Phil Hoffer, MA Counselling, Registered Member MBACP (Accred)
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
