Description
This book is about using a unique mindfulness-based approach to supervision that is both framework and practice driven. The Mindfulness-Based Supervision (MBS) framework is based on a weaving metaphor of ‘the warp and the weft’. The warp is consistent and consists of four key threads: the mindful container; the mutual relational inquiry; the use of pauses and space; and the mindfulness-based theoretical and pedagogical background. The weft is the threads that are woven through the warp and have different colours and textures depending on what is being created. The MBS approach can be applied in a range of ways, within different contexts and settings, to supervisees with different developmental needs and using a variety of teaching approaches. The book also looks at how mindfulness-based practitioners can apply this approach in other areas of their work, including supervision in areas such as psychotherapy and education.
Authors
Alison Evans is co-founder and Supervision Lead of the Mindfulness Network (MN), a mindfulness training charity. She is a member of the core training team within the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, with a focus on Mindfulness-based Supervision (MBS). She was previously Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter and a mindfulness-based therapist and trainer.
Pamela Duckerin has worked in public mental health since 1984, first in occupational therapy and later as a Dialectical Behaviour Therapist and then a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. She joined the training team at Bangor University in 2015 and has taught on their masters in mindfulness programme for nine years. She also offers mindfulness-based supervision through the Mindfulness Network.
Alison and Pamela have collaborated on the development and delivery of Mindfulness-Based Supervision (MBS) for several years.
Content
Introduction and welcome
Part One: Introduction to MBS
1. Overview of the MBS framework
2. The theory informing MBS
Part Two: The MBS Framework
3. The container
4. Mutual inquiry
5. The space
6. The petals
7. The belt
Part Three: Using the MBS Framework
8. … with culture in mind
9. … within workplace mindfulness
10. … through the developmental journey
11. … to respond to challenging, complex and sensitive issues
12. … in group supervision
13. … within supra-vision
14. … with you as a MBS supervisor in mind
AppendicesÂ
A. MBS contracting conversation checklist
B. Sample MBS contract
C. Sample information sheet for recording supervision
D. Sample consent form for recording supervision
E. MBS self-report competency checklist
Afterword
Details
Publisher:Â Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd
ISBN: 9781803883755
Publication date: 28th May 2025
Pages: 288
Debbie Hu (verified owner) –
Mindfulness-Based Supervision and Mentoring is like a calm harbour, offering a place of steady, compassionate presence in which to explore the essence of supervision. Alison Evans and Pamela Duckerin weave the metaphor of warp and weft into the MBS framework, bringing together both structure and flexibility, alongside theory, practice, and cultural sensitivity. Each page carries warmth and kindness, guiding the reader with steady breath and clear awareness, walking alongside them in growth and reflection. It is a book that fosters a genuine and quietly powerful connection.
bgerber7 –
The relational space in which one can safely reflect, explore, learn and grow is at the heart of mindfulness-based supervision and mentoring. Drawing on their extensive experience, knowledge and passion, Alison and Pamela have developed a framework that creatively draws these aspects together. A beautiful balance between containment and spaciousness permeates this offering, and this sense is further conveyed throughout the book. Their work rests on the foundation and ethics of mindfulness, is underpinned by practice, informed by research and infused with the warmth of compassionate care and wise counsel.
We are invited to reflect, inquire and practice along the way, while skillfully being guided through the different components and applications of the framework. Relevant examples add a sense of aliveness. Personal bias, prejudice and blind spots are respectfully considered. Diversity, inclusivity and trauma-sensitivity are foregrounded, and adaptations honouring different contexts and communities are encouraged.
Alison and Pamela have gifted mindfulness-based teachers, trainers and supervisors with an invaluable and inspiring resource. This contribution will greatly assist in raising awareness of the significant role that supervision and mentoring can play in supporting the teaching of mindfulness in these challenging times.
Barbara Gerber, Supervision Lead, Senior Teacher, Trainer, Institute for Mindfulness South Africa (IMISA).
willemkuyken –
Mindfulness has become mainstream. This landmark book ensures its integrity and supports its evolution. Richly informed by theory and research, steeped in lived experience, and eminently practical, it offers a comprehensive and embodied framework for supervision and mentoring. Alison Evans and Pamela Duckerin bring clarity and depth to the important work of supervision and mentoring, articulating a model that supports teachers’ learning and development. In so doing, it strengthens the potential of mindfulness-based interventions to promote mental health and human flourishing.
Mindfulness-Based Supervision and Mentoring uses the metaphors of warp and weft and dance—more than poetic devices, they are nuanced ways of understanding how supervision can meet people where they are, adapt to different needs and circumstances, and respond to wider systemic and cultural issues.
The authors’ embodiment, extensive training and experience manifest in the book’s depth, rigour, inclusiveness, compassion, humility and wisdom. This is a book that every mindfulness teacher and supervisor should read—and reread. I have a shelf where I keep a small set of seminal mindfulness books—this book has taken a well-earned space there.
Willem Kuyken
Ritblat Professor of Mindfulness and Psychological Science
University of Oxford
fritskoster.nl –
I can wholeheartedly recommend ‘Mindfulness-Based Supervision and Mentoring’ as a ‘jewel of richness’ to all teachers and professionals working with mindfulness as a profound source of inspiration, for deepening your own understanding and for improving skills in sharing the gems of wisdom and compassion with others.