Liddy Carver

Based in Warrington,Cheshire, I am a highly qualified therapist with a PhD in Counselling. As an experienced BACP Registered and Accredited Person-Centred Counsellor and Psychotherapist, I am bound by the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.

I provide a safe, professional and confidential talking therapy service for individuals, couples and families. My work is influenced by the Person-Centred Approach based on the principles of acceptance, empathic understanding and genuineness. This approach provides people with the opportunity to create significant and lasting change for themselves. I am also a qualified practitioner in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Regulation) UK & Ireland and a Clinical Supervisor trained at postgraduate level.

My therapeutic experience over the past ten years includes work in a university counselling service, national and independent not for profit organisations, and an occupational health department of a city hospital. I have a wide-ranging knowledge of how the mind and body respond to traumatic events and a lot of experience working with domestic violence, sexual abuse, self-harm, anxiety, stress and depression, childhood associated issues, obsessive compulsive tendencies, relationship difficulties, stress, grief, loss and overwhelming emotions. 

I have published in Illness, Crisis and Loss, and in 2017 contributed a regular, monthly Research into Practice feature in the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy's monthly magazine Therapy Today. I was Managing Editor of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research and a Senior Lecturer/Programme Leader in Counselling in Higher Education. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and until recently an external examiner at Salford University. This combination of skill set, and expertise, gives me the edge when helping people with complex needs from all walks of life

My approach to supervision is integrative, relational and reflexive, informed by my experience as a psychotherapist, researcher, educator and supervisor.

I see supervision as more than reviewing cases. It is a space to think carefully about the client, the therapeutic relationship and ourselves as practitioners. We can explore clinical formulation, attachment, trauma, ethics and the ways our own responses may influence the work.

I am particularly interested in helping practitioners work thoughtfully with complexity rather than reaching for premature explanations or interventions. A key supervisory question may be not simply “What should I do?” but “What are we not yet understanding about this client?”

My academic work on epistemic injustice, power and lived experience also informs my supervision. I encourage practitioners to consider whose knowledge is being privileged, whether professional formulations leave sufficient space for the client’s own understanding, and how autonomy and voice can remain central to clinical decision-making.

I believe effective supervision requires both psychological safety and constructive challenge. Supervisees should be able to bring uncertainty, mistakes and difficult clinical material without fear of judgement, while also being willing to question assumptions, boundaries and established ways of working.

Supervision is also a process of professional formation: supporting practitioners to develop not only competence, but increasingly sophisticated clinical judgement, ethical awareness and a confident professional identity.

I hold a Level 7 Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Supervision from the University of Derby, maintain my own supervision and CPD, and work within appropriate professional and ethical frameworks.

My aim is to offer supervision that is warm without being complacent, rigorous without being punitive, and supportive without losing sight of accountability and client safety.

My supervision is relational, integrative, reflective and practice-focused, informed by my experience as a psychotherapist, researcher and educator.

I see supervision as more than case discussion. It is a space in which practitioners can examine clinical thinking, therapeutic relationships, professional identity and the ethical complexity of their work.

I am interested in the questions beneath the presenting issue: What might be happening in the therapeutic relationship? How might the therapist’s responses be informing the work? What assumptions are shaping the formulation? Where are power, autonomy, boundaries, safeguarding or ethical tensions present?

I encourage supervisees to resist premature certainty. My role is not simply to provide answers, but to support the development of clinical discernment—the capacity to think critically, tolerate uncertainty, consider alternative perspectives and make accountable decisions.

Reflexivity is central. I encourage practitioners to explore their emotional and personal responses to clients while considering how these may illuminate, or potentially distort, their understanding of the therapeutic process.

I also recognise the power inherent in supervision. I aim to create a relationship that is psychologically safe while retaining the capacity to challenge, question and address concerns about practice, competence or client safety.

My own supervision and continuing professional development are integral to my role. I believe supervisors must model the reflective practice they ask of others.

Ultimately, I aim to provide supervision that combines warmth with rigour, support with challenge, and professional expertise with humility—helping practitioners develop greater confidence, ethical awareness and sophisticated clinical judgement.

At the beginning of our supervisory relationship, I ask supervisees to complete an initial assessment. This provides a structured starting point for understanding their professional context, experience, current practice and supervision needs, while also beginning to establish the supervisory relationship.

The assessment is not a test of competence. It is an opportunity to identify strengths, areas for development and the particular issues they want supervision to address.

We consider professional background, qualifications, theoretical orientation and experience, alongside the nature and complexity of current client work. 

We explore professional responsibilities including confidentiality, boundaries, record keeping, risk assessment, safeguarding, data protection and relevant ethical frameworks.

We also consider professional identity and development: where the supervisee feels confident, where uncertainty exists, and what knowledge or skills they would like to develop. Previous experience of supervision is explored, including what has been helpful and what they hope to gain from our work together.

The assessment informs our supervisory contract and shared expectations, including confidentiality, roles, boundaries, frequency, record keeping and circumstances in which concerns may need to be escalated.

I also invite reflection on the supervisee’s experience of clinical work, including situations or clients that evoke strong responses or particular uncertainty.

The assessment therefore provides both a professional and relational foundation for supervision. It enables me to understand the practitioner within their particular context rather than applying a generic model.

Most importantly, it establishes supervision as a collaborative process in which strengths are recognised, difficulties explored, assumptions questioned and professional development supported, while maintaining a clear focus on ethical practice, client wellbeing and continuing professional development.