糖心官网 Supervisors Event 2026 - 糖心官网 - British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

糖心官网 Supervisor's Event 2025
Programme

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Supervisors event 2026

The supervisor's event aims to provide counselling and psychotherapy supervisors with essential CPD to develop and enhance their supervisory practice.

This year's event will enable participants to reflect on some of the challenges and complexities arising in supervision practice today and enhance their awareness, understanding and the skills needed to cultivate safety in supervision.

Participants will be encouraged to critically engage with contemporary issues in supervision and consider how these can inform and strengthen their own professional practice.

Join us in-person on鈥�Wednesday 2 September 2026 鈥痜rom鈥�9:00am until 5:00pm in Birmingham.

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Programme

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Time	Strand 1 听	Strand 2 听	Strand 3 听
9.00am to 9.45am	Registration and welcome drinks
9.45am to 10.00am	Event welcome
10.00am to 11.00am	Keynote presentation: Shame is Pride鈥檚 Cloke, presented by Gaie Houston
11.00am to 11.20am	Break & networking
11.20am to 12.35pm	Are They Ready - or Ready Enough? Supervising newly qualified therapist in Private Practice, presented by Rima Mehta	Different Ways of Processing: Reimagining Supervision through a Neurodiversity Lens, presented by Nicola Blunden	Supervision in the Context of the New Ethical Framework 2026, presented by Andrew Reeves and Tina Williams
12.35pm to 1.35pm	Lunch
1.35pm to 2.50pm	War in and out of the therapy room, presented by Faisal Mahmood	Working with Competitiveness in Group and 1:1 Supervision, presented by Alison O'Connor	Safeguarding in Clinical Supervision: An introduction to a Supervisory Framework, presented by Rebekah Eglinton
2.50pm to 3.10pm	Refreshment break and networking
3.10pm to 4.10pm	Keynote presentation: Working safely, and skillfully with erotic transference in supervision, presented by Sally Openshaw
4.10pm to 5pm	Panel discussion and Reflections
5pm	Event close

This programme is subject to change

Gaie Houston read English language and literature at Oxford. She first studied group behaviour with National Training Laboratories in the USA. She is now Emerita Adviser to the Gestalt Centre, London, with whom she has worked over the last forty years. Gaie has taught supervision and supervised since 1980.

She is on the editorial boards of The Gestalt Review, USA; The British Gestalt Journal; and, until its demise in 2024, Self and Society: Journal of Humanistic Psychology.

Gaie has written nine books on group and individual psychotherapy, and eighteen plays, many for BBC Radio, and some for theatre. She has co-presented several television series on behaviour in small groups and on sexual behaviour. She has been a local Councillor and directed opera in Italy.

This presentation will support supervisors to work within clear and robust ethical boundaries, while also developing the capacity to explore erotic transference and countertransference as they arise in supervisees鈥� work with clients. It will invite supervisors to approach this material with measured curiosity and clinical thinking, recognising erotic dynamics as meaningful aspects of the therapeutic relationship rather than topics to be avoided.听

The session will focus on how supervisors can create a supervisory space that supports thoughtful reflection on complex relational material, while听maintaining听a strong ethical focus on client welfare, professional听boundaries听and practitioner responsibility. Attention will be given to the supervisor鈥檚 role in helping supervisees to听identify, contextualise and work ethically with erotic transference and countertransference, and to support sound judgement and听decision-making听in situations where boundary considerations may be particularly important.听

Sally Openshaw is a relationship therapist who specialises in sexual issues.听She is a senior accredited member and supervisor in COSRT (College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists) and is currently President of the International Integrative Psychotherapy Association.

Sally has always had a natural curiosity to explore spaces which are often avoided and this brought her to erotic transference and counter transference.听She has engaged many groups of practitioners to learn about this topic over the last 13 years and is now expanding this teaching to look at supervision and the support that is听required听in practice.

Feedback from听previous听teaching shows how engaged learners are in the content, how they value the clinical examples and the realness presented in the story telling.听Sally has recently reduced her clinical workload to provide more space to听write听a book about erotic transference and counter transference.听听听

The transition into private practice can be both exciting and daunting for newly qualified therapists. Alongside the opportunities that independent practice offers comes a range of ethical, professional, and clinical challenges. Supervisors are increasingly being asked to support supervisees who are eager to establish themselves in private practice whilst also navigating financial pressures, questions of competence, and the realities of working independently.

This session explores the complex tension between a supervisee's readiness to practice and their need to earn a living. Drawing on the 糖心官网 Ethical Framework and real-world supervisory experience, we will consider how supervisors can assess readiness beyond competence checklists, recognising the importance of reflective capacity, ethical awareness, and professional judgement.

Using practice-based examples, we will explore common dilemmas that arise in private practice, including working beyond competence, accurately representing experience and specialisms, setting fees, managing cancellations and non-payment, contracting, and maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.

The session will also explore how supervisors can work effectively when there is a disagreement between supervisor and supervisee about the supervisee's readiness for independent practice, balancing support, challenge, and professional accountability.

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Participants will be invited to explore practical insights, reflective questions, and a framework for supporting newly qualified therapists to develop ethical, sustainable, and client-centred private practices.

