Purpose of this policy:

The aim of this policy is to clarify for trainees, supervisors and trainers:

The purpose of supervision:

• The requirements for trainees and qualified CTA practitioners;

• What counts as a supervision hour?

• The Purpose of Supervision

UKCP state that: “Supervision is understood as a reflective and evaluative process conducted within an articulated working relationship between a qualified or trainee psychotherapeutic practitioner and an appropriately knowledgeable supervisor.”

And that

“The purposes of supervision are: 1) To underpin and promote reflective and informed practice (for example, by making transparent the contract for, and mode of, work, and the assumptions that it embodies) 2) As a result, to underpin and support best practice in a way that is beneficial to both practitioners and service-users. “ (UKCP Supervision Policy 2012)

More specifically it is:

• To help hold and protect the integrity of the therapeutic setting by ensuring supervisee therapists achieve awareness and/or address any personal/transferential/countertransferential and/or competence-related issues that might result in harmful interventions and/or ineffective treatment of their clients, or therapeutic impasse.

• To offer ethical, clinical and methodological support to the supervisee therapist, so that they can provide safe and effective therapy to their clients, as required, and enhance their own professional development.

Supervision may be face to face or via networks such as Skype or Facetime however it is essential that in the initial stages the supervisee has face to face contact as this will enable the relationship to develop, nuances to be more easily noted and what happens in the space between to be addressed, appreciated and explored.

When supervision occurs via Facetime etc. we strongly recommend that supervisee and supervisor have a minimum of one face to face session per year.

Clinical supervision for trainees

Sufficient clinical supervision hours, in groups or individually, to ensure that the 450 minimum clinical practice hours are supervised at a ratio of 1:6 is required. Supervision should be with appropriately trained and experienced training supervisors.

Whilst in placement the trainee is rarely in a position to select a supervisor, we strongly recommend that trainees ensure that they engage a (P)TSTA or a CTA trainer to supervise them as this supervisor will be able to attend to educational and formative elements of supervision in relation to Transactional Analysis theory and practice. Trainees are required to have a minimum total of 150 hours of supervision, a minimum of 75 must be with a (P)TSTA and a minimum 40 hours with the Principal Supervisor. Supervision with a qualified supervisor who is not a Transactional Analyst will count as other supervision. We appreciate that this is a ratio of 1:3 however the numbers indicated refer to the minimum requirement of supervision with a (P)TSTA or CTA trainer. Other supervision may be with a non TA qualified and experienced supervisor.

Initially supervision ideally would be fortnightly and we recommend that trainees have at least one supervision session before seeing clients. Each supervisee is an individual with differing needs and experiences. The decision to move from fortnightly to monthly supervision needs to be discussed however the decision rests with the supervisor

Supervision for UKATA Diploma Holders

The supervision requirements for UKATA Diploma holders currently being discussed via consultation.

Supervision for CTA, TA Trainers and (P)TSTA Practitioners

All practicing members, in the first five years post qualification as a CTA, will ensure that they receive appropriate supervision of their work on a regular basis from someone who is suitably skilled and qualified in their chosen field. The recommendation is a minimum of eight times (minimum of an hour per occasion) a year for Certified members as per the UKATA Code of Ethics and the Requirements and Recommendations for Professional Practice. There is no requirement regarding ratio of clients seen to hours of supervision.

EATA requirements for supervision after the first five years following qualification are more flexible, it is personalised and allows for a more consultative approach. This may be 1:1, and/or group peer supervision.

Group Supervision

Supervision in a group brings with it many benefits: the opportunity to learn from one’s colleagues; the potential for networking and support.

Size of the Group

A group may consist of just two supervisees. When considering the size of the group there are various issues upon which to reflect:

• Will all members have an opportunity to present each time; v Is the group small enough to allow contributions and feedback from all its members;

• Will the size of the group inhibit some from contributing to discussions or bringing issues

• Will it meet EATA requirements?

What Counts as a supervision hour?

The trainee can count any hour with a supervisor in which they actively present work for supervision as one hour of supervision. The trainee does not usually count supervision hours where they have been 4 present during the supervision of other trainees but have not presented work themselves. However, where two or three trainees receive supervision together in a group for the corresponding number of hours, and provided that each trainee makes a presentation of their work, each trainee may count all the hours of supervision with the supervisor.

• For example: if three trainees spend three hours in supervision, and each of them presents some of their work for supervision, they may each count a total of three hours of supervision.

In groups of four or more trainees, each trainee who makes a meaningful presentation of their work can claim supervision credit, and for each such presentation that trainee receives one hour of supervision credit. Group members can credit those hours where they do not present material as hours of advanced TA training/Continuing Professional Development. The total number of supervision hours credited cannot exceed the number of hours spent in the supervision session.

• For example: if five trainees spend three hours in supervision, and three trainees present work, one in each of the three hours, each of the trainees who presents work for supervision may credit one hour of supervision and two hours of advanced TA training. The two trainees who were present but who did not present work for supervision may each count three hours of advanced TA training/Professional Development (EATA Section 7.2.3.5 (2016))

Date April 2020 Ratified by Council – July 2020 Review Date – July 2023