
The course is designed for counsellors and psychotherapists who are acting as supervisors or who are considering adding supervision to their practice. It is not necessary for participants to be working as supervisors during the course, since opportunities for skills practice and peer review are provided during the course time. That said, many attendees on this course are already supervising in some capacity or setting.
The course consists of theoretical, experiential and supervisory components. The theoretical input encourages critical engagement with the theory and practice of supervision. Assessment is ongoing and aims to ensure that students are able to work with the dynamics and processes of supervision; that there is congruence between the student’s theoretical knowledge and their supervisory practice. Teaching and supervisory methods emphasise the multi-layered, multi-faceted processes of supervision, including the use of one’s own process.
This course provides competence in working online and by telephone as well as in person - which is especially applicable in Covid times. The course covers supervision formats of individuals, peers, and groups - so the learning is widely relevant in different supervision settings.
Learning outcomes for participants:
The integrative stance of the course is in recognition that there may be a difference in training background or theoretical approach between a supervisor and their supervisee(s), particularly in organisational supervision contexts.
We appreciate the training and approach that course members bring. Onto that foundation we offer the opportunity to build a cohesive integrative way of working as a supervisor.
For those recently appointed as a supervisor in an organizational setting, one of the hardest moves to accomplish is the transition from being a team member to that of team leader or supervisor. Individuals in a supervisory role are no longer on equal terms with their peers and have to earn their respect, show authority and leadership, sometimes making unpopular decisions.
The newly-appointed supervisor often faces the complexities of the supervisory role, but can also take advantage of the possibilities and potential of the role, enabling them to lead by example and so gain the trust and respect of their team. Through this training, those starting to provide supervision will be able to identify themes for supervision, provide constructive feedback and handle delicate situations assertively.
This course attends to skills and considerations particular to supervision as distinct from the provision of therapy.
Supervision requires the development of new skills in order to work with the various aspects and processes of supervision, including both conscious and unconscious dynamics. The training considers the theory that underpins supervisory technique, links theory to practice through supervisory work and develops the ability to be aware of the processes inherent within supervision.
The course is integrative and intentionally multi-modal. It is taught at postgraduate level; course participants are expected to work academically on this basis. This includes the ability to evaluate theoretical concepts and a commitment to reflect critically and open-mindedly on one’s own process, philosophy, theoretical orientation and skills. Discussion in the full group or smaller groups is as important as the tutor-taught components. The experiential process of development encourages participants to learn from one another as well as from the course tutors. The integrative philosophy underpinning this course fosters a multidisciplinary environment where theoretical differences and similarities are creatively valued.
Attention is paid to reflective practice and the educational, restorative and containing power of supervision. Participants are encouraged to integrate the ideas from the course into a personally coherent model of supervision. There is also an acknowledgement of organisational contexts for supervision, which can bring additional dimensions for consideration, such as dual roles of clinical and management responsibility, definition of boundaries and confidentiality issues.
The course philosophy aims to establish a learning community in which a working alliance is established which encourages participants to take responsibility for their own learning and to support the learning of other course members.
The following themes will be explored:
During this course you will:
Students are required to submit one essay of 3,000-3,500 words. The essay requires the student to make an account of their model of supervision, including practical examples and the impact of their learning from the course. The essay is submitted up to 3 months after the end of the taught course.
Students also need to complete satisfactorily a facilitation of a supervision session. This assessed supervisor session will be undertaken at the final weekend during the course time, with another course student in the role of supervisee, using anonymous material from the supevisee’s practice. The assessment will be made by tutors, peer and self.
There will also be continuous assessment by the tutors of the student’s presence in the student group and the ability to integrate the taught material.
Additionally, a minimum of 80% attendance (13 days) is required to complete the course.
The Diploma award will be made on satisfactory completion of the assessment criteria:
The Diploma will be awarded on successful completion of all assessment criteria as well as full payment of fees. Otherwise, a certificate of attendance will be given, unless the student completes in their own time and at their own cost a programme of remedial work agreed with the core tutor and a director of The Grove Practice.
This training follows the BACP Counselling Supervision Training Curriculum (2021). There is a further option to add to this qualification if evidence is provided by the student of their log of supervision hours delivered. This option is for those who have the opportunity outside the course time and in their own work setting to generate a log of a minimum of 20 supervised hours of supervision delivered (per the 2021 BACP guidelines; previously 40 hours in the BACP curriculum published in 2014). If that log is submitted to The Grove bearing the signature of the supervisor of supervision, an additional line of wording will be added to their Diploma award as evidence of previous supervision practice. Working as a supervisor during the course is optional: some participants are already supervising; others prefer to wait until completing their supervision training. Either way, it is possible to complete the course and gain the Diploma in Integrative Supervision of Individuals and Groups.
