NCIP Supervisors Code

Supervision is seen by NCIP as the provision by a supervisor to a supervisee of a second opinion, clinical practice advice, and appropriate critical practice feedback.  As such any practice feedback is critical to risk assessment and management and clinical advice is contributing to the practitioner/client clinical process. In addition, supervisors are to guide the supervisee about the rules and laws that govern practice.  

DEFINITION OF A SUPERVISOR

A supervisor is defined by the NCIP as a professional practitioner who is also qualified to supervise trainees and or practitioners in their field(s) of competence.  Qualified is understood to mean having either completed a dedicated supervisor postgraduate course or completed 12 hours of minimum specialist supervision postgraduate training, both of which require at least 3 years of clinical practice experience and be at the Accredited Practitioner level.

Supervisors must:

1. Adhere to clear contracting with their supervisees.

2. Take appropriate responsibility for the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of clinical advice and guidance offered.

3. Ensure never to encourage the supervisee to contradict medical advice.

4. Ensure that the supervisee is aware of risk and is managing risk.

5. Ensure that they are insured, qualified, and competent to supervise the areas presented by the supervisee and honestly inform the supervisee of any areas outside their scope of supervision practice.

6. Ensure the supervisee is fit to practise and act ethically with adherence to the NCIP Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct at all times and inform them if this is in doubt in writing/email.

7. If there is a remedial issue to be discussed to ensure safe appropriate practice, then the supervisor must inform the supervisee of this in writing/email promptly and where engagement occurs follow this up.

8. If there is failure to engage in the above action (point 7), or if there is a clear danger to the public, then the supervisor will take immediate steps to notify both appropriate statutory bodies and the professional body of the supervisee and inform them this is going to be done.

9. Ensure that adequate notes and tracing from notes to the presented case are both recorded so that in the event of a complaint against the supervisee, the supervisor can link the data and ensure cooperation in any investigation, civil suit, or legal data request.

10. Be clear about their style and methods of supervision, what to expect, and what not to expect from the supervision on offer.

11. Have supervision that covers the supervisory function within their practice.

12. In the course of supervision pay attention to the supervisee's competency in the range of practice issues in the NCIP and more general practice standards (such as NOS) and take reasonable steps to ensure data protection compliance, ICO registration, HMRC registration (or national equivalent), competency to provide services offered, informed consent, proper contracting, cultural competence, safe practice, risk assessment, taking of notes in regard to identified areas of risk, data security, knowledge of contraindications and treatment risks, evidence-informed appropriate treatment protocols, boundary maintenance, transference and countertransference, insurance and professional registration to cover all areas offered to appropriate level, avoidance of professional crossing of boundaries, Advertising Standards Agency and trading standards, appropriate client case termination and/or referral and understanding of associated protocols.

13. Have a termination/referral process for themselves when ceasing the supervision process is necessary.

Additional Ethical Requirements When Providing Supervision

These ethical requirements are supplementary to the standards stated in the code of conduct and ethics for client work and the latter apply as core values when providing supervision.

1.  The supervisor must at all times, ensure they are working within their levels of competency.  If the supervisee requires levels of skill, knowledge, or competency beyond that of your own, the correct path is to discuss this and enable the supervisee to supplement or replace the supervision process accordingly. 

2. If supervising a supervisee who is working in a specific field, with specific problems, or with specific methods (rather than general practice), then you must ensure you are suitably qualified and knowledgeable.

3. You must keep your knowledge up to date and current for BOTH your clinical work and your supervisory work. If you are supervising practitioners working in a field other than that which you have already completed CPD to support, you must ALSO remain current in the area of work you are supervising.

4. You must ensure that your level of knowledge compares favourably or reasonably with the level held by your supervisee as a minimum. Supervising someone who has far greater knowledge of the area they are working in than yourself is inappropriate since you can neither offer much in the way of development support nor be fully aware of the nuances created by their level of experience.

5. You should ensure boundaries are maintained in the same way as with clients in terms of social, romantic, business, and other limitations.

6. You must remain aware of the limits of the supervisor role and not exceed the role of a therapy supervisor. You must defer to legal, medical, or other experts and not voice opinions or guidance outside your area of professional competency.

7. You must always maintain awareness of risk assessment and safeguarding and the vital role you play in ensuring the safety of your supervisee and their clients. In extreme circumstances, your duty is to protect members of the public from bad practices, especially vulnerable clients. This includes urgent reporting of potentially harmful practices to statutory authorities and to the NCIP.

8. You have a vital role in advising your supervisee if you feel their fitness to practice is compromised and in extreme cases to contact the NCIP Risk Assessment Team for guidance. 

9. Any declaration by your supervisee of pertinent points regarding their caseload that could be pertinent to client safety or a potential complaint, must be recorded by you. It is good practice to send a copy of your notes in regards to the matter to the supervisee as a reminder of the importance. You should not assume that your supervisee will remember or record details accurately.

10. You must always remember that advice given to the supervisees in regard to handling their cases is clinical guidance for which you may be held liable. You should note any such advice given and confirm it to the supervisee to ensure no misquoting or misunderstanding. 

11. You must have a system in place to enable the linking of cases brought to you by the supervisee with their own clinical notes in the event of a complaint. This can be through the use of a case number, a first name only, or additional details, if reflected and permitted, in the supervisee’s client contracting and data protection procedures. 

12. You must be clear if a supervisee asks for advice for a therapy modality outside of your knowledge, that this is not an area of your competency, and that the supervisee has an obligation to gain additional support for supervision of that modality.

13. You should check with your supervisee that they are completing regular risk assessments and you should guide and support this. 

14. You should check that your supervisee is adhering to other legal requirements of practice such as HMRC registration, Advertising Standards Agency policies,  insurance, and National Occupational Standards and that all therapy methods used are appropriately monitored, insured, and subject to scrutiny.

15. You must ensure your own contracting for supervision, data protection, insurance, and registration are for the provision of supervision.

16. Apart from in cases of safeguarding, risk assessment, and public protection, you must maintain the same strict levels of data protection and confidentiality towards your supervisee and their clients as is expected towards your own client cases.

17. It is normal for supervisors and their supervisees to have different training and modalities and it is important to offer alternative perspectives respectfully and in an appropriate manner. You must distinguish between different methods and whether something is correct or incorrect.

18. The other high standards of conduct and ethical behaviour laid out in the code of ethics and conduct also apply to supervision.
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