Clinical supervision
I am a Gestalt Centre and Brighton University approved supervisor. I offer Clinical Supervision to counsellors in training, on placement and to those in an established practice. I work with Supervisees at my Private Practice, Brighton Counselling, two minutes from Brighton station or at my alternative location at Orange Row in the North Laine.
We work together 1:1 and also with Supervisees in small groups of 2 to 4. I am an integrative, humanistic Gestalt trained Supervisor and have been working with Supervisees here in Brighton and online for over 10 years. I completed my training at The Gestalt Centre in London 10 years ago.
I endeavour to foster a warm open and encouraging environment in which we can explore your client work together. I am both supportive and challenging. I encourage feedback in both directions.
I charge £85 for a 50-minute supervision session. I offer reduced rate Clinical Supervision to counsellors in training and to those setting up in private practice. I offer support in the logistics of setting up your private practice, this in itself is a supervisory issue.
I am a Clinical Supervisor at AYA Centre in Southwick working with supervisees both individually and in groups. I have worked at As You Are for over 8 years.
I previously worked at CRI drug and alcohol addiction charity (now Pavilions) in Brighton and Hove as a Clinical Supervisor and I also worked for Cruse Bereavement Care as a Clinical Supervisor.
I currently supervise facilitators & counsellors running Eating Disorders Support Groups in Brighton and Hove.
Supervision sessions can be fortnightly or monthly and last either 50/60 minutes or 1.5 hours for one-to-one sessions. Group supervision is usually one and a half to two hours depending on the number of people in the group.
I am on the membership committee at UKAHPP for applicants applying for accreditation as psychotherapeutic counsellors and psychotherapists. This accreditation leads on to accreditation with UKCP. My experience as a member of the accreditation committee at UKAHPP means that I can offer support to supervisees in the process of applying for accreditation. This includes discussing appropriate and planned CPD, your case study and your application and any other areas that you would like help with.
Please contact me to discuss your Supervision Requirements.
Testimonials from supervisees
"Nicky has been a fantastic supervisor. She's been alongside me for over 5 years, from the start of my private practice, and I have really valued her support and encouragement. I've always felt I was in safe hands, looked after and guided with care. Nicky shares her knowledge and expertise readily, and also challenges where appropriate. My confidence as a counsellor has grown with her help and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Nicky as a supervisor."
“I have been working with Nicky as my supervisor for just a short period of time, however, from outset I found Nicky to be hugely supportive and approachable. I experience Nicky to be both dynamic and intuitive, listening to her felt response of situations. Nicky expresses herself openly, inviting a collaborative exploration before coming to a resolution. There is a genuine and down to earth nature about Nicky and at the same time a strength in presence, which together allows space for ease but also direction and purpose. Nicky works with what is happening in the present moment and is not afraid to share her insights as they arise. Her approach to supervision is not something you can gain out of reading a textbook, there is a deeper quality which is found in Nicky’s unique and authentic character. She is open, expressive, supportive, genuine and full of experience. I feel like there is a world of creativity inside of Nicky and I am looking forward to experiencing this more as we continue to work together.”
“During this pandemic year I have attended a number of on-line training sessions all of which have been very different. This was most definitely one of the best ones in terms of welcoming hosts who made me feel like I had a role to play and a contribution to make to the session. The fact that we were asked specifically to keep our videos on was I think a really good thing and created an immediate buy-in. I admit to other training sessions having turned off my video and you definitely feel less involved. The trainers were excellent at engaging people and inviting comments without it feeling like you were put on the spot. Everyone was spoken to by name and the training felt like a meaningful conversation between everyone rather than a lecture style download of information.”
“Nicky Mark has offered me excellent supervision over the past year. I found the supervision sessions very supportive with Nicky offering useful insights and perspectives that enabled positive therapeutic progress for my clients.”
