John Mackessy

My availability for individual supervision is mainly weekdays during the daytime, and my individual practice is online.

Some concessionary spaces are available during daytime hours.

For group supervision I may well be able to attend on site in the London area.

After over a decade as a therapist and counsellor, I trained and qualified as a supervisor in 2012 and since then I have supervised therapists, psychologists and counsellors from many different modalities - Psychodynamic, Gestalt, Person-Centred, TA, Integrative and others.

My own practice is Integrative but I do not try to force an integrative perspective upon my supervisees, and so I have provided focused supervision to those working within modalities (both individually and in groups). I've also worked with mixed modality groups, which was an enriching experience. There are modalities where I don't have the depth of knowledge or experience to be the right choice as a supervisor and I will be honest about this if we come to discuss the possibility of working together.

My approach to supervision is to support the autonomy and practice of the supervisee. That doesn't mean a lack of input from me, but it does mean that I am aware that I am not the one in the room and that the supervisee actually has a living relationship with their client which needs to be respected. There is also far more that they'll be aware of re their clients than they can ever articulate to me. So, although I own my clinical responsibility as a supervisor, I don't try to do 'therapy by remote-control'. 

If we think about the three dimensions of supervision (the formative, normative and restorative), there will be times when supervisees need different things from me. Sometimes, particularly for trainees, they may need to draw upon my depth of experience and knowledge, but equally they may need to be 'cared for' in times of difficulty and self-doubt or just to say 'I haven't got a bloody clue what's going on!' or 'I'm feeling overwhelmed'.

I try to balance these three dimensions in supervision so that my supervisees know that my care is for them as well as for the clients. This involves support but also some challenge and helping supervisees to challenge themselves and to deepen their practice.

Most of my supervision sessions begin with a grounding exercise to bring us back into our bodies and the here and now.

The structure of the session is something that we agree during contracting and can vary somewhat depending on the supervisee's modality and needs.

It's usually better if the supervisee 'drives' the session, i.e., they're largely setting the agenda, and for this to work it's usually helpful if they've done a wee bit of prep and come with a sense of what they may want to explore and what they may need from the session.

In that regard, too, we'll both need to make sure that there is space to discuss and keep an eye on any safeguarding or other significant client concerns.

I've provided supervision in a number of settings beyond private practice, including universities and charitable organizations. The nature of sessions within groups again varies according to the group and its needs.

I normally suggest an initial talk, and sometime more than one talk, about your supervision needs etc., for which I do not charge.

Different people need different types of focus and attention in supervision and it is helpful to clarify and agree some of this before the supervision itself begins.

I've worked with a number of supervisees who have previously experienced quite authoritarian or even abusive supervision, which can include unboundaried, uncontained or 'wild' supervision. So a space to begin to unpack some of this and to talk about one's hopes and fears re supervision can also be very important.

I currently have availability for online counselling, therapy & coaching sessions, except for weekends.

My standard fee is £85, but I do  offer reduced fees, especially for those on limited income or experiencing financial hardship. My fee range is normally between £70 and £85 and I am happy to discuss this with you.

For those with AXA insurance, I am registered as one of their approved providers.

Many clients have said that they find me approachable and warm, which is important to me, as counselling and therapy have to offer a base of trust and security. This is especially so where a client may need to explore and work through sensitive aspects of their own history, circumstances, relationships and sense-of-self. As an Integrative and diversity-affirmative practitioner I adapt my work to my individual clients and their needs, often helping them to develop the skills, resilience and confidence to face not only life’s challenges but to deal with their own moods, fears and anxieties.

I've been a member of BACP since 2001, working with a very wide range of clients, with an even wider set of needs.

Aside from my private practice, the majority of my work has been in the charitable and educational sectors, with survivors of abuse (Witness Against Abuse), mental health (MIND), issues of disability (RNIB and Action for Blind People). I have set up, run and supervised projects for charities and in higher education - projects to develop communication skills, assertiveness, mindfulness and other aspects of personal/professional development. Much of my work in HE has been with issues of neurodiversity - much with diagnosed or undiagnosed dyslexia, dyspraxia, ASD/Asperger's, ADD/ADHD etc.

I mention the numerous things above partly because what I've learned over time is that 'one size does not fit all', and so it is important for me as a practitioner to bring some humility to the work and to try to understand each person's world from the inside out. I am constantly learning from my clients re how they see and experience the world, along with the challenges they face and the hopes that move them forward.

I have my training, my knowledge and experience, but I hope that I don't let these get in the way of meeting the person in front of me.

If you think that I may be able to help you, the initial stage is usually a free telephone or online chat. This normally takes about 30 minutes and is covered by the same confidentiality as the counselling/therapy.

I don't expect people to go into intimate detail at this first stage, but it is a chance to get to know me a bit, get a sense of how we might work together and for the person to tell me something about what they may what to get from the sessions.

If we feel that we may be a good fit then normally we'll then have two 'assessment' sessions. This is where we look at the overall picture and I normally gain a clearer idea of what the person may need from me and how we might work together.

Some people need a space to tell their story or to discuss their concerns and feel comfortable to largely lead this process themselves, with gentle facilitation from me to support, focus and deepen this process. This way of working could be described as Integrative, as my background and training is in Existential / Humanistic / Psychodynamic approaches.

Others want more specific or 'goal-oriented' input from me to develop their understanding of and strategies to deal with particular issues. So, with different people I'm likely to draw upon different resources (always with their awareness and involvement) - this could be from helping them to develop a 'self-contract' or to design plans and 'experiments' they may try out. An example would be working with anxiety, where we might develop a plan to gently expand a person's comfort zone and their sense of ease in handling anxiety-provoking situations. With these more directly practical dimensions of therapeutic work I often draw from CBT and other psycho-educational approaches. That said, my aim is always to work within the relationship with the client and to encourage their sense of autonomy and freedom.

A sense of greater choice and greater freedom is often the outcome.

Normally, after the free online or telephone 'chat', I hold two 'assessment' sessions with new clients, where we explore the work to be done, my ways of working and whether these make sense to the client and are likely to be helpful. Sometimes these two sessions give clients what they need to be able to move forward by themselves. Occasionally, I help people with onward referrals to particular specialist practitioners.

If we agree that further work with me is going to be helpful, then there would normally be an  agreement for four to six further sessions with a review towards the end.

At that point we'd either be finishing our work together or looking at longer-term work. Sometimes with longer-term work there is a transition in the work from a therapeutic focus to a creative or personal/professional development focus.

Where I work longer-term with clients I offer regular reviews, so that we can keep an eye on the direction of travel, the focus and whether a client's needs are being addressed.