According to yesterday's The Independent newspaper, Ryanair's Chief Executive Michael O'Leary has said he will be writing to the aviation authorities to ask permission to use only one pilot per aircraft on short-haul flights.
Mr O'Leary's logic is that the additional co-pilot is superfluous in modern jets - and it will save his airline money to eject them. He went so far as to say that the second pilot was only there to "make sure the other fella didn't fall asleep and knock over the controls". Mr Leary backed up his argument by saying that trains only had a single driver, at times, and this could cause a crash if the driver had a heart attack.
He went on to say that in 25 years, wtih over 10 million flights, Ryanair had only one recorded incident of a pilot having a heart attack - and he managed to land the plane safely.
It got me thinking about counselling practice and the need for a "co-pilot" in the form of a clinical supervisor. Maybe it is just a waste of experienced and qualified personnel - not to mention the supervisee's hard-earned cash - to fly the "plane" - being the client in metaphorical terms.
After all, not many client's really "crash" that badly, do they? And when they do there's not really that much of a bang. I was once told that no one had ever been sued for counselling malpractice in Ireland - so let's face it, even if there is a crash the dust cloud will probably pass over our heads.
I hear of counsellors flying their own "planes" all of the time. I have even heard of counselling students who have never had the benefit of clinical supervision. So it must be OK to risk it alone in the therapeutic skies - mustn't it?
To Mr O'Leary: the day you stop putting co-pilots into your aircraft is the day I stop flying on your aircraft. It's unsafe, it's bad practice and two heads are far better than one. The passengers feel safer and the whole trip is likely to be smoother and less fraught with stress, anxiety and panic.
To all counsellors not using supervision - consider becoming cabin crew.
Showing posts with label counselling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label counselling. Show all posts
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Who is Clinical Supervision For?
The other day, I gave a full day lecture on using clinical supervision in counselling and psychotherapy and I think it went well, overall.
It was just that, right at the end of the day, a student, whom I hadn't met for about 5 years when he attended an "Introductory Counselling Workshop" told me that he had been receiving clinical supervision for the past 4 years and that -contrary to the point I had been pressing home since the start of my lecture - he had been given to understand that it had nothing to do with the well-being of the client, but that it was purely about the development of the supervisee.
I have to say that, even after more than 20 years as a lecturer in the field (and occasionally in the classroom) I'm still pleased that I can have an open mind to an alternative viewpoint. In this case, though, I was a little "thrown" by the point being made, especially as it was done with the type of certainty only found in the most inexperienced professionals.
I was even more disconcerted by the fact that I had spent at least 2 hours offering up definitions and models of clinical supervision that hopefully left no-one in any doubt that the process was aimed at ensuring the best possible clinical practice was present when the practitioner met the client.
The problem with jargon is that it can be used to mean whatever you want it to mean. In the fields of counselling and mental health work phrases like "supervision", "mentoring", "personal development" and "professional development" get thrown around and mixed up faster and more vigorously than the plastic numbered balls in a Lotto machine.
The way I was taught to understand the meaning of the term "clinical supervision" is quite literal:
Clinical - "Of or relating to the bedside of a patient, the course of his disease, or the observation and treatment of patients directly: a clinical lecture ; clinical medicine" and Supervision - 1. "To direct or oversee the performance or operation of", 2. "To watch over, so as to maintain order, etc."(Both definitions from Dictionary.com)
So, my understanding of clinical supervision is that it directly relates to the treatment of patients (clients) and is used to oversee the work of the trainee or inexperienced (or sometimes highly experienced) practitioner - whether they may be a counsellor, psychotherapist, nurse, doctor or other health worker - while they are actively engaged in client work.
it's not always about maintaining order, and it is sometimes about the practitioner directly - but at the end of clinical supervision - at least when I do it - is always a client, and their best interests.
Browse the static pages above to find out more about what clinical supervision is and how it works.
It was just that, right at the end of the day, a student, whom I hadn't met for about 5 years when he attended an "Introductory Counselling Workshop" told me that he had been receiving clinical supervision for the past 4 years and that -contrary to the point I had been pressing home since the start of my lecture - he had been given to understand that it had nothing to do with the well-being of the client, but that it was purely about the development of the supervisee.