“Nicky has been my supervisor for both group and 1-1 supervision, for over a year now and also during my training. Nicky has provided me with a very compassionate and professional space that has enabled me to explore my process, gain confidence within my approach, and stay curious about the relational aspect of my therapeutic work. Nicky encourages insightful reflection on the ‘here and now’ including exploration of any parallel process that may come up, this has elicited positive growth and development for both myself and my clients.”
“Nicky was my first ever supervisor and I feel very fortunate that this was the case. I found her to be incredibly encouraging and generous with her support and feedback. Under her guidance I feel I grew in confidence and learnt to trust in my abilities. I experienced her as authentic and openhearted and I am sad to not be working with her anymore.”
“Nicky supervised me during my counselling training and as I was setting up in private practice. Nicky strikes a really nice balance between challenge and reassurance. She was supportive and nurturing, encouraging me to be more self confident and to find my ground as a counsellor, while challenging me to increase awareness of my blind spots and learning edges. Nicky also provided practical advice and encouragement in setting up in private practice once I had qualified. Thank you Nicky!”
“Nicky was my first ever supervisor and I feel very fortunate that this was the case. I found her to be incredibly encouraging and generous with her support and feedback. Under her guidance I feel I grew in confidence and learnt to trust in my abilities. I experienced her as authentic and openhearted and I am sad to not be working with her anymore.”
“I thoroughly enjoy our group supervision sessions and appreciate the open, honest, and direct approach that Nicky has encouraged in our work and interactions. We are all given a chance to be heard and offer each other peer support and guidance. It has been invaluable for my development as a counsellor, and I have chosen to stay at As You Are after I qualify because of this. It has also been commented on by my university tutors that I have good supervision."
“I have found the supervision group supportive, reflective and genuine. Nicky has provided support and challenge in all sessions and has drawn out aspects of process that she has witnessed in the space. I have really enjoyed working with a group that has been encouraged to voice feelings, or their sense of their peers’ client work. There has been a sense of equality fostered by Nicky’s reflections and her mode of participation. I have felt that authenticity is modelled and fostered within the group."
“What Nicky does particularly well, is to stick to the remit and offer the Core Conditions to the Counsellors which then as part of the Parallel Process is modelled and then taken to the clients. Nicky made a choice to work with some of the most marginalised members of the Brighton community. She has been honourable in her commitment to the organisation and to the clients and also with her colleagues. She works very effectively as a member of the team and facilitates very well within group Supervision and 1:1 Supervision.”
“Nicky has a very useful varied background as well as her counselling experience and training. She operates ethically and has a truly non-judgemental stance which will enable her supervisees to be honest about their difficulties when talking about their clients. This is of fundamental importance because supervisees can easily feel judged or incompetent when the client’s circumstances or their own response is challenging or ambivalent. The danger is the tendency to underplay/not reveal these rather than seeing that it is in our difficulties that we learn. Her openness and honesty will foster trust in her supervisees and her awareness of the terrain will provide the management of the service with the necessary confidence in her ability to be both responsible in relation to her supervisees and to the management of the service itself.”
“Nicky supervised me during my counselling training and as I was setting up in private practice. Nicky strikes a really nice balance between challenge and reassurance. She was supportive and nurturing, encouraging me to be more self confident and to find my ground as a counsellor, while challenging me to increase awareness of my blind spots and learning edges. Nicky also provided practical advice and encouragement in setting up in private practice once I had qualified. Thank you Nicky!”
“I am fortunate to have worked with Nicky over the span of different agency contexts, and in both one-to-one capacity and in group supervision. She has seen me develop in my career from being a new and inexperienced counsellor, lacking confidence in my skills, to where I am today- still uncertain much of the time but more confident and more ready to fully meet my clients. This is no doubt with credit Nicky’s way of balancing both supportive and challenging insights. I can say honestly that sometimes, supervision has been uncomfortable, as we have untangled some dilemmas in my work, both personal and professional; but this is when I am certain that the supervision has been the most helpful and important, and I am grateful to have Nicky’s accepting and containing presence. Supervision with Nicky recalibrates me, helps me feel that I am reflexive, open, and more aware of myself, and more able to make balanced therapeutic decisions with my clients.”
