The Octopus Approach to Supervision
The Core of the Work
The head of the octopus represents the heart of supervision: your ongoing development as a practitioner — your self‑knowledge, presence, and awareness of impact.
This focus is always present, though it may move in and out of the foreground. The approach is intentionally stretchy, flexible, and fluid — much like the octopus itself.
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How We Work Together
Our shared intentions
We aim to:
• Collaborate as two professionals, each bringing unique gifts
• Engage in mutual learning, ongoing and shared
• Notice and repair harm, especially where power or oppression shows up
• Respect and utilise differences — in belief, lifestyle, opinion, and ways of working
These differences often become places of new understanding.
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The Seven‑Eyed Model
Seven tentacles correspond to the seven modes of Hawkins’ model. In supervision we may explore:
1. The client and how they present
2. Your interventions and strategies
3. The client–practitioner relationship, including transference
4. Your internal process as supervisee
5. The supervisory relationship
6. My internal experience as supervisor
7. The wider context — systems, culture, environment
Not all modes appear every session; the work is responsive and relational.
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The Eighth Tentacle
This is the additional space in the work — the existential, spiritual, creative, political, ecological, or metaphysical dimensions that support your self‑resourcing.
It may include:
• Connection to self, others, nature, or the wider world
• Religion, politics, activism
• Art, writing, music, creativity
• Neurodivergent ways of thinking and being
• Mindfulness, reflective practice, self‑care
• Burnout and empathic fatigue
You can engage with this tentacle as much or as little as feels right.
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The Core Conditions
My therapeutic roots are in the Person‑Centred Approach, which I hold as a fluid, adaptable way of being. The core conditions remain central:
• Empathy
• Congruence
• Unconditional positive regard / phenomenological acceptance
These invite us to stay aware of our impact and to attend to shifting dynamics of privilege, power, and otherness.
Many practitioners carry the experience of not being fully seen. My intention is to offer presence, steadiness, and attention through complex times.
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Practicalities
• Fees: £80 per hour (pro rata), paid in advance
• Session length: 60 / 75 / 90 minutes
• Format: Online only
