If you’re newer to private practice, or just starting to think seriously about it, “supervision” can feel like one more box to tick for your membership renewal. It’s worth far more than that — done well, it’s one of the few places in this work where you get to slow down, think out loud, and be genuinely supported. Here’s what it is, why it’s required, and what it tends to cover.
What clinical supervision is
Clinical supervision is a formal, ongoing relationship between you and a more experienced practitioner, where the focus is on your clinical work and developing your practice— the cases you’re carrying, the decisions you’re making, and how you’re developing as a counsellor. It’s not line management, and it’s not personal therapy, though it can touch on both client welfare and your own wellbeing along the way.
Why it’s required, not just recommended
For most Australian counsellors, supervision isn’t optional. Under the ACA Supervision Policy, every practising ACA member (Levels 1–4), whether in paid or voluntary work, must complete a minimum of 10 hours of supervision per membership year, at a recommended ratio of 1 hour of supervision for every 20 hours of client contact. PACFA members have similar obligations under their own standards. If you’re not sure exactly what applies to you, it’s worth checking directly with your association.
Why it’s worth more than the compliance box
The research backs up what most counsellors feel intuitively: supervision helps. A systematic review of the literature by Wheeler and Richards, published in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, found supervision was associated with positive outcomes for counsellors and therapists, and to some extent for their clients too — while also noting the research base could still do with stronger study designs. It’s a reasonable, honest case for treating supervision as a genuine investment in your practice, not just a line on your CPD log.
What a supervision session covers
Good supervision covers more ground than most people expect. Drawing on Borders and Brown’s widely used framework for supervision practice, sessions typically move across several areas:
- Your counselling technique and the interventions you’re using.
- How you’re conceptualising and understanding your clients’ presentations.
- Your own reactions and self-awareness — including transference and countertransference.
- Ethical and professional issues, from documentation to duty of care.
- Cultural and diversity factors relevant to your client work.
- Your own development as a practitioner, and where you want to grow next.
(Borders, L. D., & Brown, L. L. (2005). The New Handbook of Counseling Supervision. Lahaska Press/Routledge.)
This is part of why I structure supervision around the STEP-UP model — SUPPORT, TRACK, EDUCATE, PERFORMANCE, self-care (“U”) and PRACTICE — so that this breadth has a consistent shape from session to session, rather than depending on whatever happens to come up.
Individual or group?
Supervision can be one-to-one or in a small group, and both count toward your hours. I’ll cover how to choose between the two in a follow-up post — for now, the short version is that it depends on what you want out of it: individual supervision goes deep on your own caseload, while group supervision adds the benefit of hearing how other counsellors think through similar situations.
Getting started
If you’re weighing up supervision options — whether you’re newly registered or well established but reconsidering your current arrangement — get in touch and we can talk about what would suit you. I offer individual and group supervision, face-to-face on the Sunshine Coast or online via Zoom and Teams, for counsellors across Australia and New Zealand.
You can email me, or fill in the supervision enquiry form below.