“In our group supervision, which we have fortnightly, we have a sense of community and supportiveness within the group. It is an opportunity to hear things from different perspectives, from Nicky and from our peers. There is a kindness and compassion within the group and an ability to talk about the serious stuff whilst also having a sense of humour – which can be so important in this work. We can bring the wobbles and lack of confidence to supervision and it will be received in a non-judgemental way. This is empowering. We have a responsibility to our clients but not for them – this is held within the group”
"Nicky has been a fantastic supervisor. She's been alongside me for over 5 years, from the start of my private practice, and I have really valued her support and encouragement. I've always felt I was in safe hands, looked after and guided with care. Nicky shares her knowledge and expertise readily, and also challenges where appropriate. My confidence as a counsellor has grown with her help and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Nicky as a supervisor.”
"Nicky has provided consistent guidance and questioning around ethical issues, encouraging the group to actively participate. When necessary, Nicky has provided support outside supervision sessions. She facilitates this in a dialogic manner. Furthermore, she encourages reflection and models this process when discussing client work. Participation in this group gives me a sense of my reflective practice development. Alongside my personal therapy, this has been particularly important with my sense of authenticity and freedom, and the themes of anger and loss.”
“I find in supervision that an atmosphere of genuineness is created. I find Nicky to be authentic in finding out about the client, but more importantly how I am feeling in relation to the client, and myself in that time. In turn she always pulls it back to the here and now – noting that parallel processes may be happening between us also. We look at my embodiment of that client, what reactions it brings up and what I hold about that client. This is really helpful to notice this outside the time with the client, to see what might be going on for me and in turn the relationship. From here, Nicky helps me separate out what I need to take to therapy and what we can look at in supervision.”
“I am fortunate to have worked with Nicky over the span of different agency contexts, and in both one-to-one capacity and in group supervision. She has seen me develop in my career from being a new and inexperienced counsellor, lacking confidence in my skills, to where I am today- still uncertain much of the time but more confident and more ready to fully meet my clients. This is no doubt with credit Nicky’s way of balancing both supportive and challenging insights. I can say honestly that sometimes, supervision has been uncomfortable, as we have untangled some dilemmas in my work, both personal and professional; but this is when I am certain that the supervision has been the most helpful and important, and I am grateful to have Nicky’s accepting and containing presence. Supervision with Nicky recalibrates me, helps me feel that I am reflexive, open, and more aware of myself, and more able to make balanced therapeutic decisions with my clients.”
“Nicky’s support as a supervisor has been invaluable to me while I’ve been studying for my Masters in Psychotherapy. Not only has her insight and advice been excellent but her extensive knowledge and experience was also extremely helpful while I was setting up in private practice. Nicky’s warmth and honesty makes her a great supervisor for any counsellor, regardless of experience.”
“What Nicky does particularly well, is to stick to the remit and offer the Core Conditions to the Counsellors which then as part of the Parallel Process is modelled and then taken to the clients. Nicky made a choice to work with some of the most marginalised members of the Brighton community. She has been honourable in her commitment to the organisation and to the clients and also with her colleagues. She works very effectively as a member of the team and facilitates very well within group Supervision and 1:1 Supervision.”
“I find in supervision that an atmosphere of genuineness is created. I find Nicky to be authentic in finding out about the client, but more importantly how I am feeling in relation to the client, and myself in that time. In turn she always pulls it back to the here and now – noting that parallel processes may be happening between us also. We look at my embodiment of that client, what reactions it brings up and what I hold about that client. This is really helpful to notice this outside the time with the client, to see what might be going on for me and in turn the relationship. From here, Nicky helps me separate out what I need to take to therapy and what we can look at in supervision.”