Rima Mehta is Practice Director of Therapy Lounge Collective, Senior Psychotherapist, and a Clinical Supervisor. Rima has over 15 years鈥� experience in the Counselling and Psychotherapy profession and offers professional therapy services to both adults and couples and can work with most general adult issues. Rima has a specialist interest in the field of trauma and unresolved childhood issues and aims to help individuals and couples to address the causes of their problems, reduce symptoms and move forward in life.

From a young age, Rima has held a keen interest in the human mind and commenced her journey in becoming a therapist after completing her degree in Psychology, followed by obtaining a Master鈥檚 degree in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. Over the years, Rima has completed further professional training to enhance her therapeutic skills, which include training in Dialectical Behavioural therapy (DBT) and EMDR.

In addition to offering Psychotherapy services, Rima is an experienced clinical supervisor and supports both trainees and experienced therapists to provide ethical and professional clinical practices. Rima also provides organisational supervision and consultancy services to both local and national businesses in the UK.

Rima enjoys making a positive contribution to the Counselling and Psychotherapy profession and Is appointed as an Executive Board Member of British Association for Counselling and psychotherapy (糖心官网) private practice division.

This experiential workshop invites you to explore the ways that neurodivergent people think, process, and relate in supervision. Using reflective activities, we will explore different ways of processing as strengths that shape how neurodivergent people listen, respond, and make meaning together, and we will also explore some of the challenges that neurodivergent people might face in processing emotion, sensory information, and attention.

The session will surface and critique the hidden neurotypical norms that often sit underneath supervision practice. You鈥檒l have space to notice your own processing styles, and to think about how these show up in your work with supervisees and, in turn, their clients.

This session will also look at how differences in processing can enrich supervision, bringing new perspectives, depth, and flexibility to the relationship, while also considering some simple, practical ways to adapt your approach to better meet individual needs.

Nicola Blunden is a psychotherapist听and听supervisor听with a strong interest in reflective practice and relational ethics. Her work focuses on creating thoughtful, inclusive spaces where practitioners can explore complexity, difference, and uncertainty in their work.听听

She听brings a reflective and听warm听approach to her teaching, combining conceptual clarity with experiential learning. She is especially interested in neurodiversity, and in supporting practitioners to recognise and work with听different ways听of thinking, processing, and relating. Her workshops invite curiosity, self-awareness, and practical experimentation, helping participants to develop approaches that are both responsive and ethically attuned.听

Nicola is the author of听听(2025),听听(2024) and听听(2023).听She is听also听Deputy Head of Professional Standards at 糖心官网.听

糖心官网鈥檚 new Ethical Framework, coming into effect in November 2026, represents a significant moment for the profession and raises important questions for supervisors about how its principles and commitments are best understood, embedded, and supported within the supervisory relationship.

This session will explore the new Ethical Framework from a supervision perspective, considering what has changed, what the changes mean in practice, and how supervisors can helpfully engage their supervisees in reflecting on the Framework's implications for their day-to-day work.

Session aims:
鈥� To provide an accessible and practical overview of the key changes introduced in the 糖心官网 Ethical Framework 2026
鈥� To explore the role of supervision in supporting supervisees to understand and integrate the new Framework into their practice
鈥� To consider the ethical and relational dimensions of the supervisor's own responsibilities under the new Framework
鈥� To create space for reflective dialogue among supervisors about the opportunities and challenges the new Framework presents

The session will combine brief presentation with facilitated discussion, drawing on participants' own supervisory experience. Supervisors at all levels of experience are welcome, and the session is designed to be practically grounded, accessible, and directly relevant to everyday supervisory practice.

Andrew Reeves is Emeritus Professor in Counselling Professions and Mental Health at the University of Chester and a Fellow and past Chair of 糖心官网. A 糖心官网 Senior Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist and Registered Social Worker. He has worked as a counsellor, psychotherapist, and supervisor for over forty years, practising across a range of clinical and professional contexts.

Andrew has written and edited widely in the field, with publications spanning ethics, supervision, and counselling practice, and he is a regular contributor to CPD training and professional development events. He holds Senior Accreditation as a Coach and Coach Supervisor with the EMCC, and maintains an active interest in the relationship between coaching and therapeutic practice. He brings to his presenting a grounded, practice-focused perspective, shaped by many years of working directly with clients, supervisees, and trainees.

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We are surrounded by wars and conflicts 鈥� arguably almost on the brink of global catastrophe, a potential third world war. The dynamics of war and aggression are being played out across multiple levels 鈥� between countries, within politics, across social media platforms, between humans and AI, between individuals and ideologies, within economics, local communities and migrants, and across competing ideas and paradigms.

This session aims to explore how experiences of war and conflict impact clients, supervisees, and practitioners, both directly and indirectly. It will consider how war manifests within the therapy room through fear, despair, dissociation, projection, political alignment, trauma, identity, and relational dynamics, and will reflect on the ways in which external conflict intersects with internal psychological processes.

