also pay attention to the dynamic between myself and my supervisee and/or group members. I encourage my supervisees to notice this dynamic and to discuss it. In doing so I'm modelling open communication and this skill can be useful in the counselling relationship.I encourage my supervisees to provide feedback to me. I acknowledge that I don't always get things right and I strive to be non defensive. Again modelling this can help supervisees develop when they find themselves being challenged either in supervision or by a client.I encourage my supervisees to take a risk by sharing examples of where client work has been difficult as I believe that this is where the most valuable learning is to be found. To foster this risk taking I share some of my difficult experiences. As I've highlighted already I make mistakes, I'm a human being. Being a good ethical practitioner is about reflecting on those mistakes and finding ways to reduce the risk of them happening again.I have experience of counselling in education settings (including schools), charitable organisations, and private practice. I currently provide individual supervision to counsellors working at Sesame Counselling Service, and individual/group supervision to counsellors working at Cardiff Mind. I also provide individual supervision to counsellors undertaking private practice work.I am bound by the BACP code of ethics.You can read independently collected reviews of my supervision practice at http://counselling-cardiff.com/supervision.shtml