Catharsis in Coaching Supervision: Helping Coaches Release Unexpressed Emotions

Coaching is often perceived as calm, composed, and measured. Coaches are trained to listen deeply, remain present, and hold space for their clients with empathy and professionalism. But beneath that composed exterior, coaches are still human—and like all humans, they feel.

They may feel frustrated, powerless, inspired, irritated, sad, or elated in response to their client’s story. 

Yet these feelings often go unspoken. After all, the coaching space isn’t about the coach, is it?

And so begins a slow accumulation. 

A quiet burden of unacknowledged emotion, carried between sessions and over time. This is where supervision becomes not just a reflective process but a restorative one—a space where unexpressed emotions can be brought to the surface, witnessed, and released.

This is the territory of the cathartic intervention.

The Weight of What’s Unsaid

Coaches are often holding more than they realise. 

They may carry irritation towards a client who repeatedly refuses to take ownership. They may feel subtly diminished by a client who dominates the space or intellectualises every question. They may absorb sorrow, stress, or helplessness without ever naming it.

These emotions don’t disappear. Instead, they can show up as fatigue, detachment, stuckness in sessions, or even a creeping sense of imposter syndrome. 

A coach may begin to wonder: Why does this client drain me so much? or Why do I dread this session?

Often, the answer lies in what hasn’t yet been voiced.

The Purpose of Catharsis in Supervision

Supervision is not therapy, but it can be deeply therapeutic. 

Catharsis in supervision is not about venting or collapsing into emotional overwhelm—it’s about giving voice to what has been suppressed, in a safe, supportive space, so that the coach can return to their work lighter, clearer, and more connected to themselves.

This might look like a coach finally saying, “I’m so frustrated with this client and I feel guilty for it,” or “I just want to shout, ‘Stop making excuses!’”

The role of the supervisor is to hold the space for this expression without judgment, inviting the coach to meet their emotions rather than avoid them.

Speaking the Unsayable

Sometimes, a single question from the supervisor opens the door:

• “What do you wish you could say to this client but haven’t?”
• “What’s the feeling that sits underneath all of this?”

In other moments, a more embodied or imaginative approach might help. The Gestalt two-chair technique, for instance, allows the coach to voice the unspoken by placing the client in an empty chair and expressing freely. No consequences. No professionalism to uphold. Just the truth of the moment.

This simple act of naming and expressing what’s been held back can be transformative. Coaches often say afterwards: “I didn’t realise how much that was affecting me.”

The Supervisor’s Role in Cathartic Work

Facilitating catharsis requires sensitivity, timing, and trust. It cannot be forced or rushed. It arises when the space is safe enough and the supervisor is present enough to notice when something is being held back.

Supervisors may also share their own felt sense—not as a projection, but as an invitation:

• “As you speak about this client, I notice a heaviness in the room. Do you feel it too?”

This kind of relational presence models openness, and often gives the coach the permission they didn’t know they needed.

Why It Matters

The release of unexpressed emotion in supervision has a restorative effect. The coach feels reconnected to themselves. Their thinking clears. Their relationship with the client often shifts without needing to ‘do’ anything differently.

It reminds them that their humanity is not a liability in coaching—it is their greatest asset, provided they know how to tend to it.

Catharsis isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s a quiet sigh, a tear that catches them by surprise, or a moment of realisation that softens something inside. But whatever its form, it matters.

Because what we carry affects how we show up.

Conclusion

Supervision offers a space not only to think and reflect, but to feel, express, and let go. The cathartic intervention is not a technique—it’s an invitation back to wholeness.

So if your supervisee is circling a topic with increasing tightness, if their language becomes flat or strained, or if you sense something unsaid just beneath the surface—pause.

Ask them gently:

“Is there something you’re holding in that wants to be let out?”

And when it comes, don’t fix it. Just hold it. That’s where the restoration begins.