Creative Supervision includes the use of action methods and creative approaches in the supervision of therapists and other professionals involved in direct work with clients of all ages, utilising a variety of theoretical frameworks, and in a variety of circumstances. These strategies also prove useful in the mentoring and consultative roles that are part and parcel of many professional lives. This course focuses on utilising new and innovative approaches utilising the creative arts, lateral thinking, and playful activities in the supervision process. An aim is to facilitate supervisors to connect more fully with supervisees, and facilitate them in fully exploring and finding solutions to dilemmas in client work and in the management of clinical teams. There is a focus on learning to match supervision style and process to supervisee needs, ensuring that the continuum of needs of those with varying degrees of experience are responded to in an integrated manner. Central to this is the use of informed intuition to hypothesise, blended with advanced skills in understanding intrapersonal and interpersonal processes and knowing when and how to apply diverse approaches.
This course is suitable to therapists adopting a variety of approaches in their work, regardless of the specific core training that they have undertaken. It is an experiential training with a substantial theoretical component and equips trainees to undertake the multiple roles of the supervisor. The core framework utilised in the course is humanistic and integrative. Our emphasis on creative approaches makes it suitable for those supervising practitioners who work in a wide variety of settings, with a broad spectrum of clients. Our main model for supervision is that developed by Hawkins and Shohet; the Seven Eyed Supervision Model described in their ground-breaking book ‘Supervision in the Helping Professions’. “The one really powerful book in this area, a book that fundamentally changed the way in which people think about supervision and training.” According to Professor John McLeod. There are also opportunities to review other relevant theoretical approaches.
Practice with supervisees is required during the course. Some of this work will be supervised within the course structure to maximise learning. In addition, participants are required to engage in external supervision on supervision and submit a supervisors’ report.
Yet again, we are delighted to be able to deliver this training with input from international experts in the field: Dr Sue Jennings, Joan Wilmot and Simon Kerr-Edwards all teach modules. There is also a one day conference covering ‘Legal Issues’ included in the course. This Intensive training day is specifically designed to cover what you need to know about the legal system and the delicate legal issues involved in therapeutic work with clients of all ages and is delivered by Seamus Clarke BL, a barrister with particular expertise in the field. Majella Ryan is the course leader and is available throughout the course – she is directly involved in teaching, assessment and supervision roles.
Joan Wilmot delivers the November 2019 (2nd to 4th) module, built round the 7 modes of supervision described in Supervision in the Helping Professions (Hawkins and Shohet OUPress 3rd edition 2006), and participants will get more out of the course if they read the relevant chapter in advance. Joan leads the group through each mode and provides opportunities to practice in triads – supervisor, supervisee and observer. She also includes exercises designed to integrate the modes for back home situations. Joan has been teaching this model, with Robin Shohet, for over 35 years at the Centre for Supervision and Team Development (CSTD). Students will receive certification from CSTD for this module.
Dr Sue Jennings will deliver two modules ( March and May 2020) and will cover the use of the expressive arts in supervision, structuring, roles, core skills development, live supervision practice, the mandala method, and a host of creative approaches to enrich the practice of the supervisor.
Simon Kerr-Edwards will deliver the January 2020 module and will explore how creativity can provide quick and powerful insights into clinical work that can circumnavigate our use of words as well as develop resilience in the therapist. He will show how using figures, props, cards, role play, improvisation and imagery can enable the supervisee to examine their clinical approaches, explore meaning for the client and develop hypotheses. Furthermore he will examine how creativity has wider and deeper applications as it allows the supervisee to discharge powerful feelings, develop their use of self in the work and allow themselves to become vulnerable as a means for developing greater professional awareness.
Suitable Applicants
This course is designed as an advanced experiential and skills based training for:
- Psychotherapists, play therapists, creative arts therapists, and psychologists with considerable experience (usually with at least 5 years post-qualifying experience) and who are ready to, or have started to, provide supervision.
- Health care and helping professionals holding supervisory responsibilities
- Teachers, carers, community workers who wish to develop their supervision skills
- Others with a supervisory role.
Suitable psychotherapist candidates will usually have a busy practice, generally working with 8 or more clients each week. These clients may be adults or children or a combination of both.