The session will also explore the ethical, cultural, and relational complexities that arise when working with war and conflict-related material in supervision, and will support supervisors in holding and containing the emotional impact of such work.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

explore how experiences of war and conflict impact clients, supervisees, therapists, and supervisors both directly and indirectly
consider how dynamics of war, conflict and aggression may be enacted within therapeutic and supervisory relationships
develop greater awareness of how their own positioning (personal, cultural, political) may shape their responses to war and conflict related material
consider how to support supervisees in working with distress, uncertainty, and polarisation linked to war, national and global conflicts, while remaining grounded and effective in their practice

Dr Faisal Mahmood is a 糖心官网-accredited senior counsellor, a UKCP-registered individual and group psychotherapist, and a UKCP-approved clinical supervisor. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Currently, he works as Head of Subject 鈥� Counselling, Psychotherapy & Talking Therapies at Birmingham Newman University, where he leads a portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including professionally accredited courses (accredited by 糖心官网, UPCA, and BPS).

In addition to his university role, Faisal is the Head of Training Standards and Vice Chair of the University Training College (UKCP College), a member of the UPCA Council, a member of the UKCP Education, Training and Practice Committee (ETPC), a member of the Adult Psychotherapy Training Standards Revision Working Group, and Convener of the International Gestalt Research Group.

With over 25 years of clinical, supervisory, and management experience, Faisal has worked with clients and staff in diverse settings, including GP surgeries, hospitals, the voluntary sector, and private practice.

He also runs a private practice in Solihull, where he offers therapy, clinical supervision, and a range of CPD training events including diversity and intersectionality, supervision, addiction and working with groups.

This experiential workshop will explore how competitive dynamics emerge in both group and individual supervisory relationships, and how supervisors can work skillfully with comparison, performance pressure and defensiveness to create safe, collaborative and reflective learning environments. The session will help supervisors to recognise, reflect on and work with these dynamics, understand the relational and contextual factors that underpin and shape them, and develop practical strategies that promote the openness and psychological safety needed to foster egalitarian supervisory relationships that support supervisee growth and awareness.

We will look at some of the beliefs and shadow motivations that tend to drive comparison and competitiveness (for ourselves as well as our supervisees!) and consider how reshaping or letting go of unhelpful beliefs can support growth and encourage ethical maturity.

Self-compassion is a helpful antidote to the striving and self-criticism that often underpins competitiveness. The workshop will offer a series of reflective exercises to demonstrate how supervision can support the development of self-compassion and self-trust.

Alison O'Connor is a supervisor, integrative counsellor, trainer and writer with 30 years鈥� experience of therapeutic work and applied theatre. She is a Churchill Fellow in moral injury, trauma recovery and the arts. She is currently writing a book, 'Moral Injury on the Frontline: A guide to sustaining ourselves in challenging times' which will be published by Routledge in 2027. She has been privileged to work in prisons, Romanian orphanages, in substance misuse, with military veterans and survivors of complex trauma.

Alison worked for several years as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at University of South Wales. Alison is committed to enhancing practitioner wellbeing by co-creating restorative, reflective support networks and experiences that allow people in the helping professions to be well in the work they do. Teachers, counsellors, artists, nurses, doctors, care workers, police, paramedics, prison staff, all who work at the human frontline.

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This workshop provides an introductory overview of Dr Eglinton鈥檚 safeguarding framework for supervisors of counsellors, psychotherapists and other helping professionals. Drawing on Proctor's Three Functions of supervision (Normative, Formative and Restorative), the session explores how safeguarding responsibilities can be embedded within routine supervision practice.

Participants will be introduced to a five-stage safeguarding supervision cycle: recognising risk, reflecting on and formulating concerns, supporting decision-making, documenting discussions and actions, and reviewing outcomes while attending to supervisee wellbeing. The workshop will consider the supervisor's role in creating a psychologically safe and reflective space for discussing safeguarding concerns and promoting ethical, accountable practice.

The session will also highlight factors that can influence safeguarding judgement, including biases, assumptions, emotional responses and contextual considerations. Designed as an overview, this session aims to increase awareness of key safeguarding principles within supervision and provide a practical framework that supervisors can consider incorporating into their own practice. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of safeguarding's place within clinical supervision and the role supervision can play in supporting safe, reflective and effective professional practice.

Dr Rebekah Eglinton is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Senior Clinical Advisor with over 20 years鈥� experience specialising in public protection, safeguarding, and the design of trauma informed systems within complex legal and statutory environments. As former Chief Psychologist and Head of Support, Safeguarding and Police Referrals for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), she led psychological and safeguarding frameworks supporting victim and survivor engagement, witness participation, and staff wellbeing.

Dr Eglinton now advises public inquiries, reviews, and other public bodies, helping organisations develop effective, trauma informed approaches to safeguarding, evidence gathering, and public engagement. She leads a specialist associate practice providing safeguarding and psychological services, including consultation, supervision, and training for practitioners working in independent practice. An experienced clinical supervisor, she has a particular interest in supporting professional development, reflective practice, and the creation of resilient, psychologically informed organisations.

A Non-Executive Director at the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), Associate Non-Executive Director within the NHS, and Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex, Dr Eglinton contributes to national policy and practice on victim and survivor engagement.

糖心官网

Supervisors event 2026

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