Most inexperienced T's will work under supervision. The supervisor is a more experience person and will be a licensed professional. Some T's have not yet sat for their license because they need a large number of hours before they can do that. And so they work under the license of another mental health professional and receive supervision from that person.

I honestly do not know how much detail a T will give a supervisor. They may discuss relevant details of the case but without using names.

Did your T give you anything to sign (Informed Consent) when you began seeing her? It would be spelled out in that document. You would have to sign this before she could use supervision.

You can also ask her about this. It would be okay to do so.

TN

Hi JenDark,

In the UK, some of the professional associations for psychotherapists require supervision as part of their "code of ethics", so even if they are very experienced they will still discuss their work.
To be honest, I'm quite reassured by this - I'd much rather my T had some perspective on her work and had the opportunity to keep working on her stuff (as I reckon none of us are ever really done with that!).
I know this is done without names and identifying details, as I have asked about it. My T was fine about me asking and understood why I needed to.

I hope the info is useful.

Iris x

Thanks TN & Iris.

My T is licensed but has supervision, as have all the therapists at this facility. Just how they have set it up. T mentioned in the beginning that if ever anything would be discussed no names would be given.

From what I read, this is rather common, also amongst therapists that have been working for a longer period of time even though it is not a requirement.

TN, I have signed a bunch of papers when I just started but T talked them through with me quickly and I cannot remember what I have all signed that day (and no, I don't have copies).

All in all I think supervision is probably a good thing as T's are just human and might get stuck in their regular thinking patterns / approaches and this might help them to look at their work from a different perspective.

I just wonder as of how much details that I reveal will actually make it outside the four walls. It is probably irrational to fear that everything will be passed on, there is simply no time for that.

It's more that I wonder how T's approach supervision. Is it something in line of 'tried guided imaginary with her, she is still anxious - what else to do'? or more something like 'I am freaking out by what she tells me how can I cope' or else...

I guess I should talk to T about it but those 50 minutes a week are waaaays to little as it is. I would hate to loose precious time that way since there are always so many breaks during our regular schedule due to holidays, vacations, training sessions for her, etc all of which I cannot even get a make-up session for.

Plus, I know I'd fear that T would just sugar-coat things to not make me loose my voice again since I only just started talking about things.

Hi JenDark,

My old eq T had supervision because she was just a few years into her practice, and my current t collaborates with another T because it helps her at times even after 30 years.

They both explained to me that not much of what I said in great detail ever went to the other T. It was more about getting other ideas on how to best help, and if needed, getting outside input to help any counter-transference that was going on. I asked eq T for an example, and it was pretty vague what kinds of things she said she might share, if at all.

It sounds like what your T might share would be pretty limited...? It sound slike they are senstive to privacy even within the facility, but not using your name.

Even if your T talks about everything you shared with her, it could never go past her supervising T.

I think that if wondering how much of your information is going outside to the supervising T, and wondering how much is affecting you in your relationship or how much you share with your T, then maybe it would be important to put it as a priority to talk about. It might be reassuring to have her explain it more. But if you think it might make it harder to share, maybe it would be better to hold off right now, and keep talking about other things...?

Good question you are asking, good to think through. Always great to have you here on the forums too,

jd