I have to say that, even after more than 20 years as a lecturer in the field (and occasionally in the classroom) I'm still pleased that I can have an open mind to an alternative viewpoint. In this case, though, I was a little "thrown" by the point being made, especially as it was done with the type of certainty only found in the most inexperienced professionals.
I was even more disconcerted by the fact that I had spent at least 2 hours offering up definitions and models of clinical supervision that hopefully left no-one in any doubt that the process was aimed at ensuring the best possible clinical practice was present when the practitioner met the client.
The problem with jargon is that it can be used to mean whatever you want it to mean. In the fields of counselling and mental health work phrases like "supervision", "mentoring", "personal development" and "professional development" get thrown around and mixed up faster and more vigorously than the plastic numbered balls in a Lotto machine.
The way I was taught to understand the meaning of the term "clinical supervision" is quite literal:
Clinical - "Of or relating to the bedside of a patient, the course of his disease, or the observation and treatment of patients directly: a clinical lecture ; clinical medicine" and Supervision - 1. "To direct or oversee the performance or operation of", 2. "To watch over, so as to maintain order, etc."(Both definitions from Dictionary.com)
So, my understanding of clinical supervision is that it directly relates to the treatment of patients (clients) and is used to oversee the work of the trainee or inexperienced (or sometimes highly experienced) practitioner - whether they may be a counsellor, psychotherapist, nurse, doctor or other health worker - while they are actively engaged in client work.
it's not always about maintaining order, and it is sometimes about the practitioner directly - but at the end of clinical supervision - at least when I do it - is always a client, and their best interests.
Browse the static pages above to find out more about what clinical supervision is and how it works.
Getting Started in Clinical Supervision
Welcome to my new blog and clinical supervision resources website - The Counselling Supervisor.
I have been practicing, teaching, training and writing on the subjects of psychotherapy, counselling, clinical supervision and mental health for more years than I care to remember - and my career in mental health work began as a trainee (cadet) nurse in a large psychiatric hospital in Merseyside,in the UK way back in 1972, when I was a mere lad of 16.
In those days, clinical supervision was a thing of the future. Psychiatric nurses got on with the job to the best of their ability, they didn't have the time nor often the inclination to talk their work with patients over with an interested, yet objective third party - unless they could find a friendly colleague who had the time to chat. It was a haphazard and unstructured process that sometimes led to the novice nurse being given unhelpful and/or confusing guidance.
It was only when I began training in psychotherapy, much later in my mental health career, that I came across the concept of formalized and structured clinical supervision.
I am pleased to be in a position to be able to pass on some of my hard-won experiences as a therapist, a supervisee and a clinical supervisor.
So, welcome to "The Counselling Supervisor" and I hope that you will find the posts and resources on this website of value and of interest as you pursue your own professional journey.
If you have any comments or questions about counselling, psychotherapy or clinical supervision that you feel I can help with, don't hesitate to let me have them - I will be delighted to hear from you.
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I have been practicing, teaching, training and writing on the subjects of psychotherapy, counselling, clinical supervision and mental health for more years than I care to remember - and my career in mental health work began as a trainee (cadet) nurse in a large psychiatric hospital in Merseyside,in the UK way back in 1972, when I was a mere lad of 16.
In those days, clinical supervision was a thing of the future. Psychiatric nurses got on with the job to the best of their ability, they didn't have the time nor often the inclination to talk their work with patients over with an interested, yet objective third party - unless they could find a friendly colleague who had the time to chat. It was a haphazard and unstructured process that sometimes led to the novice nurse being given unhelpful and/or confusing guidance.
It was only when I began training in psychotherapy, much later in my mental health career, that I came across the concept of formalized and structured clinical supervision.
I am pleased to be in a position to be able to pass on some of my hard-won experiences as a therapist, a supervisee and a clinical supervisor.
So, welcome to "The Counselling Supervisor" and I hope that you will find the posts and resources on this website of value and of interest as you pursue your own professional journey.
If you have any comments or questions about counselling, psychotherapy or clinical supervision that you feel I can help with, don't hesitate to let me have them - I will be delighted to hear from you.
QRV8YNKYDHQ3
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