The Seven-Eyed Model: Why Clinical Supervision Is About More Than the Client

I first heard about the Seven-Eyed Model of supervision in the summer of 2010.

Sitting at my sunny kitchen table on Skype with my new supervisor, I felt a freshness of depth, breadth and connection in the session.

It was interpersonal, in the moment, curious and open.

And it uncovered aspects in the work that I hadn’t even considered.

I can still remember the feeling of my ears pricking up when she said she had been trained in the Seven-Eyed Model. Her skills already embodied all of this, I just hadn't realised there was a model to guide the way.

Fast forward to January 2024.

Again I’m sitting at my kitchen table but this time it’s 2am and my screen glowing in the dark.

Alongside me are my fellow trainees in the Certificate in Supervision from the Centre for Supervision and Team Development, London.

My trainers? Robin Shohet and Joan Wilmot, two of the people who helped develop and extend the Seven-Eyed Model of supervision.

Whilst I had undertaken a number of supervision trainings over the years, nothing had quite taken me into the process of the work in the way I’d hoped. So when I saw the opportunity to work with Robin and Joan, I jumped at it!

What is the Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision?

The Seven-Eyed Model is a relational and systemic approach to exploring what is happening in clinical work. It originated in Peter Hawkins’ work in the 1980s and was subsequently developed through his collaborations with Robin Shohet, Judy Ryde and Joan Wilmot, among others. The model became closely associated with Supervision in the Helping Professions, first published by Hawkins and Shohet and subsequently revised and expanded across later editions.

This approach offers multiple lenses, or seven different modes, through which a supervisor and supervisees can broaden awareness, deepen reflection, and uncover unconscious processes that influence the work. It emphasises that supervision isn’t just about the client’s case, but about the interplay between client, practitioner, supervisor, relationship, and the wider system.

What are the seven modes?

Mode 1: The client

What is the client’s story? How are they presenting? What are the observable behaviours, metaphors, body-language? How do they speak? What do they bring into the room?

Mode 2: Clinical interventions

What did the clinician actually do (or not do) in the session? What decisions, questions, techniques, silences, interventions or reframings were used? What was the rationale? What else could have been done?

Mode 3: The clinical relationship

What is going on between the clinician and client in terms of alliance, transference/counter-transference, unconscious patterns, interaction and dynamics?

Mode 4: The clinician's experience

How is the clinician responding? What do they notice in themselves emotionally, in thoughts and in the body? What triggers, assumptions, biases, internal dynamics are present?

Often, supporting the clinician to notice their own internal experience opens up what is happening at the heart of the work.

Mode 5: The supervisory relationship

What is happening “here and now” in the supervision relationship that may mirror what’s happening in the client-clinician relationship? Is there a parallel process at play?

Mode 6: The supervisor's experience

What does the supervisor notice in their own reactions, images, thoughts, emotions and body sensations? Is this a clue into the clinical work?

Mode 7: The wider context

Who or what else is relevant to the work at an organisational, cultural, ethical, societal or historical level? What systemic factors are influencing the work? What is happening in the client's context, in the clinician's context, in the organisational context and in the supervision context?

Why is the Seven-Eyed Model helpful in supervision?

When I think back to my 2010 supervisor at the kitchen table, a few things stand out: my supervisor was a great source of connection and relational insight; she was very present to me and attuned to the situation as well as herself; she would share her experience of feeling and I could see she really cared, but at the same time she was firm with boundaries and offered different perspectives.

I can now see that she was moving between modes 1, 5, 6 and 7.

What is most important about the Seven-Eyed Model of supervision?

• This approach brings the unconscious aspects into the frame with a clear, broad but flexible structure.
• It acknowledges and works with the sometimes taboo concepts of parallel process, sharing the supervisor’s experience, and the validity of the clinician’s experience, recognising that these may even be central to moving forwards with the work.
• When the supervision focus is only on the client and interventions it leaves everything else out: the wider context, the supervisory relationship, the clinical relationship and both practitioners’ wisdom and presence.

This approach to supervision honours the work and all relationships in it. It validates that suffering is not the fault of someone but happens in context. If we don’t have the structure to hold this in mind, it can get lost.

Frequently asked questions

What is the seven-eyed model of supervision?

Developed by Peter Hawkins and Robin Shohet, the Seven-Eyed Model is a relational and systemic approach to exploring what is happening in clinical work. This approach offers multiple lenses, or seven different modes, through which a supervisor and supervisees can broaden awareness, deepen reflection, and uncover unconscious processes that influence the work. It emphasises that supervision isn’t just about the client’s case, but about the interplay between client, practitioner, supervisor, relationship, and the wider system.

Who is the Seven-Eyed Model for?

The Seven-Eyed Model can be useful for just about anyone who is interested in understanding the different aspects at play in their work. In health or community settings, it can be particularly helpful for service leaders as well as both allied health and medical practitioners in the midst of clinical work: counsellors, psychotherapists, music therapists, creative arts therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers and doctors.

How is the Seven-Eyed Model different from other supervision models?

Most models focus on the case and the specifics of treatment or interventions. This approach incorporates the individuals involved, their relationships, the supervisor and the system. Where appropriate, it shines a light on and holds space for the unspoken elements of the work: psychodynamics, unconscious biases, systemic stakeholders and the impacts and emotional content of the work.

Can the Seven-Eyed Model be used in group supervision?

Yes. This is a very effective model for group supervision as it invites multiple perspectives, reflections and insights from group members, allowing for an even richer exploration of the work.

Do you have to use all seven modes in every session?

No. This is a broad structure to work within. Certain cases and presentations will invite sitting with particular modes. Sometimes we work with one mode, and other times several may be involved. Group work may allow each supervisee to offer reflections from the perspective of different modes so that all can be explored.

Minky van der Walt is a Registered Music Therapist, PACFA Clinical Member and Accredited Clinical Supervisor with 26 years of experience in clinical work and supervision. She is the founder of Tempo Therapy and Consulting and the creator of Flourish.