Supervision as a Reflective Educational Space for Developing Self-Regulation and Professional Identity

In the current context of professional training in educational and psychosocial fields, emphasis is progressively shifting from the exclusive acquisition of technical competencies toward the development of professionals’ reflective, self-regulatory, and identity-related capacities. Although traditionally established as a mechanism for monitoring and guiding practice, supervision is increasingly recognized for its formative potential; however, its explicit role as an educational space that supports self-regulation and the formation of professional identity remains insufficiently conceptualized, especially outside clinical settings. This paper proposes a reconceptualization of supervision as a reflective educational space grounded in the paradigm of integrative psychotherapy, approached as an epistemological and relational reference rather than as a clinical intervention. Supervision is examined as a structured relational framework that supports self-regulation, guided reflection, and the integration of professional experience into professional identity development. A central contribution of the paper is the introduction of the concept of reflective holding, defined as a non-clinical educational function of supervision that integrates relational containment, guided reflection, and the support of self-regulation. Building on this concept, the paper proposes a coherent conceptual framework that articulates the relationship between supervision, reflection, self-regulation, and professional identity in educational and psychosocial contexts. The implications of this framework are discussed for initial and continuing training, mentoring, and professional development, with a focus on the role of reflective supervision in supporting professional sustainability and the ethical delimitation of practice.