Trauma-informed
Centres safety, care, and nervous system awareness.
Compassionate.
Ethical. Grounded.
Transformative.
Clinical supervision education for a more just, relational and sustainable practice.
The Empowered Supervisor offers trauma-informed, anti-oppressive education and clinical supervision for counsellors and helping professionals who want to develop confidence, clarity, and skill in their practice.
Anti-oppressive
Challenges systemic barriers and honours diverse identities.
Practice-based
Real-world tools and meaningful reflection.
Sustainable
Supports long-term wellbeing and ethical practice.
Stronger supervisors.
Brighter futures.
Brighter futures.
A space for connection, meaningful learning, and ethical practice.
A thoughtful way forward
Supervision is a relationship.
And a practice of care.
Meaningful supervision makes room for uncertainty, reflection, and growth. It supports ethical practice while attending to the person doing the work.
Here, we consider how trauma, identity, power, and social context shape clinical relationships. Together, we build a practice that is compassionate, accountable, and sustainable.
01 / Learn to supervise
The Empowered Supervisor course
Build your foundation, continue with Advanced Practice & Consultation, or explore feminist approaches, queering supervision, and neurodiversity through our special-topic courses.
Explore our courses →02 / Support your practice
Clinical supervision with Pauline
Bring your clinical questions, ethical dilemmas, and professional development goals into a collaborative space for reflection.
Explore supervision →The Empowered Supervisor / Course
Build your foundation.
Find your own voice.
36hours of learning
10week course structure
5connected modules
A trauma focused, anti-oppressive exploration of clinical supervision for practitioners developing or deepening their supervisory practice.
The course connects supervision approaches and processes with ethical decision-making, awareness of power, and the realities of sustaining a supervision practice.
View 2027 dates & apply →Already completed the course? Explore the follow-up →
Explore our special-topic courses →
2027 foundational course cohorts
Choose your season of learning.
Each cohort meets for 10 weeks on Fridays, 12–2 p.m. Toronto local time via Zoom. Complete 36 hours of learning: 20 live hours plus 16 hours of asynchronous readings, reflection and assignments.
Winter 2027
January 15–March 19, 2027
Early bird: $895 CAD through December 31, 2026.
Regular tuition: $1,095 CAD.
Apply by January 8, 2027.
Apply for Winter ↗Spring 2027
April 9–June 11, 2027
Early bird: $895 CAD through March 26, 2027.
Regular tuition: $1,095 CAD.
Apply by April 2, 2027.
Apply for Spring ↗Fall 2027
October 8–December 10, 2027
Early bird: $895 CAD through September 24, 2027.
Regular tuition: $1,095 CAD.
Apply by October 1, 2027.
Apply for Fall ↗Attendance: Attendance at at least 8 of the 10 live calls is required, along with completion of the asynchronous learning.
Payment options: Pay in full or request a payment plan on your application. Instalment options and payment deadlines will be provided separately.
Cancellation: Full refund minus a $25 processing fee with at least 48 hours’ notice before your cohort’s first class.
Watch the foundational course introduction
01Defining clinical supervision
Explore the purpose of supervision, supervisory roles and responsibilities, and the foundations of a collaborative relationship. Consider how safety, accountability, and context shape the work.
02Approaches to clinical supervision
Examine supervision models through trauma focused, feminist, anti-oppressive, and postmodern perspectives. Reflect on how your values and experience inform your supervisory approach.
03Clinical supervision processes
Consider supervision agreements, informed consent, reflective dialogue, feedback, and evaluation. Explore processes that support learning while making expectations and power visible.
04Ethical considerations
Explore ethical dilemmas, boundaries, responsibilities, and the influence of power and identity. Practise thinking through complex situations with care and accountability.
05Counsellor resilience & the business of supervision
Reflect on professional wellbeing, trauma stewardship, and sustainable practice. Consider the practical boundaries and business decisions involved in offering clinical supervision.
The foundational course / Working model
The Empowered Supervisor working model
Five connected areas—Self, Lens, Relationship, Power, and Sustainability—support supervisee learning and client safety. Across the ten weeks, reflection, practice, feedback, and integration inform an ongoing cycle of development.
The Empowered Supervisor / Spring 2027
Advanced Practice
& Consultation.
12live learning hours
6biweekly sessions
8participants maximum
I’m pleased to welcome you to a closed group for colleagues ready to deepen their clinical supervision practice.
Together, we’ll work through the complexity of supervision in a small, collaborative space. The same members will meet across all six sessions, creating continuity for thoughtful consultation, experiential learning and connection.
Who can join: You have completed The Empowered Supervisor or equivalent foundational clinical supervision training. You are welcome whether you are already supervising or preparing to begin.
What I’m offering
Deeper learning. Continued connection.
- Six two-hour online sessions, held biweekly (every two weeks)
- Mondays, 12–2 p.m. Eastern Time (Toronto)
- April 19, May 3, May 17, May 31, June 14 and June 28, 2027
- Focused teaching, experiential practice and consultation on your most complex supervision dilemmas
- A closed group of no more than eight participants
- A small self-directed evaluation component, in addition to the 12 live hours
What we’ll explore together
Shaped by your feedback.
- Relational safety, difficult conversations and repair
- Parallel process, embodiment and use of self
- Dual relationships, supervising independent contractors and role boundaries
- Clinical judgement, confidence and ethical complexity
- Feminist, anti-colonial and culturally responsive supervision
- Neurodiversity and accessible supervisory relationships
- AI, regulatory responsibilities and sustainable supervision practice
I’ll continue to centre supervisee learning and client safety.
