Fiona McIlhagga

Please contact me for availability.

As a supervisor, I encourage you to reflect on your process and harness your inner wisdom to inform you, for example how you react to your clients (parallel process, transference, counter transference) in addition to what your clients consciously and subconsciously bring to their sessions with you. 

I am facilitative and will support you to find ways forward to understand and help  your clients while growing as a therapist and retaining your autonomy and strong ethical code.

I offer creative supervision (metaphors used in verbal activities or in art and sand work) to aid you to go deeper and to release the knowledge buried within you. I offer a warm, supportive supervisory relationship and balance striving for best practice with building confidence in your skills.

I am a play and creative arts therapist and ex primary school teacher. I particularly welcome supervisees who work with children and young people.

I have a special interest in behavioural challenges and trauma and in children who are or who have been looked after, in kinship, foster, adoption or residential care.

I work with children and their families who have experienced challenging times. I often work with children who have experienced neglect, abuse or trauma.

I have a special interest in children who are or who have been in care, Special Guardianship or who are adopted. 

I am primarily a play and creative arts therapist and use DDP principles in my work with families. I am happy to supervise other therapists or professionals who work with children and their families.

Within supervision I will offer creative activities and metaphoric conversations to encourage you to go deeper. Supervision will be supportive and may be challenging too. It should help you to grow as a therapist and refresh your work, maintaining high standards and a strong code of ethics.

I offer supervision in person or online.

Before your first session I will meet with you, usually online, to see if we both feel we can work well together. We will discuss what you want and need from supervision and the type of clients you work with. I will take details of your training and experience and we will then assess whether our supervisory relationship will be effective:

It is important that you feel safe with your supervisor so that you can be vulnerable about the difficulties you may sometimes face in your work. It is important that I feel we can work together well too.

When we have made a decision to start working together we will contract the supervisory relationship and book in the first few sessions. 

Annually, I will ask you to review our supervision, reflect on your growth and suggest any changes you feel are needed. You are welcome to bring any isues about supervision to any session and are encouraged to raise anything you are not comfortable with straight away so that we can reflect together and find a resolution which suits us both.

Supervision should be supportive and should allow for continued growth, therefore there may be times of challenge within supervision. Leaning in to that challenge can strengthen practice and deepen personal insight. Supervision is a key part of our practice as therapists and should be something we value for its role in keeping us safe, ethical and effective therapists.

Do get in touch for a free initial conversation.

I may have some availability from September 2026, please get in touch to discuss.

I am primarily a play and creative arts therapist and use DDP principles in my work with families.

Play and creative arts therapy allows children to play out their feelings, memories, fears, hopes and dreams. They are able to stay psychologically safe through the use of metaphor and don't have to find the right words or talk about their problems. Children are experts at play, it is their way of communicating and so they find it a natural way to express themselves.

Play and creative arts therapy is evidenced and highly effective. Children usually enjoy their therapy sessions. They will have the opportunity to lead their sessions and choose from a wide range of toys and materials each time. These will be from a selection of art and craft materials, sand tray with miniatures, role play, music, movement and games, puppets, construction, therapeutic story, creative visualisation and gentle psycho-education.

Children don't need to be polite or behave in sessions, they can simply be themselves and we work with whatever they bring. 

Quiet, withdrawn children will usually find their voice. Loud or aggressive children will often manage to feel and exhibit less dysregulation. 

I work with children and their families who have experienced challenging times. I often work with children who have experienced neglect, abuse or trauma.

I have a special interest in children who are or who have been in care, kinship or who are adopted.

I see clients weekly, on the same day and at the same time, and with the same equipment so the children know exactly what to expect and don't have to manage any surprises.

I meet with schools or social workers and parents first to assess the child's need and suitability for play therapy. We will discuss the child's history and behaviours so that I understand the child and their lived experience as fully as I can. Then we will make a therapeutic plan.

For mild difficulties the usual minimum is 12-16 sessions. For moderate difficulties the usual minimum is 16-24 sessions. For more severe difficulties or a complex trauma background we would look to work longer-term.

Once sessions with the child start, the child has the same toys and equipment offered to them each week. They can choose what they play with and can direct the play. There are toys and games to suit all ages. I do not provide electronic toys.

I often hold therapy sessions in the child's school.

At regular points we will review the therapy and how the child's behaviours may be changing. I may give tips and strategies to try at home and recommendations to schools. We may decide it would be best for the child to add another block of sessions or we may plan to end. 

I will write an end report which captures the child's challenges and progress and which gives recommendations for the adults in the child's life which may help the child in future.

The first session for the child offers them a chance to come and explore the toys and equipment and to begin to feel familiar with me.

They will hopefully have been told they are coming to see me and have been shown my leaflet so they have some understanding of what may happen and what they might play with.

During the first session the child will often want to tell me a bit about themselves but they do not have to. We will run through the very simple rules about keeping ourselves safe and I will share with them that their sessions are confidential; I will not tell anyone exactly what they have said or done unless I have to because someone is in danger. 

They will often want to explore all of the toys and equipment and flit between everything. It is their session and they can use it however they need.

The following week they are usually happy and confident to return and pleased to find the same toys and equipment ready for them. They usually quickly settle into sessions and through their play start working on the things they need to, often without realising exactly what they are doing. It is a great privilege to observe and join in with this work through their play.