Supervision at Pause for Perspective

At Pause for Perspective, supervision is not an add-on to clinical work.
It is a core practice through which therapists learn to stay ethical, relational, reflective, and socially responsive in their work.

We understand supervision as a continuation of the therapeutic stance rather than an evaluative or managerial process. Supervision at Pause centres curiosity over correction, accountability over compliance, and collective learning over hierarchy. It is a space where therapists are supported to think with their bodies, attend to power, and remain in right relationship with clients, communities, and themselves.

Our Orientation to Supervision

Supervision at Pause is grounded in:

• Embodiment and mindfulness-based practices

• Narrative and dialogical approaches

• Social justice, anti-caste, and anti-oppressive frameworks

• Collective ethics and accountability

• Curiosity as a core supervisory skill

Rather than offering a single supervisory “model,” we work across frameworks while consistently asking critical questions:
Whose experience is being centered here?
What systemic conditions shape this client’s story?
Where might power, privilege, urgency, or avoidance be entering the therapeutic relationship?

Supervision is treated as a site of learning, unlearning, and repair. It is also a place where discomfort, difference, and rupture can be held thoughtfully rather than smoothed over.

Supervision as a Collective Practice at Pause

Supervision is a regular and integral part of working at Pause for Perspective. At any given time, our organization includes 20–30+ mental health practitioners across therapy, community work, training, and fellowship programs.

For the internal team, supervision includes:

• Weekly group supervision

• Bi-weekly individual supervision

• Peer supervision spaces

• Dedicated supervision spaces for couples work

• Supervision focused on children and adolescents

• Supervision for group and community-based work

These spaces allow therapists to bring clinical questions, ethical dilemmas, identity-based tensions, and systemic concerns into shared reflection. Supervision also supports therapists at different stages of their professional journey, from early practice to senior clinical and supervisory roles.

What Happens in Supervision

Supervision conversations at Pause may include:

• Case conceptualisation that attends to both personal history and structural conditions

• Noticing bodily responses, urgency, freeze, or over-responsibility in the therapist

• Reflecting on caste, class, gender, disability, queerness, and other axes of power as they appear in therapy

• Working with rupture, disagreement, and ethical tension

• Exploring therapist identity, bias, and growth edges

• Supporting therapists to slow down, deepen curiosity, and remain accountable to client experience

Supervision often integrates reflective dialogue, embodied inquiry, narrative questioning, and occasional use of art or movement-based practices when helpful.

Supervision as an External Offering

In addition to internal supervision, Pause for Perspective offers supervision to mental health practitioners outside the organization.

At present, Aarathi Selvan is the only supervisor available for external supervision. This is because all other supervisors are currently engaged in ongoing supervision with the in-house team.

External supervision is offered with the same ethos that guides internal practice:

• Supervision as co-learning rather than expertise-dispensing

• Attention to social location, power, and responsibility

• Space to think ethically rather than perform competence

Please note that supervision availability and structure will evolve in the second half of the year, as internal supervisory capacity changes.

Who Supervision at Pause May Be Useful For

Supervision at Pause may be a good fit for practitioners who are:

• Interested in socially responsive, anti-oppressive clinical work

• Wanting to integrate embodiment or mindfulness into therapy ethically

• Working with caste, class, gender, disability, or queer-affirmative lenses

• Seeking supervision that allows for reflection, uncertainty, and growth rather than quick fixes

A Final Note

At Pause for Perspective, supervision is understood as a living practice. It shapes how therapists listen, how they hold power, how they respond to harm, and how they remain accountable to the communities they serve.

Supervision here is not about becoming the “right” kind of therapist.
It is about staying in relationship with learning, ethics, and care.