Join the Spring 2027 group.
Use the registration form to tell me about your foundational training, learning goals and availability. You’ll also find the early bird and regular tuition options in the form. I’ll follow up with payment instructions separately.
Submitting the form requests registration. Your place is confirmed after I review your foundational training and confirm payment arrangements; submission alone does not guarantee one of the eight places. Please do not include identifying client or supervisee information.
Request registration ↗Special topics in clinical supervision
Expand your perspective.
Deepen your practice.
Three focused courses connecting supervision with power, identity, and access. Designed for practising supervisors and counsellors preparing for supervisory roles, each course brings your learning into conversation with real practice.
Proposed format for each course: four weekly three-hour sessions, totalling 12 hours. Teaching, case discussion, and reflective exercises are grounded in a trauma focused, anti-oppressive approach. Dates, fees, and registration details will be confirmed for upcoming offerings.
Special topic / 12-hour course
Feminist Approaches to Clinical Supervision
Power, relationship, and accountability
Explore how feminist perspectives can inform collaborative, socially responsive supervision. Examine authority, intersectionality, emotional labour, and the ways structural inequities enter supervisory relationships.
4weekly sessions
3hours per session
01Foundations and perspectives
Feminist, intersectional, Black feminist, and decolonial perspectives; locating ourselves within supervision.
02Power in the supervisory relationship
Authority, collaboration, boundaries, transparency, and the limits of shared power within evaluative relationships.
03Feedback, evaluation, and repair
Recognizing bias, navigating disagreement, and addressing relational ruptures with accountability.
04Feminist supervision in practice
Applying learning to case discussions and developing a feminist supervision philosophy.
What you’ll develop
A supervision philosophy and practical strategies for discussing power, giving feedback, and supporting equitable learning.
Special topic / 12-hour course
Queering Clinical Supervision
Identity, possibility, and belonging
Explore supervision through queer and trans affirming perspectives. Examine how assumptions about identity, relationships, bodies, and professionalism shape supervision, and practise creating more affirming learning relationships.
4weekly sessions
3hours per session
01Queer perspectives on supervision
Queer theory, heteronormativity, cisnormativity, and assumptions about professional identity.
02Identity and disclosure
Coming out, privacy, intersectionality, and a supervisee’s right to choose what they share.
03Affirmation and accountability
Responding to misgendering, microaggressions, bias, and relational ruptures without placing the burden of education on marginalized supervisees.
04Queering supervisory practice
Reviewing agreements, case discussions, feedback, and evaluation through a queer affirming lens.
What you’ll develop
An affirming supervision agreement checklist and a plan for responding to bias within supervisory relationships.
Special topic / 12-hour course
Clinical Supervision and Neurodiversity
Access, difference, and meaningful learning
Develop supervision practices that recognize neurological differences and support accessible learning. Examine communication, sensory needs, executive functioning, and evaluation while maintaining clear ethical and clinical expectations.
4weekly sessions
3hours per session
01Understanding neurodiversity
Neurodiversity perspectives, ableism, and varied experiences of autism, ADHD, and other neurological differences.
02Designing accessible supervision
Collaborative agendas, processing time, sensory access, written feedback, and flexible participation.
03Supporting learning and evaluating practice
Distinguishing communication preferences from competence; making expectations explicit and discussing support without requiring diagnostic disclosure.
04Sustainable supervisory relationships
Exploring masking, overload, capacity, and individualized approaches through case discussion.
What you’ll develop
An accessibility conversation guide and a supervision plan tailored to learning preferences and professional responsibilities.
Participants use de-identified examples and develop practical tools to apply in supervision.
Clinical supervision
A place to pause.
Reflect. Reconnect.
Clinical work can be complex, deeply meaningful, and demanding. Supervision offers a dedicated space to think together about your work and the practitioner you are becoming.
Discuss your supervision needs ↗Clinical reflection
Explore your questions about therapeutic relationships, clinical decisions, and the responses that arise in your work.
Ethics, identity & power
Consider context, assumptions, boundaries, and systemic influences through an anti-oppressive lens.
Growth & sustainability
Connect professional development with your capacity, values, and wellbeing as a helping professional.
Connect to discuss fit, current availability, session format, fees, and any supervision requirements relevant to your practice.
Meet Pauline
Supervision with
heart and integrity.
Pauline O’Brien, RP, CCC-S · she/they
I’m a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, educator, and researcher. I created this space to support supervision practices that are compassionate, ethical, inclusive, and sustainable.
More about Pauline →Resources for your practice
Make space for reflection.
Questions to bring to supervision
Where am I feeling stuck? What assumptions am I bringing? How might power, identity, or context shape this relationship? What support do I need to practise well?
Explore clinical supervision →Develop your supervisory approach
Explore the five course modules, from defining supervision and selecting an approach to ethics, resilience, and sustainable practice.
Explore the course modules →Your next step
Let’s find the right
path for you.
Interested in the course or clinical supervision? Visit Pauline’s practice website to connect and ask about current offerings.
Connect to Pauline O’Brien, RP ↗How do I enquire about the course?
Connect through Pauline O’Brien, RP’s practice website and mention the foundational course, Advanced Practice & Consultation, or the special-topic course that interests you. Ask about the next offering, delivery format, registration, and fees.
Can I discuss supervision before committing?
Connect to share your professional context and what you are looking for. You can discuss fit, availability, fees, and the requirements that apply to your practice before arranging supervision.
Where can I confirm professional requirements?
Check directly with your regulator or professional association about the education and supervision requirements relevant to you. You can also ask Pauline about the course content and supervision arrangements.