Valerie Shipp BSc, BA, MBACP(accredited)

Supervision for counsellors and related professions

All counsellors are required to have supervision with another counsellor who has been specifically trained as a supervisor. This is part of the support that counsellors need in order to do their work and remain emotionally open and healthy. I have my own supervisor who supports my work and I also offer this service to other counsellors or related professions. I completed my counselling supervision training in 2008 and I now work with counsellors and other related professionals as their supervisor.

Humans are naturally empathic, so caring for people in crisis is a difficult experience. If we have this experience repeatedly without being cared for ourselves, we run the risk of becoming disconnected from our emotions, becoming too well defended or alternatively we end up overwhelmed by our own and other people’s emotions. Either outcome is emotionally unhealthy and ultimately will cause us problems, physically or psychologically.

If you are working in one of the caring professions or regularly have to deal with people in crisis, perhaps some additional support would be welcome.

 “Caring for the carers is one of the most important tasks, and caring for ourselves as carers is part of our responsibility to ourselves and others around us.”

I can offer you my experience as a counsellor and supervisor to give you the space to release the backlog of emotions and help you learn how to manage your emotional health so that your work can continue in a balanced and sustainable way.

I currently work as an external supervisor for a number of organisations which deal with particularly difficult client groups.