Supervision
We require family and systemic psychotherapists registered with us to have regular supervision. Find out what this involves and how supervision improves the support that therapists can provide to clients.
Supervision is when a family and systemic psychotherapist regularly meets with a more experienced clinician – a supervisor – to reflect on their clinical work.
It’s not therapy for the therapist. It’s professional guidance focused on improving care for clients, helping the therapist to develop their skills and ethical practice.
Good supervision:
- Protects clients because it creates accountability for the supervisee
- Offers space to reflect on what is happening in psychotherapy sessions, including noticing any blind spots and getting an outside systemic lens to reflect on dynamics in the relationships
- Provides a safe psychological space for a family and systemic psychotherapist to be authentically themselves and honest and transparent about what they’re noticing when they’re facilitating therapy
- Helps family and systemic psychotherapists see the wider picture instead of getting pulled into individual blame
- Provides support for the therapist, reducing burnout
- Helps a therapist consider what aspects of their identity they may be connecting to when they’re working with clients
Types of supervision
There are different types of supervision:
- Individual supervision is either online or face to face with a qualified supervisor.
- Live supervision is when a group of 3 or 4 supervisees and a supervisor watch a family and systemic psychotherapist’s or practitioner’s work with clients through a screen in a different room. The aim is to support the psychotherapist or practitioner leading the session. They may, for example, phone the practising psychotherapist or practitioner to offer their advice or insight during the session. Families benefit from multiple perspectives about the difficulties and challenges that they’re facing, as well as identifying their strengths.
- Group supervision is a small group of 3 to 6 therapists, including the supervisor who facilitates the session. Each supervisee needs to have enough time to present and receive supervision for their work.
- Peer group supervision is a small group of up to 6 therapists who have similar levels of clinical experience or training.
- One-to-one peer supervision is when 2 therapists each provide supervision to each other alternately.
- Managerial supervision focuses on how the therapist functions within the workplace rather than on therapeutic techniques or clinical cases. For example, a family and systemic psychotherapist working in a community mental health agency might meet monthly with a service manager to review the number of people they see and discuss workplace challenges. In an ideal world, clinical supervision and managerial supervision will be separate.
What happens in supervision
The supervisee discusses the individuals, families or groups that they’re working with. They share any stuck points or challenging dynamics with the work, the interventions they have used and issues around risk, like if someone is suicidal.
The supervisor provides clinical oversight of the work that the supervisee does with clients and supports them by challenging their thinking and providing advice and guidance around progressing the work.
Frequently asked questions about supervision
It’s best to look for a supervisor who:
- Has experience in the area of practice that you specialise in
- Is up to date with practice and either sees clients themselves or works in a training centre
- Is registered with the Association for Family and Systemic Psychotherapy (AFSP) and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) as a supervisor
Search our directory to find an experienced and qualified family and systemic supervisor.
It’s a good idea for supervisors and supervisees to agree a clear, written agreement which they can easily refer to and review regularly. You can agree a review date for this agreement. For example, it should:
- Agree where the primary clinical responsibility lies for the work with the clients you discuss
- Specify the boundaries of confidentiality
- Clarify any expectations in relation to cancellations and planned breaks
You can find supervisors who have been approved by AFSP and UKCP in our directory. This means they:
- Receive specific supervision of their supervision practice at least 4 times a year for a minimum of an hour each time
- Attend a continuing professional development (CPD) event specifically focused on supervision twice during a 5-year period to develop their practice
- Are reassessed to remain on our approved supervisors list every 5 years
In the first 3 years after qualifying as a family and systemic psychotherapist, you need to have a minimum of 18 hours’ supervision per year (or 1.5 hours each month). Of this, 12 hours should be individual face-to-face or online supervision. The remaining 6 hours can include live supervision or group supervision.
After 3 years of qualified practice, supervision should be:
- An hour to 1.5 hours every month
- For a minimum of 12 hours a year
- With a family and systemic psychotherapist for at least 60% of the time. For the remaining 40%, the supervisor could have a different modality
Peer supervision can take the place of individual supervision after you’ve been qualified for 3 years. You can claim peer supervision towards the hours of supervision you need to do each year to be a registered member of AFSP. To do this, you need to double the number of minutes or hours you present clinical work to the group and divide by the number in the group.
Registered AFSP members in peer supervision need to make sure their group consults an approved supervisor or an experienced, registered family and systemic psychotherapist once a year.
You generally need to pay for supervision if you have it privately with a professional supervisor. Prices can range from £50 to £150 an hour for individual supervision, depending on your location and the supervisor’s experience. It will normally be cheaper per person if you have group supervision.
To join AFSP’s approved supervisor list, and for AFSP to recommend that you can join UKCP’s supervisor directory, you need to have completed an AFSP-accredited supervision training course, or meet other strict criteria listed on page 13 of our registration policy (PDF, 454KB).
You can search our course directory for accredited supervision training.
Find out more about the process of registering as a supervisor on our Registering with UKCP through AFSP page.
Also of interest
Find a supervisor
Find an experienced and registered family and systemic supervisor in our directory.
UK reaccreditation
Find out what family and systemic psychotherapists need to do in addition to supervision to maintain their registration with UKCP.