BACP Supervisor's Event 2024
Programme

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Supervisors event 2024

The event will explore the issues manifesting in supervision, including the challenges supervisors might face. It’ll also look at the contextual, contemporary, and practice-based issues that present in supervision. 

This event aims to create time and space to connect with peers working within contemporary supervision, whatever stage of your career.

We hope to establish a community and collaborative feel with the opportunity to network in-person with peers, learn from presenters and share knowledge. Along with the strand facilitators, you’ll also be able to identify ideas and solutions that can be explored further.

Join us in-person on Thursday 26 September  from 9:00am until 5:00pm at the Doubletree by Hilton Bristol City Centre.

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Programme

Time	Ethical considerations Bristow ballroom	Equality, diversity and inclusion Park suite	Practice considerations Cabot and temple suite
9.00am to 9.50am	Registration and welcome drinks
9.50am to 10.00am	Event welcome
10.00am to 11.00am	Keynote presentation: Fear and love in supervision (and beyond), presented by Robin Shohet
11.00am to 11.15am	Break
11.15am to 12.15pm	An introduction to AI for Supervisors, presented by Richard Miller	Global instability and anxiety	Supervising trainees - dispelling the myths, celebrating the joys of fostering development
12.15pm to 1.15pm	Lunch
1.15pm to 2.15pm	Connecting together - The room will be divided into different areas of interest, for more focused and structured networking. You’ll be encouraged to move around the room and engage with colleagues, volunteers and BACP staff to network, share ideas and meet new people with similar interests. You’ll be able to add a new area of interest if yours isn’t represented.
2.20pm to 3.20pm	Supervising practitioners working with adopted clients	How accessible is your supervision?	Supervising CYPF practitioners
3.20pm to 3.35pm
3.35pm to 4.35pm	Keynote presentation: Navigating local and global contemporary challenges: the counselling professions in times of turbulence, challenge and change, presented by Professor Lynne Gabriel
4.35pm to 4.55pm	Panel discussion and reflection
4.55pm	Final thoughts and event close

This programme is subject to change

Fear knocked on the door. Love answered and there was no-one there. (Sufi Maxim)

A book called A Course in Miracles says, “Teach only love, for that is what you are.”  It also suggests that there are only two basic feeling states, love and fear. Over the years (many) I have come to see that fear has many disguises that might not look like fear - competition, comparison, othering, gossip, conformity, achievement, qualifications, image, arrogance. I see part of my work as helping to dissolve the black clouds of fear which obscure the love ever present behind them. There is shame around acknowledging fear - we might feel 'less than’ but not recognising it and, worse, hiding it, can lead to dysfunctional relationships.

This talk will centre around how Robin has helped people unpeel the core beliefs that keep fear locked in place and how accepting that love is who we are gives us, supervisee and supervisor,  the courage to move into a loving presence which is both  bold and joyful.  Here we embody De Mello’s words, "Obedience keeps the rules. Love knows when to break them”  as we reclaim our own authority.

This keynote session aims to prompt thought and dialogue about contemporary UK and international challenges that counselling professions encounter and are subjected to.

Through simply being a human working with other humans, we are subject to local, national and global forces and factors that are beyond our direct control, yet which inevitably influence and impact our day-to-day work and, indeed, our very being. Such factors and forces include AI (artificial intelligence), the cost of living, climate change, and global conflicts. 

For those of us who work as practitioner or service provision supervisors, how might these forces and factors manifest in our supervisory and relational work?  We will consider this on the day and during the keynote, we will consider key challenges presented through AI, the cost of living crisis, climate crises, and uncertainties and dangers presented through global conflicts and hostilities.  

Through our shared space and conversation, we will consider how these challenges may be evident in our counselling contexts, training spaces and associated supervisory work. The counselling professions and workforce are not immune to these challenges.  Nor are clients or supervisees. Essentially, as change-makers and facilitators we have a responsibility to reflexively respond in the face of such challenges; we cannot ignore them.

Through listening to and engaging with this keynote’s content, the following will be key ‘take aways’:

identification and recognition of the nature and impact of local, national and global situations upon the counselling professions
opportunities to build on learning about and responding to, the socio-political, cultural and social justice dimensions associated with local, national, and global situations
experiential insights gained through a short period during the keynote, to reflect on ‘so what does this mean for me?’

Professor Lynne Gabriel, OBE, is Professor of Counselling and Mental Health at York St John University, York, UK. She is a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Accredited and Registered Counsellor and Psychotherapist, and an honorary fellow of the association. She is a trained supervisor of practitioners working within the counselling, mental health and helping professions. Lynne is also a trained coach member of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. She has been a key player in the counselling and mental health fields for many years, contributing at local, regional, national, and international levels. 

Lynne's research interests include public and community mental health, domestic and relationship abuse, pluralistic approaches to ethics for the counselling professions, interventions for bereavement and loss, review and evaluation of standardised mental health measures, and evaluation of the provision of online counselling.   Lynne is working with co-editor Professor Andrew Reeves on a new Ethics in Action series for Routledge and is lead author for the series header book, Navigating Relational Ethics in Day-to-Day Practice.

"An Introduction to AI for Supervisors,” is a session designed to equip counselling supervisors with foundational knowledge and practical insights into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). Our aim is to demystify AI, making it accessible and relevant to your supervisory role in the counselling field.

The session will commence with a theory segment, introducing what AI is and how it functions. We'll explore essential concepts, including the alignment problem, highlighting its significance in counselling contexts. This theoretical grounding will serve as a springboard for further exploration and understanding of AI's implications and opportunities.

Following the theory, we'll shift to consider practical applications. You’ll begin to learn how to support counsellors who incorporate AI into their practice and assist clients affected by AI advancements. Using real-life examples, we’ll explore strategies to support both counsellor and client experiences in a changing world.

By the end of this session, you'll have a clear starting point for your journey into understanding AI. Join in to help bridge the gap between AI technology and ethical counselling practices.

Richard Miller lives with his family and works as a counsellor, supervisor and trainer working in private practice in Fife. Since 2002, he has studied Humanistic Psychotherapies and Psychology in Aberdeen University, University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University where he graduated with the best overall award for Psychology.

He has served as President of Aberdeen University Students Association, an executive officer of the National Union of Students Scotland and is currently serving as co-director of the Scottish Institute of Emotion-Focused Therapy. He has provided counselling in local high schools and St Andrews University. Richard is a current member of the British Association for Counselling Psychotherapy, the British Psychological Society and the International Society for Emotion Focused Therapy.

Richard has been closely following advancements of the AI field since 2015.

Supervisors event 2024

Book your place

Programme

Time

Ethical considerations

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Practice considerations