James Agar

Supervisor Qualifications and Accreditations:

 Approved Supervisor                          United Kingdom Council for                          2013
                                                            Psychotherapy

 Supervising Transactional                   Endorsed by European Assn.                      2003
 Analyst (Psychotherapy)                     for Transactional Analysis                             

 Senior Accredited Supervisor              British Association for Counselling              2002
(Individuals)                                         and Psychotherapy

 Diploma in Individual and                   Cascade Training Associates and                 2002
 Group Supervision/Diploma              The Awarding Body Consortium
 In Case Work Supervision

Model of supervision:

I understand supervision to be a therapeutic learning contract rooted in the ethics of our profession, which supports the well being of the supervisee in their work with clients, whatever the context.  Within this humanistic/ integrative model I invite my supervisee to reflect upon the experiential world of the client, parallel and non-conscious and emotional processes at play in the work, wider cultural and socio-economic influences, clinical formulations and effective interventions and ethical considerations.  

Supervision provides a restorative function, particularly for practitioners working in private practice who can experience potential isolation.  I can also suggest CPD learning (reading, online courses and workshops) which supports the practitioners ongoing professional development. 

Experience as a supervisor (Includes both supervision of supervision and clinical supervision) 1997- present:    

20,000 hours (approx.)

I practice from home and see a range of qualified counsellors and psychotherapists who work in private practice across the South West.

I have a longstanding counselling supervision contract (20 years) with a low-cost counselling service in South Gloucestershire and see up to 20 counsellors for the service, both qualified and training counsellors and psychotherapists.  This contract currently includes supervision of a counsellor working at a secondary school in S. Gloucestershire. 

I also supervise a counsellor working at a Higher Education College near Gloucester.

Since 2009 I have also undertaken several monthly clinical supervision groups with an NHS Eating Disorders Service.

Between 2007 and 2015 I supervised the now-retired lead counsellor for a local cancer hospice, which involved supervision of her supervision of volunteer and clinical staff. 

I also currently supervise 1 senior counsellor for a residential and day care service for people recovering from addiction.   This includes my supervision of the senior clinician’s supervision of training counsellors.  Between 1996 and 2013 I provided individual supervision for up to 8 counsellors working across the service.