Our psychologist solves the mystery.
This question, although legitimate, can make you smile. It’s a bit like asking a hairdresser if he goes to the hairdresser or a baker if he buys bread from another bakery. However, there would be several benefits for a psychologist to go see another psychologist.
Already, from a purely personal point of view, being a psychologist does not protect you from moments of doubt, anxiety or difficult periods to go through. He is a human being like everyone else who can suffer from depression, relationship, family or professional problems, go through bereavement, divorce, dismissal, serious illness… or anything that justifies going to see a doctor. . “In this case, he takes off his psychologist hat and goes to a psychologist as an “ordinary patient” in order to follow classic psych sessions, independently of his work“, explains Line Mourey, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist (@la_parenthese_psy on Instagram).
Then, the psychologist can go see another psychologist – generally with more experience than him – as part of his professional practice. We then speak of “supervision”. The supervisor is a referent, a kind of “Master Yoda” as our interlocutor likes to call him, with whom the supervisee comes to talk, not about his private life, but only about his professional practice. “For example, he can approach a therapeutic situation in a session which questions him, which sends him back to a particular emotion, just as he can choose to talk about a difficulty which arises within the framework of his profession. she explains. It is a real space for thought and professional support which allows the supervisee ultimately to best support its patients in their neutrality and try to remain as fair as possible. It is also a privileged moment to talk about your work environment and questions “ofeethical and of ethics” linked to the work environment. For example, how the professional can position himself when faced with this or that situation (delay, non-payment of session, compensation, duration of sessions, etc.).
Finally, this helps ensure that we are not in a situation of professional burnout. “The psychologist, like the doctor or many other professions, takes a huge toll on the emotional life of many people and – statistics show – is at greater risk of professional burnout. It’s really a profession in which you particularly need to network in order to feel good and not make mistakes. There are ultimately few professions where we are lucky enough to be able to be supported as such.“. “All psychologists can be supervisors, but we consider that a minimum of experience is required to be able to offer supervision sessions. Supervisors may have supervisors themselves and so on“, specifies the psychologist.
Today in France, it is not obligatory for a psychologist to have supervision, but it is strongly recommended to have it regularly (for example one session every month). Supervision can be done individually with a colleague, or in an intervision group (grouping of several psychologists to reflect on their practice: here, there is no “specific supervisor”, everyone contributes to the reflection on the situation encountered by a colleague) or even in a group with a supervisor (in this case, we will rather speak of practice analysis sessions). Please note that to validate certain additional psychotherapy training (behavioral and cognitive therapy – CBT, EMDR, etc.), supervision may be requested.
