About Me:

Hello, my name is Alistair Thain (He/Him), I am a qualified supervisor and a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Below you can read about my experience and how I work as a supervisor. However, in short I take my integrative way of practice into my supervision sessions to help you help your clients in a way that works for everybody.

Experience:

My background is in Psychology & Philosophy, as this was my first degree. This led me in to working as a Mental Health Support Worker for the charity Mind for over five years. This involved working with a lot of complex and challenging mental health presentations. Additionally, it has given me excellent understanding in supporting people with the benefit system, and NHS when it comes to diagnosis and support. This is very much where I found my passion for working with people, and what inspired me to work towards my second degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Whilst studying counselling, I volunteered with the charity Cruse Bereavement Support who offer support for individuals who have experienced bereavement, and New Pathways who are a charity that offer support for survivors of sexual abuse/violence. In these two volunteering roles I learned a lot, particularly my experience and training with New Pathways which gave me a great deal of understanding when it comes to working with trauma safely. My experience with New Pathways was so valuable that I continued to work with them after qualifying as a therapist for a few years.

Now as a qualified counsellor, I continually add to my knowledge and understanding through courses, seminars, and reading. Continued professional and personal development mean a lot to me, as the world is always changing. I encourage this approach to learning in my supervisees and always enjoy sharing book recommendations and other resources when possible.

Specialism:

When it comes to therapy and supervision work I feel that it is important to find a niche that you enjoy working in and making it your specialism. For me this was neurodivergence. Part of my experience working with Mind was supporting clients to attend therapy and I found that a lot of therapists did not know how to work with neurodivergent clients effectively. So when I qualified I made it my mission to shape my practice and now my supervision work around being as neuro-affirming as possible. Sharing this with my supervisees is a big passion of mine as it can make a lot of client work easier for both the therapist and the client.

Supervision:

My supervision training was completed with the Counselling Tutor and primarily uses the Seven Eyed Model. This involves looking at all aspects of the client therapist interaction, including external factors from the relationship that may impact or influence the work. Additionally I take a lot from my own therapy practice into my role as a supervisor. This includes my experience working with trauma, bereavement, and neurodiversity.