There is no requirement for a supervision placement during this course. Some participants might already be supervising. Other participants may begin supervising during this course. No formal hours of supervision in the role of supervisor are part of this training course. Students are invited to start taking on private supervisees while in training on this course, or to seek supervisees through their employment organisation or other workplace. This will depend on the setting(s) for their work and upon access to formal supervision of their supervisor work. There are skills practice opportunities during the course time. However, these are within the course learning environment and cannot be logged as time delivering formal supervision in the role of supervisor.
This course is consistent with BACP requirements for evidence of supervision training in the application criteria for Senior Accreditation with BACP. This course follows UKCP requirements that the qualification contains both theoretical teaching and supervised supervision as components required to achieve the competences of a supervisor. For BACP and UKCP and COSRT and other professional bodies, there are usually additional criteria for each applicant to fulfil before gaining supervisor recognition or accreditation as a supervisor. These additional criteria are outside the scope of The Grove's supervision training and are the responsibility of the applicant. These statements are made to the best of our knowledge and with best endeavours. It is incumbent on each course student to check criteria for supervisor recognition with their own professional organisation.
Sarah Paton Briggs and Elliot Davis are the core tutors for each intake.
Sarah Paton Briggs is a Director of The Grove Practice, where she has held a management role in the therapy service for over 12 years. She is a supervisor accredited by BACP and also by COSRT. She brings to her supervision practice the engaging and relational approach deployed with her clients. As an accredited psychotherapist, psychosexual & relationship therapist, drug & alcohol counsellor, executive coach, Sarah has a wealth of experience working with adult clients, either as individuals or couples.
Sarah supervises therapists through each stage of their professional development: as trainees, then qualified therapists, plus supporting supervisees towards accreditation or UKCP registration. This aspect involves writing supervision reports at key stages in that career progression. She also supervises supervisors in training or after qualifying. Her clinical management role for the therapy team at The Grove also involves the practical application of ethical principles including boundaries, contracting, confidentiality, balancing the client’s autonomy with upholding the role of the therapist, all within the commercial context of The Grove.
Her tutor and supervision experience also encompasses therapeutic work partnered with horses for human clients – equine-facilitated therapy. She offers equine-facilitated programmes in Wiltshire, for therapy clients and also for corporate groups.
Sarah is the core tutor for the Autumn intake of The Grove’s supervision course.
Professor Ernesto Spinelli has wide experience of teaching psychotherapists and supervisors, most recently as a Senior Fellow at Regent’s College School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology. In addition to his academic work he also maintains a private practice as a psychotherapist, executive coach and supervisor.
Having recently published a new edition of his bestselling book, The Interpreted World: An Introduction To Phenomenological Psychology, his other books include Demiysitfying Therapy, Tales of Unknowing: Therapeutic Encounters From An Existential Perspective, and Practising Existential Psychotherapy: The Relational World. Ernesto is a Founding Member of the British Psychological Society Special Group in Coaching Psychology and is on the editorial board of the International Coaching Psychology Review.
Ernesto is an existential psychotherapist, a Chartered Counselling Psychologist and Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Ernesto’s other academic awards include BA, MSc and PhD. For this course, he teaches existential approaches to supervision.
Dr Heather Pryce is a UKCP-registered psychoanalytic psychotherapist and supervisor. She originally qualified as a doctor and worked in psychiatry and general practice before training at the Guild of Psychotherapists. She ran a psychosexual counselling service for 8 years and still works in the NHS. She has supervised in many different organisational settings.
Heather is a member of the Guild of Psychotherapists, APP (the Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the NHS), CAP (Confederation of Analytical Psychologists) and BAPPS (the British Association for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Supervision). She ran the supervision training at the Guild of Psychotherapists for 2 years and she is interested in the complex dynamics of group supervision in organisations.
For this course, Heather teaches psychoanalytic supervision concepts.
Tom Warnecke (PgDip, ECP, UKCP) is a relational and somatic psychotherapist, trainer and writer. He trained in Gestalt therapy and in Biosynthesis psychotherapy, worked in statutory mental health services, and teaches psychotherapy and supervision internationally. His relational-somatic approach to Borderline trauma is utilised by various psychotherapy training institutes and he regularly contributes at European congresses and events. Tom is co-editor of the international 'Journal for Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy' and his publications include book chapters, journal articles, and the book 'The Psyche in the Modern World - Psychotherapy and Society' (Karnac 2015). He is a past UKCP vice chair and, since 2013, a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP) where he is holding various roles.
