Free supervision tools
Interactive tools for practitioners and supervisors: find the right kind of supervision, check your monthly hours, explore supervision models and test what you know.
Find your supervision fit
Five quick questions to see which kind of supervision might suit you now. Nothing is stored.
Supervision hours calculator
Check how much supervision you may need each month, and how group time counts. Based on published BACP guidance.
Supervision models at a glance
Turn each card for a short summary and a reflective question to take into supervision.
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Three functions of supervision
Brigid Proctor
Supervision serves three linked functions. Normative: keeping practice safe, ethical and within standards. Formative: learning and developing skills and understanding. Restorative: support for the practitioner's wellbeing, morale and confidence.
Take into supervision: Which of the three functions do you need most from your next session?
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The seven-eyed model
Hawkins and Shohet, later Hawkins and McMahon
Seven areas of focus: the client, the practitioner's interventions, the client and practitioner relationship, the practitioner themselves, the supervisory relationship, the supervisor's own process, and the wider context of the work.
Take into supervision: Which of the seven areas have you been avoiding lately?
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Parallel process
Harold Searles
Patterns from the client and practitioner relationship can show up again in the supervision relationship. Noticing them in the room can shed light on the client work.
Take into supervision: Does anything in how you are presenting this client echo the way the client presents to you?
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The drama triangle
Stephen Karpman
Three roles that people can slip into when relationships become stuck: Persecutor, Rescuer and Victim. In supervision it helps notice when practitioner, client or supervisor are pulled into these roles.
Take into supervision: Which role do you feel pulled towards with this client?
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The three-cornered contract
Fanita English, Transactional Analysis
Supervision often involves a third party, such as a training organisation, agency or employer. Making the expectations between all three parties explicit helps prevent hidden agendas and confusion.
Take into supervision: Who else has a stake in your supervision, and what do they expect?
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Six categories of intervention
John Heron
Authoritative interventions are prescriptive, informative and confronting. Facilitative interventions are cathartic, catalytic and supportive. Naming them helps a supervisor choose deliberately.
Take into supervision: Which kind of intervention would help you most today?
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Developmental model
Stoltenberg and colleagues
Practitioners move through developmental levels as they gain experience, and need different things from supervision at each stage, from more structure early on to more autonomy later.
Take into supervision: What do you need from supervision now that you did not need a year ago?
Test your supervision knowledge
Six questions on supervision models and requirements, with an explanation after each answer.
Ready to find a supervisor?
Browse reviewed supervisor profiles by modality, client group and format.
