What Makes Good Clinical Supervision? Choosing a Supervisor
- Suzie Booth
- Aug 6
- 4 min read
When therapists look for a clinical supervisor, they often focus on practical questions:
Are they accredited?
How much do they charge?
Do they work online?
Have they worked with my client group?
These are all important considerations. But they don't necessarily tell you what it will actually feel like to be supervised by that person.
In my experience, 'good' clinical supervision isn't simply about discussing clients or making sure you're practising ethically (although both are essential). It's about creating a relationship that helps you think more deeply, practise more confidently, and continue growing throughout your career.
So what makes good clinical supervision?
Good supervision isn't about having all the answers
Many therapists, particularly those who are newly qualified, come into supervision hoping someone will tell them the 'right' thing to do.; it's understandable, we care deeply about our clients and want to get it right.
The reality, though, is that therapy is rarely black and white. There often isn't one perfect intervention or one correct response.
Good supervision doesn't create dependence on your supervisor having the answers. Instead, it helps you develop confidence in your own clinical thinking. It creates space to explore different possibilities, consider the therapeutic relationship from different angles, and tolerate the uncertainty that is inevitably part of therapeutic work.
Good supervision is built on psychological safety
The most valuable supervision conversations are often the hardest ones to start.
They start with things like:
"I think I've got this wrong."
"I'm dreading seeing this client."
"I don't understand what's happening between us."
"I'm noticing strong feelings towards this client and I'm not sure why."
If supervision feels judgemental, those conversations tend to stay hidden. Good supervision creates enough safety that you can bring your uncertainties, mistakes and questions without worrying that you'll be criticised for them.
Because every therapist has blind spots, every therapist gets stuck, and every therapist benefits from another perspective.
Good supervision should challenge as well as support
Support is important, feeling heard, understood and encouraged matters.
But supervision that only reassures us can sometimes leave us exactly where we are.
Equally, supervision that challenges without first creating safety can leave therapists feeling criticised or defensive. I believe good supervision holds both.
It offers enough support that you feel able to be honest about your work, while also providing gentle challenge that helps you think differently, notice patterns you may have missed, and continue developing your practice.
Good supervision develops the therapist, not just the client work
Of course we'll think together about your clients. We'll consider ethical dilemmas, risk, interventions, formulation and the therapeutic relationship. But good supervision also pays attention to something equally important - you.
How are you experiencing the work?
What are you noticing in yourself?
What assumptions are you making?
What emotions are being evoked?
How might your own experiences, values or expectations be influencing the therapeutic relationship?
Therapists are not separate from the therapy they provide. We are part of the therapeutic process, and developing greater self-awareness allows us to work with increasing confidence, integrity and authenticity.
Good supervision leaves you seeing something differently
The most meaningful supervision sessions don't usually end with a simple answer. Instead, they often leave you with a different way of understanding something.
Perhaps you begin to see a client's behaviour through a different lens. Perhaps you notice something happening within the therapeutic relationship that hadn't been obvious before. Or perhaps you realise that the conclusion you've reached about yourself isn't the only possible explanation.
Those shifts often continue long after the supervision session has ended.
Supporting You Beyond the Therapy Room
While supervision is, first and foremost, a space to support safe, ethical and effective clinical practice, I also recognise that being a therapist often involves much more than seeing clients.
Many therapists in private practice are navigating questions about growing their business, attracting clients, setting sustainable fees, managing workload, achieving a healthy work-life balance, or working towards professional goals such as BACP accreditation.
Where helpful, supervision can provide space to think about these aspects of your professional life too.
After all, your development as a therapist doesn't happen in isolation from your career. Feeling confident in your practice, building a sustainable business, and continuing to grow professionally all contribute to your ability to offer the best possible support to your clients.
Whether you're newly qualified and establishing your practice, looking to expand your work, or considering your next professional step, supervision can offer a reflective space to think about the journey ahead as well as the clients you're supporting today.
My Approach to Clinical Supervision
As an integrative psychotherapist working from Clarkson's relational model, I see supervision as a collaborative, reflective relationship. Alongside supporting safe, ethical practice, my aim is to create a space where curiosity takes precedence over certainty. A space where you feel able to think out loud, question your assumptions, explore uncertainty and develop confidence in your own clinical judgement.
My role isn't to have all the answers.
It's to think alongside you.
Together, we'll explore not only what's happening for your clients, but also what's happening within the therapeutic relationship and within you as the therapist. Because some of the most valuable insights emerge when we become curious, not just about our clients, but about ourselves and the relationships we're creating with them.
Looking for Clinical Supervision?
Choosing a supervisor is about more than finding someone who meets professional requirements.
It's about finding someone you feel able to think with.
Someone who will support you, challenge you thoughtfully, and help you continue developing throughout your career.
If you're looking for relational, reflective clinical supervision, I'd be delighted to hear from you.
You can find out more about clinical supervision with me, or get in touch to arrange an initial appointment or ask any questions you might have.
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