ABSTRACT
FUNCTIONS OF SUPERVISION Supervision has been referred to in several chapters in this book. We now come to discuss what we really mean, and why we consider it to be so important. The word 'supervision' in counselling refers to a relationship between a counsellor and another, usually more experienced counsellor, who ideally has some further training in counselling supervision. It is sometimes called 'consultative support' in order to avoid confusion with other meanings of 'supervisor', which entail ideas of 'inspector' or 'overseer', with the corresponding suggestions of incompetence or formal assessment. Practising counsellors meet regularly, either individually or in small groups (three to four people), with their supervisors or with peer groups to talk through and reflect upon their counselling sessions. The choice of individual, small group or peer group supervision might be simply pragmatic, and based on availability. However, it is important to recognise that peer group supervision is only suitable for experienced counsellors, and even then it should not be the only supervision. A fairly typical duration and frequency for individual supervision would be 1 hour every fortnight, and for peer and small group supervision 111.l hours every fortnight.
