Ian Gilmore

I am usually available from 14:00 hours for the remainder of each and every day (and yes, I routinely work over the weekends and on bank holidays too) until late into the evening for online clinical supervision.  As I rarely take holidays, the only time that I might become unavailable is if I were suddenly to become indisposed, which happens but rarely.  I have no plans to take any time away from practice in the foreseeable future, but if ever I should do, you may rest assured that adequate notice would always be provided.

I have an excellent clinical supervisor with whom I meet each month and in whom I have complete confidence.  Additionally, I carry £10,000,000-worth of professional liability insurance, not because I think that I could do that much damage, but lest it should cost me that much to demonstrate that I haven't.

Once supervisees have signed their supervisory contract, they will be provided with a telephone number at which they may reach me in case of any emergencies or in the unlikely event that our online videoconferencing facility may temporarily be out of action.  I am glad to be able to report that it has never failed me yet but, as there may always be a first time for every eventuality, it is as well to be prepared for such exigencies.  Furthermore, I endeavour to respond to supervisees at the earliest available opportunity, as I appreciate how isolating our work can be, particularly when, like myself, one is working exclusively in private practice.

Given that as a supervisor I am working mainly with other practitioners, I probably don't need to say this but, if only for the avoidance of any doubt, I would like to anyway: that where any conflict of interest may obtain, the interests of the client will always take precedence over any competing interests either of the practitioner or of their supervisor.

I have been involved in therapy for over fifty years now, beginning as a volunteer whilst still an undergraduate.  Since my first graduation, I have completed two master's degrees and two doctorates, all in the psychological therapies, and have taught therapy both in the further and higher education sectors.  I have been a Senior Student Counsellor and a Head of Student Services, as well as a Lecturer and a Senior Lecturer in the psychological therapies.  Having trained counsellors and social workers, I have a broad base of experience on which to draw in my supervisory practice.

As I began supervising in 1984, I thought it wise to take a course of refresher training to ensure that my practice remained fully up-to-date.  To this end, I recently undertook an MSc in Clinical Supervision, for which I was awarded a Distinction.

I would describe my theoretical orientation as integrative, with the discourses that I integrate being the experiential discourse, the hermeneutic discourse, and the relational discourse.  I have been trained in the Seven-Eyed Model of Clinical Supervision, although I am happy to be flexible in my supervisory approach, as I have no wish to impose my methods on to any unwilling participant.

I have been BACP Accredited continuously since 1985, and Senior Accredited continuously since 2004.  I spent a decade assessing accreditation applications for BACP, ending up co-chairing its counsellor accreditation scheme.  I routinely help supervisees with their accreditation applications by offering to review their applications as part of our supervisory work prior to submission.

Although of less relevance to clinical supervision, I spent many years compiling medico-legal reports for insurance companies, and spent many more years working as a critical incident responder, both to overseas incidents and to forensic referrals as well.  I have also worked with the police, including as a clinical supervisor, when I undertook the clinical supervision of individuals and groups.

I have a strong preference for developing a collegial relationship with supervisees, rather than one based on regulatory policing.  Nevertheless, the ethical principles enshrined in the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions must and always will represent a minimum level of integrity by which I am bound in all my clinical work, and which I hope that together we would both embrace, if not routinely exceed.

Rather than seeing my role as a supervisor as being to train supervisees in how to conduct their client work, I prefer to view supervision as an opportunity for supervisees to identify for themselves their own preferred ways of working.  In this respect, supervision always has the potential to represent an exploratory process, whose objectives are to safeguard clients' and practitioners' wellbeing, to assist supervises to develop their own internal supervisor, and to reassure supervisees that they are likely already to have the requisite theoretical models and skills necessary to assist their clients with their own voyage of self-exploration, which of course constitutes their therapy.  Furthermore, this approach to supervision accords with my overview of supervision as requiring supervisees to be empowered to develop further their approach to their clinical work, as no practitioner with whom I have worked ever furthered their development whilst feeling disempowered.  For this and other reasons, I am committed to anti-oppressive and anti-racist practice in all their forms.

Whilst many of you will by now have established your own identities as practitioners, it is always beneficial to have a developmental relationship available in which to gain support and in which one may explore alternative ways of working when stuck with any particular piece of work.  This also accords with my view that therapy, much like life generally, works best when considered from the growth perspective of the potentiality paradigm rather than from the constraints of the pathology paradigm.

Enquiries for clinical supervision should be made by e-mail in the first instance.  I usually have some availability.

Before commencing clinical supervision with any practitioner, I offer everyone a complimentary online video call so that we can discuss your requirements in detail and ensure that we are likely to constitute a good fit for one another.  I use a video call to facilitate this assessment so that you may appreciate how I am likely to come across to you in an actual supervision session, as all of my clinical supervision is conducted on an encrypted videoconferencing platform.  To maximise the chances of achieving privacy and confidentiality for all participants, I also use their encrypted e-mail service as well.

During the course of this exploratory conversation, you are welcome to raise any issues or questions that may have occurred to you.  I shall try to respond as honestly and as openly to you as possible so that you may arrive at some conclusion as to how likely I am to be able to offer you the sort of supervisory relationship that you require.  If we decide to work together, the next step would be to negotiate our supervisory contract, which can usually be achieved by e-mailing contracts and their emendations back and forth, and to settle on a supervision fee.

Should I believe myself not to represent an appropriate choice of clinical supervisor for you, I promise that I shall share this concern with you straightaway.  If you would like me to, I shall always be happy to recommend a better-placed supervisor for your consideration if I possibly can.

Finally, nothing is forever, myself included!  Supervisees are always at liberty to leave supervision with me whenever they wish.  In fact, there is an argument that suggests that once you have worked with any given supervisor for a few years or so, you will probably have learnt everything that you are likely to learn from them by then, and similarly I from you.

I look forward to meeting you when you are good and ready.