Sarah Worley-James

Supervision

I am a BACP Senior accredited supervisor with 20 years of experience supervising trainee and qualified supervisees face to face and online.

I originally qualified as a counsellor in 1999, completing my Masters in Counselling in 2006 and began supervising in 2002. I am a senior accredited counsellor and supervisor with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, successfully passed the OCST Online Counselling course in 2011 and online supervision course in 2013. I have a diploma in Supervision from Robin Shohet and Joan Wilmot at the Centre for Supervision and Team Development. I am a Fellow, member, and former Chair, of the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online Therapy.

My experience

My supervision experience has been within both the voluntary and public sector (working within substance misuse and employee counselling services), as well as in private practice since 2008.

I am currently a senior counsellor in a higher education institution, having joined at the beginning of 2009, and ran the Associate programme for trainee counsellors for a number of years, managing the programme and supervising the trainee counsellors. In 2011 I set up the online counselling service there and continue to develop it. I have undertaken a wide range of CPD, including training in working with sexual abuse, the Polyvagel Theory, DBT, Rewind for trauma and Internal Family Systems. I also have many years' experience writing and delivering a range of workshops on emotional resilience, substance misuse, stress and anxiety, insomnia, perfectionism and anger management. I wrote and taught on a BACP accredited counselling diploma course for seven years and an introduction to counselling course for two years. I have had a regular column, Cyberwork, in the BACP Workplace journal, for a number of years and written other articles and blogs about online counselling and self-care. I have been commissioned to write a Guide to Online Counselling coming out summer 2022.

Prices

Supervision

£70 1 hour

£100 (1.5 hours)

Student counsellors

£45 1 hour

£60 (1.5 hours)

My approach to supervision

My approach to supervision is based on the recognition that the safer the supervisee feels, the easier it will be for them to bring themselves fully to the supervisory space. To feel encouraged to challenge themselves and have the courage to share all aspects of their practice, knowing they will be accepted and supported to grow and be open to new learning and ideas. I encourage open dialogue and recognise that two-way feedback is essential to ensure that I am meeting your needs as they vary and develop with your experience and ongoing training and growth. I base my theoretical approach to supervision on an integration of Shohet and Hawkins seven-eyed process model and Inskipp and Proctor's functional model. During supervision, I hold in mind the range of different people, organisations, and perspectives that are connected to the client and counsellor, supporting you to consider how these affect and influence the work. I encourage you to identify themes that are emerging to aid reflection and stepping back from the minutiae of the client's story and narrative. Self-care is an aspect of supervision that I am passionate about and will refer to routinely, to ensure you are fully supported and pay regular attention to your own wellbeing as well as that of your clients.