Emilyn Claid

As a supervisor I offer a safe non-shame based space for counselors and therapists across different modalities to discuss their work with clients. I use a consultative approach with a systems perspective, attending to how the client, therapist and supervisor worlds interact. I question, help define issues and find focus for the work, offer interventions and direction and draw attention to theoretical frames. I like to keep an eye on what Gaie Houston (1995) defines as the three areas of supervision: policing (boundaries), plumbing (skills) and poetry (empathy and insight).

While attending to detail and opening a space for supervisees to express their immediate feelings about clients, I try to hold a third person view, or meta-narrative, of the client therapist dyad (Gilbert & Evans 2000).

I am particularly aware of how each therapist bodily presents her/his clients and how body language, physical presence and gesture transfer from the client therapist relationship into the space between therapist and supervisor and how this transference can inform the work and bring new awareness to emerging issues.

Gestalt psychology, existential philosophy and somatic mind body perspectives provide a theoretical context and I am curious to explore different theoretical models in consultation with supervisees.