Tom’s publications include a number of book chapters and journal articles, the book ‘The Psyche in the Modern World – Psychotherapy and Society’ (Karnac 2015) and a paper on chronic fatigue phenomena. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the ‘European Association for Psychotherapy’ (EAP) and a past UKCP vice chair.
For this training, he teaches somatic presentations in supervision: transference, embodied responses and erotic presentations by supervises.
Dr. Michael Worrell is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years’ experience in a range of practice settings including the NHS and Private Practice. His NHS experience has included work across primary and secondary care with adult clients presenting with moderate to severe and complex difficulties. He is accredited with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) as a CBT Practitioner, Trainer and Supervisor.
Since 2003 Michael has been involved in training a wide range of mental health practitioners (including counsellors, psychotherapists, clinical and counselling psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists and psychiatric nurses) in CBT. Additionally, Michael has delivered training both within the UK and internationally on CBT Supervision and is currently developing further training in this area. In addition to his work within CBT, Michael has completed an advanced training in Existential Psychotherapy (1997) as well as a PhD in Psychotherapy (City 2002) that focused upon the concept of ‘resistance’ across differing modalities of therapy. Michael maintains a strong interest in contemporary developments in CBT and has completed training in both Schema Focused Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Michael has previously worked at Regent’s College London as a Programme Leader on what was then the Diploma in Existential Psychotherapy and also as External Examiner for the MA in Psychotherapy. Michael is committed the possibilities of dialogue between differing orientations to practice and is currently working on a project with Professor Ernesto Spinelli on developing an ‘Existentially Focussed CBT’. Some of this initial work was presented to the World Conference for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Italy (2011) in a paper entitled “Existential Dimensions of ACT”. Michael has published in peer reviewed journals on both aspects of CBT and Existential Therapy.
Michael teaches CBT supervision for this course.
Dr Roberta Babb (BSc Hons, MSc, DClinPsych, CPsychol CSci AFBPsS) is the Director and owner of Third Eye Psychology Ltd. Her practice offers clinical, forensic and organisation psychological services which include coaching, consultation, supervision (individual and group), training and mentoring, assessments, and therapy.
Although Dr Babb’s clinical practice is significantly influence by psychodynamic theory, she flexibly draws on a diverse range of theoretical frameworks to inform her work. This enables her to provide integrative and comprehensive assessments which identify problem areas, potential areas for change, and integrative psychological formulations or understandings (both via individual and group processes). This process offers a deeper insight into both the global picture of the presenting difficulties/issues and the finer details, and provides a well-formed platform for the implementation of evidence-based interventions which can effect sustainable change at the conscious and unconscious level.
Dr Babb is registered with the British Psychological Society (BPS) (Division of Clinical Psychology, Division of Forensic Psychology, and Division of Clinical Psychology Leadership and Management Faculty) and an approved Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC). She is also a Member of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC). Her qualifications include a BSc (Hons) degree in Psychology, a MSc in Forensic Psychology and a Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She holds postgraduate diplomas in Clinical Supervision and Consultancy, Organisational Development and Executive Coaching, psychodynamic psychotherapy (foundation) and a professional qualification in forensic psychodynamic psychotherapy. She has attended specialist training events for group therapy and supervision. For the supervision course, Dr Babb teaches group supervision and Gestalt approaches, as well as facilitating on difference and intersectional identity in supervision.
Paul Margrie is a senior lecturer and management committee member at The Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education. CCPE’s 5-yera transpersonal psychotherapy training is a route for UKCP registration. His responsibilities include therapy assessments and trainer in supervision and experiential groups. He is a qualified supervisor and practising psychotherapist.
He brings a wealth of experience in supervision theory and practice, as well as the practice of supervising groups of therapists in training.
For The Grove’s course, he teaches peer supervision and/or ethics in supervision.
Please note that the tutor team may vary according to feasibility in relation to the number of enrolled students. The Grove fully intends for the course to be taught as planned. However, sometimes tutor availability may change according to unforeseen circumstances such as but not limited to illness or bereavement. In any such circumstances, The Grove may be required to adjust the tutor schedule at short notice.
The Autumn 2022 intake will be held entirely on Zoom. The course is held at weekends on Saturday and Sunday
Course Dates:
17th & 18th September 2022
22nd & 23rd October 2022
5th & 6th November 2022
3rd & 4th December 2022
14th & 15th January 2023
4th & 5th February 2023
4th & 5th March 2023
1st & 2nd April 2023
Times each day:
10am – 4:30pm.
