Supervision is a vital requirement for Accredited members of the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) to ensure the highest standards of professional practice.
It provides a structured space for counselors and psychotherapists to reflect on their work, receive guidance, and address challenges, fostering continuous growth and ethical accountability. This process not only enhances the quality of care provided to clients but also supports practitioners in maintaining their competence and well-being.
Frequency: Supervision must take place at least once a month, when the Accredited Member is actively seeing or available to see clients. If not seeing clients, a minimum of 10 supervision sessions per year will be accepted, (allowing for holidays, illness, bereavements, etc..)’
You may add together hours from different supervision arrangements. When adding together supervision hours from different supervision arrangements, you will require a supervisor’s report from each of your supervisors.
Ratio:
- Accredited members with less than five years of Accredited Membership, supervision is a minimum of one hour of supervision for every 20 client contact hours (1:20).
- Accredited members with five to ten years of Accredited Membership, supervision is a minimum of one hour of supervision for every 30 client contact hours (1:30).
- Accredited members with ten plus years of Accredited Membership, supervision is a minimum of one hour of supervision for every 40 client contact hours (1:40).
1-to-1 Supervision is where a designated Accredited Supervisor takes responsibility for the supervision of two or more Counsellors / Psychotherapists.
1. Sitting in on the counselling session followed by a review of the session
2. Viewing the Counsellor/Psychotherapist through a window or by video, followed by a review of the session
3. Reviewing sessions using case-notes, verbatim notes or tape-recording of the session
Group Supervision is where a designated Accredited Supervisor takes responsibility for the supervision of two or more Counsellors / Psychotherapists.
The designated accredited supervisor takes overall responsibility for the work of the group, managing the work, writing up supervisors reports, signing off CPD logs, dealing with Ethical issues and adhering to the IACP Code of Ethics etc., for the group.
To include group supervision as part or all of your supervision requirements, it is necessary that:
The maximum number in the supervision group is 6 (not including the group supervisor)
and
- A group of 2 meet for a minimum of 1 hour a month (this would be counted as 1 hour supervision for each member)
- A group of 3 meet for a minimum of 1.5 hours a month (this would be counted as 1.5 hours supervision for each member)
- A group of 4 meet for a minimum of 2 hours a month (this would be counted as 2 hours supervision for each member)
- A group of 5 meet for a minimum of 2.5 hours a month (this would be counted as 2.5 hours supervision for each member)
- A group of 6 meet for a minimum of 3 hours a month (this would be counted as 3 hours supervision for each member)
Where group supervision is additional to individual supervision and meets the above group number / time requirements, group supervision hours can be calculated towards your total requirements as shown above.
Peer Supervision only applies to Supervisors who are accredited by either IACP, IAHIP or BACP.
In Peer Supervision, Accredited Supervisors take shared responsibility for supervising and being supervised. The supervisors may rotate leading the group each time the group meet. Any one supervisor can write up the supervisors report, sign off CPD log etc. for another member of the group. The groups contract will outline how they will operate as a group.
To include Peer Supervision as part or all of your supervision requirements, it is necessary that the peer group meets the time and group number requirements as above.
It is required by the IACP that a Counsellor / Psychotherapist or a Student Counsellor / Psychotherapist must choose a Supervisor who is one of:-
a) an IACP Accredited Supervisor
b) a BACP* Accredited Supervisor
c) an IAHIP** Accredited Supervisor
Please note – it is the supervisee’s responsibility to check that their Supervisor is accredited with one of the above organisations.
*BACP Accredited status plus a supervisor qualification. These requirements are due to the BACP reconfiguring membership categories (16/10/2023) – if contracting with a BACP Accredited Supervisor, please ensure that the above criteria are met. If you have any queries regarding a pre-existing contract, please contact the IACP).
**IACP shall authorise IAHIP accredited supervisors who are accredited supervisors [operating under European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP) guidelines