Course Duration: To facilitate trainees maintaining their work, we run the course over a number of one – three day modules throughout the year rather than having weekly or monthly sessions. The provisional 2019 – 2020 course dates are 2nd – 4th November, 10th – 12th January, 27th – 29th March, 18th April, 30th – 31st May, and 18th – 19th July. The course runs for the full day (9.30 – 5.30pm) on all scheduled dates and 100 tutor student contact hours are involved. The last date of the course is 19th July – this is the date for final submissions of logs and reports.
Assignments & Assessment: Assessment includes both written and practical components with self, peer and trainer input. The focus is on ensuring that graduates will have a toolkit of skills, a solid theoretical framework, and will be adept at responding to the needs of individual, or groups of, supervisees with a range of levels of expertise, utilising a variety of therapeutic approaches across the spectrum of client groups.
Each participant will work with supervisees during the course and will write a 2000 word supervision case review about the experience of supervising one of these supervisees, including details of what made it ‘creative’ supervision. Another written assignments is in relation to managing an ethical or clinical decision making dilemma. The external supervisor will be required to submit a report.
Venue: The course is run between the CARI Foundation in Limerick and the CTC training centre in Ballymore, Co. Westmeath. The course is not residential; however, we can provide details of local reasonably priced B&B’s and self-catering accommodation. The Legal day (18th April) will be held in Leixlip, the September and March modules are held in Ballymore, and October, January and May modules will be in Limerick.
Fees: The course fee is €2700. A non-refundable deposit of €300 is payable on acceptance of a place. The remainder becomes due before the first module. However, individual payment plan options are available. The fee includes the course attendance, all handouts, internal group supervision on supervision sessions, assessment, and the Legal Conference. Costs for external supervision on supervision are negotiated directly with the supervisor involved.
Course Trainers
Joan Wilmot was co-founded of the Centre for Supervision and Team Development with Robin Shohet in 1979 and works as a trainer, supervisor, psychotherapist and mediator. Her particular interest is in working with systems and using organisational and family constellations work. She has been running supervision trainings and working with teams, in particular in the NHS and voluntary sector, for over 40 years. Her passion is in enabling people to find the work they love and love the work they do. She is an active member of Playback Theatre and co-founder of Northern Lights Learning Conference.
Sue Jennings PhD is a Play Therapist, Dramatherapist, Supervisor and Author. She is Professor of Play in Romania for the Association of Play Therapy and Dramatherapy. Until 2015 she was Visiting Professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education, at HELP University, Kuala Lumpur and Visiting Fellow in the Department of Play Work, Leeds Beckett University. She has taught Supervision, Play Therapy and Creative Methods at the Children’s Therapy Centre for over 10 years. Sue has pioneered Neuro-Dramatic-Play and Embodiment-Projection-Role in many countries including Malaysia, Romania, Singapore, Greece and Czech Republic. She has published over 51 books.
Simon Kerr-Edwards MA has a master’s degree in play therapy from the University of Surrey and before this had a background in Dramatherapy. He is an independent play therapist, clinical supervisor and trainer, based in the UK, with over 35 years’ experience of working therapeutically with children and adolescents who have had complex trauma in their life. He is an experienced clinical supervisor who works with individual therapists and teams doing challenging work. He regularly trains play therapists and other clinicians to become supervisors and explore how to bring their playful selves into their supervisory relationships.
Majella Ryan M.I.A.C.P is a very experienced child, adolescent and adult psychotherapist and utilises play therapy in her work with children. She has a strong interest in supporting healthy attachments. She specialises in working creatively with traumatised children and adolescents and their families. She has worked in a variety of settings including private practice, a family therapy service and in CARI for 20 years. Majella is a supervisor for play therapists, creative arts therapists, and child, adolescent, and adult psychotherapists.
Seamus Clarke, B.L. has a Bachelor Degree of Civil Law (International) from University College Dublin and De Paul University, Chicago. He has a Masters in European and Comparative Law from the University of Oxford and holds a Barrister-at-Law Degree from the Honourable Society of Kings Inns Dublin. He has a general practice at the bar specialising in the areas of Commercial Law, Employment Law and Criminal Law. He lectures in a number of Institutions in EU Law, IT law and Criminal Law and is an Adjunct Professor in International Intellectual Property Law for the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Seamus has given courses to a variety of groups including many Counsellors & Medico-Legal Professionals
