Why Pastoral Supervision?
Supervision is highly recommended or mandatory for most workers in the helping professions. It serves to support the professional development of the pastor/pastoral worker or clinician and safeguard the quality of care for those they serve. It is an essential form of self care for those in roles and lifestyles of serving others and gives the chance for holistic reflection. Engagement in supervision facilitates the integration of personal experience with professional life, while supporting the development of essential skills and knowledge. The supervision offered by 3 Chairs Counselling is Immanuel Informed: it caters for those who wish to develop a genuinely professional Immanuel Informed Practice.
We offer supervision in a variety of forms and frequencies for both individuals and groups.
Form and Frequency
Various options exist for supervision depending on need and budget. Typical options are:
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- Individual Monthly
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- Group Monthly
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- Individual every six weeks or bi-monthly
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- Group every six weeks or bi-monthly
Options
A common form of supervision is simply a monthly one on one meeting planned in advance with the supervisor. Others contract to be part of an ongoing monthly group in which the resources and experience of all participants in the group can be utilized rather than only those of the supervisor and supervisee. Some groups, because of lack of funding, meet with the supervisor every second month, then on the alternate month meet with each other – without the supervisor – a form of peer supervision.
Immanuel Informed Supervision goes beyond debriefing important personal/professional events and experiences to awareness of and interaction with Immanuel. Those who contract to include this dimension may also witness modelling in the process of leading others into attunement with Immanuel as a normal part of their work.
Background and experience of Michael Schaefer
Michael began working in pastoral ministry in 1994. From early on he has had a strong interest in people having their own experience of God and learning to discern the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He completed both a Degree and Graduate Diploma in theology and later a Graduate Diploma and a Masters Degree in Christian Counselling. He began working as a counsellor at the beginning of 2000 and trained in Clinical/Pastoral Supervision in 2005. Besides being a professional counsellor and offering pastoral/clinical supervision, during his career Michael has worked as a Pastoral Care training coordinator, has taught Pastoral Ministry, Grief Counselling, Counselling Ethics and the Law and Reflective Practice at degree level and Ethics and Reflective Practice at Masters level. More recently he has widened his focus to train students in all aspect of the Diploma of Counselling and Certificate IV in Mental Health in Australia.
In 2016-7 while working for Salvos Counselling he set up and facilitated Pastoral Supervision Groups for chaplains within the Salvation Army and introduced distance supervision for those in rural areas. He went on to found a training organization which specialized in training people how to lead others into an awareness of God’s presence and then how to facilitate sustained interaction. He loves working with holistic carers and supports them to develop a genuinely professional Immanuel Informed Practice.
Negotiating a supervision arrangement that works for you
You are welcome to Contact Michael to explore what arrangement would work best for you.