ONLINE: Developing as a Clinical Supervisor in CFT

Registration

‍This course is designed to support therapists working with Compassion Focused Therapy who are looking to develop their skills as a clinical supervisor.

This workshop will be 10 hours towards your CPD.

Level:Advanced

Dates & Workshop timings (all sessions will run between 8am to 10am UK time)

Session 1: 15th January 2026

Session 2: 12th February 2026

Session 3: 12th March 2026

Session 4: 9th April 2026

Session 5: 7th May 2026

Pricing

This workshop has a flat rate of £199.00

For those in difficult financial circumstances, who may struggle to afford this price, please contact hello@compassionatemind.co.uk

About this Course

Becoming a supervisor (or enhancing your current knowledge and skills) is a continuous journey of professional and personal development, in a similar way to the journey we undertake as therapists. Supervision entails a combination of knowledge and skills we use in our therapeutic work with clients along with knowledge and skills of supporting other practitioners to develop, which includes exploring the current evidence base of clinical supervision, the ethical and organisational influences that shape the supervisory relationship, and the varied methods in which supervision is provided. Central to the supervision process is how to create a compassion relationship and learning culture. For this we utilise concepts from different models but with special focus from attachment theory such as secure base and haven. Indeed helping supervisors understand how they guide their supervisees to develop secure base and haven as part of the therapeutic process is central to our course.

This series of workshops have been created to gradually build a framework of knowledge and skills, to support the continued development of supervisors – with a particular emphasis on how we can use the CFT model to inform how we supervise.

The sessions have been purposely designed to provide short two hours sessions each month, exploring different themes, with the opportunity to reflect, plan and practice between sessions before coming back together the following month to share and build on progress, in a supportive, compassionate environment.

Themes

Session 1

The evidence base for clinical supervision

Working on the why and how you want to (or need to) supervise

Applying safety science to the role of supervisor

Understanding how the learning environment impacts a number of psychophysiological that impact learning

Distinctions between safety and safeness I mean the dynamics of a secure base and safe haven

Session 2

Developing your supervisor identity around the themes of compassionate self identity

Working with who you are and who your supervisees may be

Session 3

Ethical issues and contracting for supervision

Session 4

Exploring different modes of supervision (1 to 1 and group etc)

Session 5

Revisiting supervision and roles of supervision within a compassion informed model of mind and the creation of learning environments context

Suggested Readings

Bell, T., Dixon, A. and Kolts, R. (2016). Developing a Compassionate Internal Supervisor: Compassion-Focused Therapy for Trainee Therapists. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, [online] 24(3), pp.632–648. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2031.

Bennetta, A. and Singh, S.S.K. (2025). Reflections on using compassion-focused methods within staff supervision in the prison setting. The Journal of Forensic Practice. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/jfp-11-2024-0064.

Falender, C.A. (2020). Ethics of Clinical Supervision: An International Lens. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 13(1), pp.42–53. doi:https://doi.org/10.11621/pir.2020.0105.

Falender, C.A., Shafranske, E.P. and Ofek, A. (2014). Competent clinical supervision: Emerging effective practices. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 27(4), pp.393–408. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2014.934785.

Heriot-Maitland, C. and Taylor, J. (2024). Developing a Compassion Focused Supervision Model for Senior Leaders in Education. OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine, 09(02), pp.1–21. doi:https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.icm.2402033.

Rothwell, C., Kehoe, A., Farook, S.F. and Illing, J. (2021). Enablers and Barriers to Effective Clinical Supervision in the Workplace: a Rapid Evidence Review. BMJ Open, 11(9), pp.1–10. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052929.

Shohet, R. and Shohet, J. (2020). In love with supervision : creating transformative conversations. Monmouth, Uk: Pccs Books Ltd.

Snowdon, D.A., Sargent, M., Williams, C.M., Maloney, S., Caspers, K. and Taylor, N.F. (2019). Effective Clinical Supervision of Allied Health professionals: a Mixed Methods Study. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4873-8.

Sofie Bager‐Charleson, McBeath, A. and Challenor, J. (2023). The relational 3C model for research supervision for counsellors, psychotherapists and counselling psychologists. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12680.

Workshop Leader :

Dr Wendy Wood has many years of experience as a therapist and clinical supervisor working within the NHS and private practice. She worked as a mental health nurse, in both hospital and community settings, including elderly care, day hospital rehabilitation settings and drug and alcohol community support.

Wendy moved on to work as an assistant psychologist, developing counselling in primary care. She then moved into an academic role developing a wide range of academic courses for 20 years, including both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in counselling and psychotherapy and clinical supervision.

As a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education, developing, and teaching many programmes including one of the first postgraduate qualifications in Compassion Focused Therapy in the world.

Over the past ten years, Wendy has worked on the development of training for Compassion Focused Therapy. She was the programme leader for the Postgraduate Certificate in CFT, the world's first academic course in CFT.

Wendy now works as Programme Leader & Training Advisor for the Compassionate Mind Foundation. She is responsible for leading the Diploma in Compassion Focused Therapy. She contributes to research in Compassion Focused Therapy and Compassionate Mind Training and provides bespoke training and workshops. She maintains a small private practice as a therapist and supervisor. Currently she is contributing to research into Compassion in Schools and other organisations and co- facilitates clinical supervision across the world with Professor Paul Gilbert.