There is usually an intake in the Spring and Autumn each year.
This intake will be held entirely in person at NCVO in London N1 near Kings Cross.
The course is held at weekends on Saturday and Sunday in 2023.
Course Dates:
11 & 12 February
11 & 12 March
15 & 16 April
13 & 14 May
10 & 11 June
8 & 9 July
9 & 10 September
7 & 8 October
Times each day:
10am – 4:30pm.
The Autumn 2023 intake will be held entirely on Zoom. The course is held at weekends on Saturday and Sunday.
Course Dates:
9 & 10 September 2023
14 & 15 October 2023
11 & 12 November 2023
9 & 10 December 2023
13 & 14 January 2024
10 & 11 February 2024
9 & 10 March 2024
6 & 7 April 2024
Times each day:
10am – 4:30pm.
£2,300 + VAT = £2,760 payable payable in full before the start date or by instalments as long as the total is reached before the final weekend of the course. A limited number of reduced-fee places may be available, dependent on student numbers and applicant circumstances. If you would like to discuss this potential or apply for a reduced-fee place, please contact us.
A non-refundable deposit of £300 is payable to secure a place on this course. After that, the total remaining payable must be reached by 6 weeks before the final weekend of the training.
The course fee includes all training materials and the CPD-certificate.
If you would like to discuss this potential or apply for a reduced-fee place, please contact us.
After paying the deposit of £300 including VAT, the remainder of the fee can be paid by instalments as indicated on the invoice. Some reduced-fee places may be awarded depending on student circumstances, subject to availability. The course fee can also be invoiced fully or partially to an employer or funding organisation. Please contact us for details.
We get great feedback from the people who take our courses. Click here for more testimonials. But here's a quick comment from Annabel about her learning on our supervision course, filling her supervision toolkit.
Applicants are expected to be qualified and experienced professionals in a mental health or helping profession, who are established in their practice. This will be covered in the application form. All applicants are expected to:
This training qualifies students in individual or group supervision and fulfils the training criteria for supervisor accreditation with professional bodies such as the BACP, UKCP, AHPP or COSRT.
The Grove Practice is accredited by NCIP (National Council for Integrative Psychotherapists) as a CPD training centre. As such, all of The Grove’s courses in our suite of training programmes are awarded NCP accreditation for CPD (Continuous Professional Development). This accreditation provides reassurance regarding high standards of teaching and course content which have been recognised within the psychotherapy profession.
Participants who successfully complete this course can use the qualification as evidence of training in supervision, when applying to COSRT for supervisor accreditation.
The Grove’s courses have been successfully recognised as CPD for members of the following membership bodies: UKCP, BACP, COSRT, NCP, NCS, AHPP, BPS, among others. Organisations such as Relate and MIND and Place2B have also supported their therapists in taking training with The Grove. This is a mark of unofficial validation of our courses as worthy of being listed on the CPD logs for these members and organisations.
As a marker of the course content, The Grove’s supervision course is consistent with the BACP psychotherapy / counselling supervision training curriculum published in 2021, which provides for an in-depth understanding of best practice and competence for supervisors. The Grove understands that BACP intends this as a minimum standard, providing a curriculum framework for training providers to follow. Our view is that the BACP syllabus enables qualified counsellors to acquire the knowledge and skills required to practise as clinical supervisors in a variety of settings, including the supervision of groups as well as supervision for individual supervisees. This statement by The Grove does not imply that BACP has assessed or endorsed our supervision training; rather, our intention here is to show that The Grove has reviewed professional guidelines regarding the content of our supervision course.
This course is taught at Level 6 equivalence. This training is a high-level integration of supervision theory and practice, designed for mature and established mental health professionals. This is a post-qualification training which requires theoretical evaluation, self-reflection, and interpretation of how to apply the models in mental health settings such as clinical practice or multi-disciplinary teams in organisations.
Could you please thank all your colleagues for the course which I have found very helpful and affirming.
I enjoyed the course and feel that it offers a really comprehensive training that embraced many aspects of therapy and prepared me well for my future both counselling and supervising so please pass on my thanks to Glenn and all the other tutors.
I have enjoyed the course and gained a lot from all the topics covered.
Feeling more confident to put together a mental health training into workplace. Very professional course and good balance of theory and practice and learning styles.
I’ve really enjoyed the course and I am looking forward to the next stage of development and writing my essay.