Supervision for Social Workers and anyone who helps or heals.

Supervision is a confidential space for to support your professional and personal development as we yarn & deeply reflection on our selves and our practices (which is the combination of our skills, knowledge, ethics and choices), and to strengthen our sustainability and well-being practices.

It has can be known by different names depending on your role, training, workplace, frameworks, theories, and politics i.e. clinical supervision, external supervision, reflective supervision, professional supervision, practice supervision, reflective supervision, co-reflection, co-reflection sessions, supervision sessions, professional coaching, professional mentoring, work mentorship, external consultation, external case consultation, external coaching, off-site supervision, peer supervision, collaborative supervision, debriefing session, social work supervision.

• Anyone who helps and cares for others in both paid and/or unpaid roles
• Students including from disciplines of counselling, social work, community services, social sciences, human services, and psychology.
• Individuals including new grads or those navigating their early career, peer workers, activists, human service professionals, health workers, volunteers, carers and community leaders.
• Allied health workers
• Individuals, teams, and/or groups engaging in For-Purpose work regardless if they’re in government, corporate, not-for-profit, private practice, or the community.

  Some supervisees I’ve worked with have included: Wayside Chapel, Lou’s Place, MYAN NSW, Greens NSW, multiple teams at Legal Aid NSW, Women’s Justice Network, Defense, Women’s Health Centres, Barnardos Australia, Uniting, BRISSC, Aboriginal Legal Service, and people in private practice.

  I have supported people in roles such as Students, Peer Workers, Counsellors, Social Work Students, Social Workers, Lawyers from CLCs, Team Leaders, Area Managers, Senior Lawyers, Community Workers, Youth Workers, Lived Experience and Living Experience Workers, Case Workers, Case Managers, Headspace, Community Development Workers, Activists, Advocates, Politicians, Social Workers, Psychologists, Counsellors, Relationship Coaches, Relationship Counsellors, Project Officers, Intake Officers, Case Workers, Drop-In Workers, Group Workers, Mutual Aid, Volunteer… what ever your title or role is as long as you’re helping, caring and/or healing people I’m here to support you. 

Absolutely yes!

I have comfortably supported people in roles such as Students, Peer Workers, Counsellors, Social Work Students, Social Workers, Lawyers from CLCs, Team Leaders, Area Managers, Senior Lawyers, Community Workers, Youth Workers, Lived Experience and Living Experience Workers, Case Workers, Case Managers, Headspace, Community Development Workers, Activists, Advocates, Politicians, Social Workers, Psychologists, Counsellors, Relationship Coaches, Relationship Counsellors, Project Officers, Intake Officers, Case Workers, Drop-In Workers, Group Workers, Mutual Aid, Volunteer… what ever your title or role is as long as you’re helping, caring and/or healing people I’m here to support you. 

I use an intergrative model that uses elements from multiple and/or use different ones depending on an individual or team’s needs in the moment including:

• Gibb’s reflective cycle (Gibbs 1998)
• Jasper’s ERA cycle (Jasper 2013)
• Seven Eyed Supervision Model because it’s systemic and relational
• Developmental Model
• Bells That Ring Supervision Model –  it’s a group supervision model that is systemic and reflective (Proctor 1997)
• Process Model of Supervision (Hawkins & Shohet 2012)

References:

Gibbs, G. (1998). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.
Hawkins, P., & Shohet, R. (2012). Supervision in the helping professions: Supervision in context. Open University Press.
Jasper, M. (2013). Beginning reflective practice. Andover: Cengage Learning.
Proctor, K. (1997). The bells that ring: A process for group supervision. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 18, 217–220.

• You want to develop and deepen your professional identity in theories & frameworks for specific issues, to exploring to figure out what kinds of roles and work best fits for you.
• You want to process the experiences and feelings that come up from your work.
• You want to be acknowledged and supported in the emotional load of trying to help in often complex and unfair systems.
• You want to share the weight of hearing and holding onto clients’ stories of trauma and distress so it doesn’t feel so heavy on you as only one person. 
• You want to explore potential challenges to your work and/or professional growth.
• You want to develop greater self-awareness, critical reflection skills, self-esteem and confidence in your work.
• You want to develop your clinical competence, skills, and/or practice framework.
• You want to challenge your existing thinking or way of working.
  This one is common for people wanting to leave more rigid and/or medical roles due to political and ethical reasons i.e. moving from an individual and neoliberal model of mental health/recovery to more liberation practices. 
• You want to grow your understanding, skills and knowledge to explore possible solutions to issues for your clients, cases, area of practice, or workplace issues.
• You want to receive emotional and psychological support, validation, a feeling of belonging and solidarity, and feel seen and understood.
• You’re feeling isolated, burnout, stressed or feeling like you want to leave your current job, team or profession.
• You want someone to support your unpack ethical and moral dilemmas.  
• You want to talk about experiences and concepts like moral injury, vicarious trauma/vicarious resilience, compassion fatigue, and/or burnout.
  
  It can also be as simple as:
• You are feeling stuck and unhappy in your work, or
• Nothing is wrong you just have external supervision as a regular part of your routine as park of your self-care and best practice toolkit to be able to work sustainably. 

Best practice is once a fortnight to once a month. It’s in my experience that most workplaces are willing to pay for monthly supervision. For new graduates or people really early career fortnightly is recommended.

However, I recognise it’s a significant cost investment upfront (even though it’s a tax deductible expense) as I also participate in my own external supervision with multiple supervisors for different specialties. 

We can talk about your specific situation and work out what would be best for you.