TILT – Therapeutic Innovations in Light of Technology
Cyber Supervision Anne Stokes
As I sit here at my laptop a few days before Christmas, my thoughts are turning away from the grey skies and early twilight here in England, and going towards 2012. I’ve just been jotting and doodling about what I might like to change in my life as an online supervisor. Even though you will be reading this almost a month into the New Year, I have decided to share my thoughts with you. At first, they seem frivolous and the writings of someone who badly needs the Christmas break, but underneath, there are some more important ideas about working online. If you are an online supervisee, rather than an online supervisor, I am sure you can change these slightly
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T I L T M A G A Z I N E Jan u ar y 2 0 1 2
to see how they would fit life as a supervisee too. So, here goes! How it’s going to be in 2012 J 1. I am going to avoid ‘just having a quick look’ at my supervision emails at 11pm. It’s never a quick look and I am fooling myself! There is always something that I choose to read, and sometimes I can’t get it out of my head when I eventually do get to bed. 2. I will stop myself looking in my inbox five minutes before I am due online for a live supervision session. It takes me away from my preparation for that supervisee, and distracts my thinking about what
we might be working on together, or where we ended last time. I wouldn’t do this if they were f2f supervisees, so why do I do it here? 3. Maybe I don’t need to be quite so addicted to backing everything up…… you can have too many external backups….. can’t you?? 4. I will remember that I am a role model for my supervisees (Oh, that feels terrifying! Who - me?) Perhaps that way I will manage not to be a workaholic, since I am always telling them to get the balance right between work and the rest of life. 5. I will set time aside in my