Supervision Meaning

Supervision Meaning: I had an email from a colleague from my university days. She sent me a one line email saying ‘what do you mean when you say Clinical Supervision?”. I have been pondering this question because it is such a wide field. Can I reply in a single sentence in return? Probably not, but here are some thoughts on Supervision meaning:

The RCN give this definition:

“Clinical supervision is an activity that brings skilled supervisors and practitioners together in order to reflect upon their practice. It is a time for you, as a nurse or midwife, to think about your knowledge and skills and how they may be developed to improve care.”

This is one description of Clinical supervision and it is a narrow one because it is context-dependent. This is what you might need if you are in the nursing profession. The BACP give their own definition in service of counsellors and psychotherapists. It is the requirement of many professions and professional bodies that there practitioners seek regular supervision. As a clinical supervisor however my role is not necessarily context specific. As a coach, I do not only supervise other coaches. My clients cover such a wide range of different contexts that I am seeking an all encompassing phrase to summarise this work. No small task then! Perhaps the simplest one-liner I can formulate is:

‘Clinical supervision is one professional individual caring for another professional, in the way that the recipient most needs, in order to do their job both safely and well.”

This might well mean a session covers safe-guarding of clients and addressing ethical dilemmas. Sessions might explore educational principles to enhance learning of the practitioner. Our time could involve exploring ‘working with difference’ and the unconscious bias, in order to best serve clients. Our sessions may well involve work around the cultural context or work environment in which the therapist practises. Our time will certainly involve developing the supervisory alliance. There will be exploration of the clinical case-load, exploration of transference issues or presenting parallel process. We will certainly be exploring a supervisee’s level of competence as a practitioner and fitness to practise. Encouraging the recipient of the session to acknowledge their growth and progress. There may need to be work regarding the development of a practitioner’s clinical skills and the adherence to relevant ethical frameworks with examination of interventions used.

We will inevitably engage with a variety of the supervision models: The7 Eyed Model from Hawkins and Shohet. The Cyclical Model developed by Page and Wosket. The Developmental Model from Stoltenberg and Dilwoth, employing them as they are needed. The work may take place on a one to one basis, or in a group.

Does this sound like a lot to include in Clinical Supervision? It is! And, that is why it takes time and practice to learn, embed and practise adeptly. This is also why this supervisory work must be regular. The first stipulation is that whether you think you need supervision or not, you show up. Sometimes it is when you cannot imagine what you will bring to the session that the real work is done. This can be the session where ‘the thing that lurks beneath’, in your subconscious, surfaces, and then we are stronger practitioners for this.

So this is when someone asks Supervision Meaning? I shall say henceforth: ‘Clinical supervision is one professional individual caring for another professional, in the way that the recipient most needs, in order to do their job safely and well”. It is a complex series of interventions to practise. It differs client to client and session to session. It is also a very joyous and rewarding alliance to design.

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