Have you ever felt drained after spending an afternoon comforting someone through a breakup? That’s completely normal. Now imagine doing that all day, every day, while dealing with situations that are often much worse.
When I put it that way, it seems obvious that therapists have an emotionally demanding job that could potentially lead to burnout. The solution? Supervision.
In this article, we’ll explore what supervision is and why it’s essential for every responsible therapist.
Table of Contents
The responsibility that comes with the privilege of being a therapist
The honor of being a healer
Being in a position of trust with clients or patients is both a privilege and an honor. But this privilege comes with great responsibility, because we owe them significant psychological availability, an unwavering therapeutic frame, and a strong emotional holding capacity.
Moreover, when working with vulnerable people, we’re in a position of power because we have knowledge, skills, and emotional stability that they don’t. This imbalance only reinforces our ethical duty to respect their dignity and trust.
The lake metaphor
A good therapist is like a lake, with calm waters that reflect the other person. Therapeutic work cannot happen if those waters are infested with the emotional sharks of an unregulated therapist.
You can’t give what you don’t have. And you can’t pour from an empty cup: a therapist’s psychological state directly impacts the quality of care they provide.
Why All Therapists Should Have Supervision
The profession’s inevitable challenges
Supervision with a more experienced therapist ensures professional rigor. It provides:
- An outside perspective on complex cases (under anonymity protection)
- Relevant guidance when patients trigger the therapist’s own wounds
- Monitoring to prevent emotional burnout and potential errors
This is essential for delivering quality work.
Personal work included in supervision
Supervision isn’t limited to the technical aspects of the profession. Beyond professional supervision, having done and continuing to do personal work allows therapists to:
- Process their own traumas
- Manage potential countertransference (when our own emotions and reactions interfere with treatment)
- Maintain healthy boundaries with patients
Who Gets Supervision?
A unique case: the psychoanalyst
In France, psychoanalysts are the only professionals required to have ongoing mandatory supervision and to have completed their own training analysis. This profession has integrated these requirements into its basic training, recognizing the importance of personal work and continuous professional support.
Everyone else – psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, psychopractitioners – practices without supervision, without professional support, and generally without being required to do their own therapeutic work.
The reality of supervision
Ideally, you’d want access to a clinician who benefits from regular supervision, but outside of psychoanalysis, that’s not today’s reality.
However, many excellent practitioners don’t have formal supervision but have done significant personal work – in fact, it’s often because of their own healing journey that they chose this professional path!
Others get support in different ways:
- Peer consultation groups
- Personal therapy
- Continuing education
So the absence of supervision doesn’t necessarily mean the therapist is inadequate.
Conclusion
I hope that one day supervision and personal work will become standard for all therapists, not just a psychoanalytic requirement. It’s a difficult profession, and the burden would be considerably lightened with better support.
But ultimately, it’s the quality of the therapeutic alliance between you, and having the right therapist for your specific issues that will make all the difference – with or without supervision.