Clinical Supervision (Online)
ISTDP-informed, relational supervision for psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists working with complex presentations

My approach to clinical supervision is grounded in over 15 years experience across NHS services, third sector organisations, and private practice. I offer supervision to psychologists, counsellors, and psychotherapists who value reflective, relational and experiential practice, particularly when working with complexity, somatic distress, trauma and high-functioning clients under significant internal pressure.

Supervision is available online only.

Good fit if…

• You want ISTDP-informed, process focused supervision that looks closely at what happens moment to moment in sessions (emotion, anxiety in the body, defences, relational dynamics) and helps you decide what to do next.
• You work with complex presentations (e.g., somatic distress/PPS, trauma, anxiety, attachment and relational patterns) and want supervision that is clinically rigorous and practically usable.
• You value a collaborative, active style where we can explore uncertainty, stuckness and countertransference openly while keeping the work focused and ethical.

Not the best fit if…

• You are looking for administrative-only supervision (e.g., case sign-off without process/relational work) or a primarily managerial format.
• You prefer supervision that stays purely theory-led or supportive, without examining therapist process, emotional impact, and in-session dynamics.

→ Enquire about supervision

A supervisory philosophy: the therapist as instrument

A central principle in my work is that the person of the therapist is one of the most potent influences on therapeutic outcome. Yet in day to day clinical work, we often spend too little time refining our instrument: noticing what becomes activated in us, where we tighten, avoid, overcontrol, go blank, or become uncertain, particularly when working under pressure or with emotionally charged material.

In supervision, we pay careful attention to the therapist’s anxieties and resistances as they arise in clinical work, so that learning becomes embodied and clinically usable, not purely intellectual.

Primary framework: ISTDP-informed supervision
My primary supervisory framework is ISTDP-informed psychotherapy. In simple terms, this means we pay close attention to:

• Moment to moment process (what is happening now in the session)
• Emotion and anxiety in the body (how the nervous system carries the work)
• Defences and relational strategies (how stuckness is maintained)
• Pressure, inhibition and avoidance in both client and therapist
• What helps the work move, not just what helps it make sense

This often provides a precise way to understand therapeutic impasse and to identify the next clinically useful intervention.

Supporting approaches (integrated when clinically appropriate)

While ISTDP provides the organising framework, supervision is tailored to your orientation, level of experience and clinical setting. Where clinically useful, I integrate:

• Psychodynamic and relational perspectives, including transference/countertransference and attachment themes
• Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), helpful for focused relational formulations and time limited work
• CBT principles, particularly for maintaining cycles, behavioural patterns and anxiety loops
• EMDR-informed thinking, when trauma memory networks are central to the presentation (and where relevant to your practice)
• Somatic perspectives, tracking physiological activation, shutdown, and “bodyfirst” communications

The aim is not to turn supervision into a “menu of models”, but to use the most effective tools in service of a clear formulation and good clinical outcomes.

What supervision is like

My supervisory style is collaborative, active and thoughtful. I aim to provide a clinically rigorous space where you can reflect openly on your work, including uncertainty, emotional challenge and moments of stuckness, while remaining oriented to effective intervention.

Supervision is not solely about technique. It is also about:

• the relational dynamics between therapist and client
• the emotional and somatic communication in the room
• the broader systemic context of the work
• parallel processes when they are clinically relevant (including supervisor-supervisee dynamics)

Where appropriate, we may work with:

• process notes and transcripts
• formulation refinement (what maintains the difficulty now)
• live process tracking (what happened in that moment, what shifted, what didn’t)
• therapist “use of self” and ethical decision points

Recording (recommended for best use of supervision)

For best practice and the most clinically useful supervision, I recommend that supervisees bring audio or video recordings of their therapy sessions where possible (with appropriate client consent and in line with your professional/organisational policies).

Recordings allow us to work with the therapy process as it actually unfolds, timing, language, emotional shifts, and relational dynamics, rather than relying only on memory or summary. If recording isn’t possible in your setting, we can still work effectively using detailed process notes, transcripts, or session segments reconstructed carefully.

What I commonly support supervisees with

Where clinically appropriate, I support supervisees in:

• Developing clear, coherent formulations that guide intervention
• Tracking emotional, somatic and relational processes that maintain symptoms
• Working with complexity, ambiguity and impasse without losing direction
• Using countertransference and “use of self” clinically and ethically
• Strengthening professional and organisational boundaries
• Managing burnout, imposter feelings and emotional fatigue in therapeutic work
• Improving confidence in timing, focus and intervention choices (what to do next, and why)

Areas of supervision focus

I’m particularly well suited to supervising clinicians who work with:

• Medically unexplained or stress-related physical symptoms (functional / mind-body presentations)
• Anxiety and trauma with prominent somatic components
• Attachmentrelated and relational difficulties
• High achieving or high responsibility clients (high functioning, privately struggling)
• Complex, long-term, or treatment resistant presentations
• Therapists experiencing doubt, stuckness, over responsibility or emotional fatigue

I also have a particular interest in supporting practitioners working with clients whose distress is expressed physically or who present with chronic internal tension, emotional inhibition, burnout and high internal pressure.

Training, qualifications and registration

I hold a Certificate in Clinical Supervision accredited by the British Psychological Society and have extensive experience supervising clinicians in NHS and private practice settings.

I’m a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). My supervisory practice is informed by current ethical guidance and best practice standards.

Practical information

• Format: Online supervision only
• Who I supervise: Qualified clinicians and trainees (subject to professional requirements and training agreements)
• Fee: £100 per 50minute session

If you are looking for a reflective, supportive, and clinically rigorous supervisory space, particularly when working with complex emotional and somatic presentations, I would be happy to discuss whether my approach is a good fit.
→ Enquire about supervision