5 Creative Supervision Tools for Best Practice

When I talk about creative self-supervision, I am not inviting you to be the Super-therapist who's always on top of things, dedicating an extra hour of reflection for every client they see in a week. I'm simply inviting you to discover a few creative tools for self-supervision that can "spice up" your work; make you feel excited about self-reflection and supervision; and might help you play instead of work.

Self-supervision is not meant to feel like homework. It doesn't need to be another task to tick off between clients, admin, and the cup of tea you keep forgetting to drink. It’s a pause, a breath, an affectionate reflection about yourself and your work.

When supervision sessions are weeks away, or you simply need a moment of clarity, these integrative, creative self-supervision tools can help you stay grounded, curious, and connected. They are designed to address the ethical challenge of holding client material and the somatic impact of trauma work. Please be imperfect. Be You. Create.

1. Creative Letter Writing For Internal Parts Work

Write a letter to your client after a charged session (but please, don’t send it). Tell them what you saw, what moved you, what angered or frustrated you. Find the words to express yourself freely. No one will read this letter, except you (and only if you wish). Rant. Moan. Wish. Put your thoughts, your feelings, and your whole bag of past history into this letter; everything that you couldn't say, and wish you could. Your emotional flashbacks are welcome here. Don't forget all the irrational beliefs about this client or yourself.

Be critical. Be gentle. Be authentic. Allow every part of you that was present in the session to appear. Let these parts salute you, and tell their story. Let them be step by step, every word a little bit more confident. Clap for them. Embrace them. Accept them. Bring them home to yourself.

This exercise in creative self-supervision is not about finding solutions, but about facing all parts of you and understanding how they interact with your client with honesty, love, and respect. You might ask yourself afterwards:

• What did I learn about my client?

• What did I learn about myself?

• What did I learn about our interaction?

• Which parts of me need a bit more compassion today?

2. Creative, Embodied Awareness Check-in for Self-Supervision

There are two important moments in our work that we normally overlook. The first is preparing before our session with our next client; the second is after we finish the session with that particular client. In any of these moments, an embodied self-awareness check-in can help you assess whether you are at your best to see your next client or go on into your life.

First, close your eyes, and notice your feet connecting to the ground, as if you had roots connecting you to the Earth. If you prefer to sit in a lotus position, notice your spine connecting to the ground, as if you had an energetic tail connecting you to the Earth.

• Where do you feel open, tense, numb?

• If there an unfamiliar feeling in your body, an ache that wasn't there before, a muscular tension?

• Is this yours, or is this your client's?

• Are you carrying something that doesn't belong to you?

Use breathing, tapping, or gentle stretching to release what it is not yours.

If you are doing this at the beginning of your working day, you might wish to release what you are carrying from your home. If you are doing it at the end of your working day, you might want to do a longer session to release everything that you might have taken on behalf of any clients, colleagues or people you encountered that day. Countertransference can be a physical sensation, and this is a powerful tool to acknowledge it and let it go.

3. Creatively Drawing Your Working Day

This is an exercise that you can do when you are unsure of what you causing you distress or burnout. You can draw each day of the week for a number of weeks, and discover if there is a pattern. Notice every session of your working day. Grab some colours and a drafting book. Draw colours, shapes, or anything that comes to mind connected to any session in your day. You can use one different colour per session or client, a different shape, and populate the page with it.

• What colours are more prominent in your page?

• What shapes are less present?

• Does that make sense in connection to your sense of your clients?

• Are there any inconsistencies that you might need to address (e. g. are some clients less present than you thought)?

Write a few notes about your experience.

4. The Empty Chair Reflection

Sit in front of an empty chair, and imagine your supervisor sitting in that chair. What would you like to present to them? Say it in as much detail as you need. Now, take their seat, notice your feet on the ground. Imagine you are your supervisor, enter into their energy field. Let the words flow as if you were them. Please consider these questions when switching roles:

• What is the outcome that you wish for your client? Why?

• What part of you needs attention regarding this issue?

• If this was resolved, what would it look like?

• Did you get the answer you needed?

If you identify a young part of you interfering in the issue presented, writing to that part with your dominant hand, and responding as that child part with your non-dominant hand, can easily follow this exercise.

5. The Gratitude Reflection As An Instrument Of Change

At the end of your working week, note three things that you learned, not about your clients, but about yourself as a person. This learning doesn't need to have happened during the sessions with your clients, even though very often it does. It could be something a friend told you, a partner pointed out, or your child taught you.

When you are learning and evolving as a person, you are becoming a better therapist, as the more you know yourself, the less your blind spots will interfere with your client's issues.

• Did you learn anything good about yourself?

• Did you learn something that you wish to change?

• Did your old patterns interfere with your private life? Were you able to treat them more kindly than in the past?

• How are you becoming a better therapist?

Acknowledge these moments of learning and feel gratitude for what you have experienced. Then place a hand on your heart and simply acknowledge: I am learning, growing, and human. Let these words resonate and fill your entire body.

Variation - You can pick a colour that symbolises gratitude and let your whole body fill with that colour.

Ready to Deepen Your Practice?

Please note that these self-supervision tools are meant as a complementary help for your practice, but do not substitute your ethical requirement for regular clinical supervision. Investing in consistent supervision ensures your practice remains vital, alive, and ethically effective.

If you enjoyed these creative, self-supervision practices and are ready to take the next step in enhancing your practice, you might benefit from having supervision with a creative, energy psychotherapy supervisor like myself. Click on the button below to book a 15 minute free consultation.