In the last article on this topic (you can read it here) I promised to talk about supervision. This word is very familiar to all psychologists who advise people. But to the customers' ears it sounds incomprehensible. What kind of beast is supervision? Health photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com The rules for its implementation differ in different areas and schools of psychology. But there is always one thing in common: during supervision, the psychologist talks about his experience of working with a client, about his emotions, difficulties, questions, and doubts. In the process of supervision, he receives the opinion of his colleagues about his work. It happens that in this process the psychotherapist realizes that he has some kind of problem that needs to be worked out in personal therapy. Confidentiality must be maintained during the supervision. No one from the group or the supervisor himself has the right to disclose information about the psychologist’s client and the psychologist himself. No personal information about the client that would indicate who he is is brought up for discussion. The psychologist can provide general information (gender, age, approximate type of activity of the client), which will help discuss the problem of the psychologist himself. What problems can the psychologist bring to supervision? For example, a specialist can turn to a supervisor with a question about how to further structure work with a client, check which long-term goals with this client are adequate and which ones should not be pursued. It is very important to discuss during supervision the very strong emotions of the psychologist himself that arise in the consultation. For example, a psychologist feels so sorry for a client that he himself ceases to see a way out of the situation. During the supervision process, the psychotherapist may become convinced that he is right (“I’m doing everything right, I need to continue working with the client the same way”), or he may receive criticism. Support from colleagues helps psychologists maintain themselves; in essence, it is the prevention of emotional burnout. And criticism allows you to grow professionally. Psychotherapists need constant training in order not to become ossified and to help people as effectively as possible. Without supervision, the psychotherapist runs the risk of “stewing in his own juice.” He may not see some of his mistakes and make them from time to time. Supervision can be: personal, individual. When a meeting takes place between a psychologist and his supervisor. group. When other psychologists and the presenter are present. In our country, at the state level, there is very little regulation of the activities of psychologists-consultants and psychotherapists (those without medical education). In countries where psychotherapy is more developed, the activities of specialists are licensed. To obtain such a license there, you need to provide documents on education, confirmation of a certain number of your own psychotherapy, and, of course, constant attendance of a supervisor. All these moments in our country more often remain on the conscience of the psychologist himself. As you can see: a psychologist’s visit to another psychologist is not only not scary, but is mandatory for his professionalism.