24 March 2023

Paul Heardman recently joined the EMCC UK Board in a newly created role as Director for Supervision Practice. Paul introduces himself and outlines his initial ideas, along with some of the ways you can get involved.

It is a real honour for me to be appointed the EMCC UK’s Director for Supervision Practice. I have been a coach supervisor since 2017, and am passionate about supervision and its potential. My professional background is in the UK public sector. As well as a Masters in Coaching from Henley Business School, I’ve trained in systemic constellations and psychosynthesis. My current interests include Jungian approaches in coaching and supervision.

I see the creation of this new role on the EMCC UK board as a reflection of the fast-growing importance of supervision in our profession. It is an exciting time, with many new ways to access supervision opening up in recent years and also more opportunities to train as a supervisor.

Equally, we see how the complexity of the challenges which clients bring to coaching continues to increase, meaning the supervision function also becomes ever more important. It is one of the best ways we can resource and nurture our own wellbeing as professionals in service to others. Supervision supports our own personal and professional development.  It deepens the value we can offer our clients and the wider systems we are all part of.

We intend to raise the profile of supervision in the EMCC UK’s offering to members. Over the coming months, we want to build community and showcase best practice and research in supervision. For example, we are considering creating a new EMCC UK Special Interest Group on Supervision. Would you be interested in being part of this?  If so, what might you like it to focus on?

There will also be other ways to get involved. Perhaps you are an experienced supervisor who would like to offer your expertise in giving back to the community. Or maybe you are a new supervisor wanting to build connections with others. Or perhaps you are a coach or mentor wondering how to get more value from your own supervision. Let us know what is important to you. This will help us shape what we offer.

We also want to promote greater diversity and inclusion in supervision, tackling systemic barriers and offering opportunity for a wide range of voices and perspectives. If you have something you would like to share here, please get in touch.

We are also launching a new EMCC UK podcast series, focusing on supervision of internal coaches. This will be hosted by Katherine St John Brooks and Jeremy Gomm, featuring a range of interesting interviewees. So look out for that.

Finally, we intend to update the EMCC UK website offer on supervision over the coming months. What would you like to see included?

If any of this has prompted your interest, you can contact me at [email protected]