Reflection · Supervision
Using the Seven-Eyed Model without turning it into a checklist
A framework is useful right up to the point where it starts supervising the supervisor. Some notes on keeping it flexible.
I use the Seven-Eyed Model in supervision because it maps the territory well: the client, the intervention, the relationship, the therapist, the supervisory relationship, the supervisor, and the wider context.
Following what is alive
Worked through mechanically, seven perspectives become an audit. I would rather notice which eye the supervisee keeps avoiding, and spend the hour there.
The parallel process
What happens between supervisor and supervisee often mirrors what is happening in the therapy. When supervision suddenly feels stuck, hurried or over-careful, that is usually information rather than a problem.
The seventh eye
Context is the one most often skipped and most often decisive — caseload, organisational pressure, funding, the culture a practitioner is working inside. A lot of what presents as individual difficulty is structural.