Practicing psychotherapy is a gift with many challenges for therapists. During our therapeutic practice and our training, we are invited to see and listen to the human suffering, to endure and contain it, to offer a helping stance and to support the people we are cooperating with.
In this process we are exposed to working hazards, such as emotional burn-out, depletion of our empathy, and vicarious traumatization. For this reason, clinical supervision, peer support, personal practice and self-care are an adjunct for practicing psychotherapy. Based on my training, I offer supervision, support and training to mental health specialists and trainees.
Individual supervision
Clinical supervision is an indispensable part of psychotherapy practice and professional development. I offer supervision to mental health professionals that have been trained or are interested in Compassion Focused Therapy and therapists who desire to develop compassion and empathy towards themselves and their clients.
Based on a relationship of trust and safeness, I will help you to assess the clinical material, cultivating a compassionate mindfulness of the inner processes of your clients and yourselves. I will support you in forming a CFT-based case formulation of your clients’ difficulties and in creating a therapeutic plan. In supervision we especially work on blocks, fears, and resistances to compassion during therapy. Moreover emphasis is given on experiential understanding of the therapeutic techniques that we apply as means to personal self-care, development and deepening of our clinical skills.
If you are interested in individual supervision, you can contact me at elli@compassioncentre.gr
Peer supervision
I coordinate a monthly online Compassion Focused Therapy Peer Supervision Group in English. The group is open to trained and CFT-interested mental health professionals, in collaboration with the Compassionate Mind Foundation.
During these meetings there is time to practice Compassionate Mind Training and to discuss about specific therapy themes or cases. Our goal is to share and deepen our clinical skills, to support one another and to care for our clients.
If you are interested in the Peer Supervision meetings, you can e-mail me at elli@compassioncentre.gr with a brief description of your experience and training in therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy in specific.
Application Form
If you would like to be informed of / participating in the CFT peer supervision group, please fill in the form with your contact details and your experience in training and applying CFT
Useful references
Beaumont, E. & Hollins Martin, C. (2016). A proposal to support student therapists to develop compassion for self and others through Compassionate Mind Training. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 50, 111-118.
Bennett-Levy, J. (2019). Why therapists should walk the talk: The theoretical and empirical case for personal practice in therapist training and professional development. Journal of Behavior and Experimental Psychiatry, 62, 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.08.004
Gale, C., Schröder, T. & Gilbert, P. (2015). ‘Do You Practice What You Preach?’ A Qualitative Exploration of Therapists’ Personal Practice of Compassion Focused Therapy. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Clin. Psychol. Psychother.
Kolts, RL, Bell, T, Bennett-Levy, J, Irons, C (2018). Experiencing Compassion Focused Therapy from the Inside Out: A Self-Practice/Self-Reflection Workbook for Therapists. New York, NY: Guilford Press.