Supervision is a “relationship about a relationship about other relationships”.

Fiscanlani (1997), cited by Fowlie, (2016)

Interested in attachment?

Are you a psychotherapist or counsellor thinking about attachment in your clinical work? It might be that it makes sense in theory, but you struggle to apply it to clinical work with clients. Perhaps you have been wondering about how the different attachment styles work in real life and how that might affect the way you work with them? Or are you reflecting on how your own attachment style affects the fit between you and your client?

If you have answered yes to any of the above, why not consider attachment-based supervision? This could be as an add-on to your usual supervision, or as your main form of supervision.

My approach

I have been working as an attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice since 2009, and over that time I have greatly valued the support of my supervisor to provide optimal psychotherapy for my clients. When I started out as a trainee with my first client, I was nervous (nay, terrified!) of being supervised. I am pleased to say that my fears were completely unfounded - the supervision I received (and continue to receive) was supportive, encouraging, challenging when it needed to be, knowledgeable, respectful and compassionate. I feel privileged to have been supported to develop my own individual clinical style and autonomy through this process.

And now, I feel keen to support others in the same way I have been supported. To pass the baton on to other clinicians. Clinicians like you - who want to develop their skills and knowledge around working with attachment.

Supervision is not about ‘diagnosing’ a client’s attachment style - this is a highly specialised area requiring significant training, which I don’t have. I haven’t prioritised this because I don’t feel it’s helpful for clinical work. Using attachment for clinical benefit means understanding how a person’s attachment patterns help or hinder their ability to live fulfilling lives and to make relationships that really work for them. And we have all the information we need if we focus on what we see or feel in the interactions that happen in each session. Supervision through an attachment lens involves exploring the interface between the client and the therapist/counsellor, which may reverberate into the supervision relationship and field. I aim to create a space to explore all of this in the supervision.

Practicalities

I hold a Post-Graduate Diploma in Relational Supervision from Relational Change. This course is validated by UKCP and BACP. My fee is £90 per session, but there is some scope for flexibility.

The frequency of supervision depends on your needs and caseload - both the total number of clients you see and the complexity of presentations you work with - but in line with attachment-based concepts, I recommend sessions no less frequent than once a month. Ideally, sessions would be more frequent than this.

If you are interested, why not get in touch (via my contact page) to talk more?