Clinical supervision is a process that is complex and can have many benefits at an organisational and professional level. It can have different meanings for health professionals, depending on a range of factors. In this course you will have an opportunity to explore your own understanding of clinical supervision.
There are a range of definitions that describe the process of clinical supervision. Think about how you would define the process of clinical supervision.
Instruction Select the arrows to read definitions of clinical supervision.
'a working alliance between practitioners in which they aim to enhance clinical practice, fulfil the goals of the employing organisation and the profession and meet ethical, professional and best practice standards of the organisation and the profession, while providing personal support and encouragement in relation to professional practice'1
'an oasis or a fireside; a place where a weary traveller can take some respite and nourishment to continue on his or her professional journey'2
'an opportunity for a professional to change a story about a working encounter by holding a conversation with another professional'3
'a structured, formal process that enables (health professionals) to discuss their work with an experienced practitioner, trained to facilitate clinical supervision. This discussion should be a guided reflection on current practice and should be used to learn from experience…'4
Supervision means different things to different people. It's a good idea to talk to your supervisor/supervisee about what it means to you. This will help shape and guide your supervision journey, identify areas for learning and exploration, focus on the areas you are interested in and use a format that suits you both.
Ideally a supervisory relationship is separate to a line management role as they serve different purposes. Sometimes clinicians feel uncomfortable raising challenging issues with a manager who is responsible for their performance and employment. In many cases line managers also act as a supervisor for clinicians and this can still work very well when both parties understand their roles and responsibilities and have set up a supervision agreement or contract. The role of line managers and supervisors will be explored more in the Advanced Clinical Supervision course.
Instruction Listen to allied health professionals who have been involved in a clinical supervision relationship talk about the benefits of clinical supervision and the consequences of poor or absent supervision.
Tanya Lehmann, Principal Consultant, Allied Health CHSALHN: I think supervision gives people an opportunity to pause and to reflect and that doesn’t come naturally to a lot of us because we’re busy and we’re trying to fit a lot of things in. So it creates the space to pause, to reflect, to really think and to do that in a way that’s quite constructive. So it’s balanced. It’s not about beating yourself up, 'I should have done this, I should have done that,' because we can all do that. It’s about trying to be balanced and celebrate successes as well as get some nourishment from someone who can support us along our journey and provide new insights into what we could do differently to improve.
Kelly Schulze, Senior Clinical Educator, Occupational Therapy: I found it very beneficial to be able to bring issues that I’ve reflected on and it’s made me need to do that prior to coming to supervision and to be able to prioritise the issues that I need to talk about, to be quite purposeful in that in being able to prioritise what’s important. To be able to work through those issues with a third party who may not necessarily be involved in that situation and to get a new perspective on that issue. So that’s helped me then to go back to my work and to be able to utilise those insights that I’ve had through supervision.
Tracey Kroon, Head of Department, Occupational Therapy, Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre: Certainly the ability to debrief, feeling support, feeling a safe environment to be able to talk about things that might have happened during their day that was either challenging or confronting or difficult.
Kelly Schulze, Senior Clinical Educator, Occupational Therapy: I think it’s a very good opportunity for supervisees to bring a whole range of issues. So whether that be relationships at work, client-related issues, issues to do with the service or the model of service that they’re using, as well as any clinical issues, to a conversation that can allow them to unpack those different things, look at it from a different perspective and to be quite free and open to be honest in that conversation.
Fiona Murray, Advanced Clinical Lead Podiatrist: I think absent supervision, people can become very isolated. Certainly within my own profession, you often don’t work in big teams, so you can be an isolated practitioner and if you’ve got nobody to bounce ideas off or check or vent to, you can become very isolated, you can get into burn-out very quickly. But if you are an isolated practitioner, having somebody of your own profession that you can actually go, 'I didn’t know whether I did this right,' or, 'I’m struggling with this. I need another viewpoint.' Particularly if you’re in a small community and you’re seeing the same patients over and over again, you can stop thinking about what you’re doing. You just do it by rote. If you’ve got that opportunity and supervision to talk that out, it’s protection.
Tracey Kroon, Head of Department, Occupational Therapy, Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre: From a supervisor benefit, I’ve found lots actually. I think it’s a really good opportunity to reflect on your own practice. I’ve been inspired by supervisees over the years where they’ve just – by their enthusiasm or the way that they’ve looked at things and sort of challenged me to think outside the box and outside of my frame of reference. So I actually think I’ve got just as much out of supervisor sessions as often the supervisee because it’s just bringing a different perspective.