Group Reflective Supervision

Creating a confidential space in which the Group can reflect is essential to maintaining the safety of participants in particular. Subject to the usual exceptions (safeguarding, legal concern), GRS is completely confidential: what is said in the session, stays in the session. 

GRS theory and approach include the following:

• Unconditional, positive regard: GRS sessions will be judgement-free spaces where all participants are regarded positively, and as equals, by the Facilitator and other participants. 

• Empathy: The GRS Facilitator will use, and model, active listening skills that demonstrate genuine attentiveness to participants’ contributions to the session and convey unconditional positive regard.

• Reflection: The GRS Facilitator will use techniques including open questions, summarising and paraphrasing to facilitate participants to reflect on their, and other participants’, contributions to the session. 

• Congruence: The Facilitator will maintain a genuine regard and interest in the participants’ contributions and express this appropriately, including by thanking participants who contribute and skilfully and sparingly using immediacy and self-disclosure to further facilitate reflection. 

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), psychoanalysis and/or other forms of analysis, or counselling models, are not appropriate for GRS and will not be used in sessions. 

Similar to person-centred theory, GRS will take a positive view of participants as follows:

• Participants are the experts of their personal experiences at work;
• Any personal development should arise naturally from within participants through personal and shared reflection within the session; 
• Participants have a genuine desire to feel positive about their work;
• Participants have a genuine desire to make a positive contribution to the teams in which they work, and to the people with whom they work.

The GRS Facilitator will not offer any personal or professional advice during GRS Sessions.