Supervison in Social Work

Supervision in social work: Social work this is the most obvious context in which to find Clinical supervision. Whilst it is probably one of the most essential places to find supervision. Social work is by no means the only place where clinical supervision is found.

The overseeing of a provider or therapeutic practitioners work in supervision is one of the most joyous elements of my professional world. Clients come from a multitude of disciplines and a multitude of work cultures. This is what makes it such diverse and enjoyable work. It is enormous fun. Whether it takes place in groups or one to one sessions, the nature of the work is more collegiate than that of direct work with clients. These practitioners I work with have all accessed huge self awareness in order to qualify and practise in their own right already. Thus we share a common level of understanding about the implications of an action or intervention. We build trust in measuring risk and exploring challenges. We both have opportunity a plenty to laugh at ourselves when we share mistakes we have nearly made or things that really didn’t go to plan.

I feared that supervision would feel like ‘policing’ another’s work and their client base. In my supervisory practice I have never yet felt this top down authority, even though I do know I have this authority and I do know I would use it if I needed to. What happens instead is that a supervisee will self-identify where there are doubts, mistakes, safe-guarding risks regarding their clients. It is in the gentle exploration of what the supervisee brings, that we can decide together the situations that need attending to or notice what had been missed. It is the same in supervision in social work as it is in supervision with a SENCO.

There is a huge level of trust that is developed over the duration of a supervisory relationship. The supervisee risks sharing what has not worked. The supervisor holds a huge amount of trust in the supervisee to be able to self-reflect and self regulate their case load. I think the supervisory relationship is a relationship unlike any I have ever experienced. There is genuine respect that flows back and forth between provider and recipient. There is a warmth that grows as a result of owning our vulnerabilities. There is a trust that to name a fear is merely to open the doorway to joint exploration and problems solving. There is laughter as each of us catches ourselves engaging with that belief about ourselves that no longer serves us, again.

What I really like about supervision is it assumes the competence of the supervisee. Whilst If there is any hint that this is unfounded, a supervisor will be on it. To operate assuming the competence of the person you design this working alliance with, is an enormously empowering stance which gives a flexibility and a fluidity to the relationship. I believe that this fundamental trust enables potential problems or risks to be flagged up before, rather than after they happen. This trust saves lives.

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