| Online
supervisor About
me
 I
have been a supervisor of counsellors since 1996 supervising both individuals
and groups in agency, training institution and private settings. I began my online
supervision practice in 2002. For
my MA dissertation, I chose to research potentially destructive experiences in
group supervision. I have added my dissertation to the website for anyone who
would like to read it. It is contained in a winzip file. Download my dissertation
here. Dissertation
"The Impact of Potentially Destructive Experiences in Group Supervision" ISMHO
Clinical Case Study Group
Since 2001 I have been a member of an online
Clinical Case Study Group whose members are all part of the International Society
for Mental Health Online (ISMHO).
I have contributed to two papers written jointly by members of this ISMHO Group
entitled Myths and Realities of Clinical Online Work and Half a Decade of Online
Case Study. If you would like to read a copy of these papers, please click the
links to download them. They are pdf files and you may need to download Adobe
Acrobat to read them .
| Myths
and Realities of Online Clinical Work |  |
| Half
a Decade of Online Case Study | |
How
do you work online as a supervisor?
I
believe that my task as a supervisor is to offer you a space to explore the issues
from your work with clients that concern you. If you are working as an online
counsellor I invite you to send me anonymised extracts from your work by email
to demonstrate to me those areas which you are concerned about. If we are holding
a live session, I ask you to send me this background information before the session
starts. Whether you are working with online clients or you are seeing clients
face to face, we discuss your concerns and I help you to find ways to move the
client work forward which are congruent with your way of working. I see my task
as the supervisor is to help you to optimize the work you are doing with your
clients. That may mean normalising your experience of the client with the wider
perspective of distance and time or suggesting possible interventions based on
my knowledge of how you work and the client being presented. My ultimate task
is to help you continue to work ethically and professionally with the client.
How
do you conduct supervision online?
My online supervision practice
is conducted either by email or live in a private webconference room where we
can use text, whiteboard, audio and webcam (if we both have the necessary equipment
and broadband connection). I am happy to work on either a regular or consultative/occasional
basis and have supervised both online counsellors and face to face counsellors
using the online environment. I believe it is important to have online supervision
for online counselling and to receive it from a supervisor who is familiar with
the online environment. As
the amount of information shared when using text is usually less than when using
audio or video conferencing, online supervision using text is useful for doing
a piece of focused work on a specific issue. It is helpful if online supervisees
who are booking a live text session send me a pre-session email giving me background
information and some preliminary details about the issue(s) they plan to bring
to the session. Do
you supervise counsellors who are working face to face in your online practice?
Yes I do. Online supervision of face to face counselling work is suitable for
experienced counsellors who find it difficult to receive their supervision locally.
BACP recommend video conferencing for online supervision if it is to be an ongoing
arrangement and technology is now making this a relatively simple choice. On
an occasional or consultative basis, online supervision may also be useful to
counsellors who want written notes or a recording of their supervision session. What
does it cost?
£40 per session which can be made up of one
main email each way (an email exchange) plus a supplementary follow-up exchange
if necessary; or a one-hour live session using a private webconference chatroom
where we can use text or audio- or audio/visual-conferencing or a shared whiteboard
for brainstorming ideas in any combination to suit. If
you are interested in exploring online supervision with me, my basis for an agreement
for online supervision can be downloaded here. Please email me using the link
below if you would like to discuss setting up a supervision arrangement. top of
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