Supervision.

Reasons for consulting a supervisor

Practitioner Professional Development

The professional practitioner is in an ever-evolving state of development and becoming. The supervisor-practitioner relationship can potentially be the crucible wherein the practitioner discovers and explores elements of their work.

Practical Practitioner Guidance

The supervisor-practitioner relationship is an appropriate and confidential forum where different aspects of practice can be thought through. Examples are: perspectives on assessment, client beginnings, process note recording, breaks (holiday, sabbatical, illness, or bereavement etc.), multi-disciplinary considerations with challenging clients, appropriate communication with other professionals where referral is necessary, and client-work endings.

Professional Accountability

As with any profession, it is important that practitioners are accountable. Because many practitioners work independently and the nature of their work is confidential, many find it beneficial to appoint an external supervisor and thereby create a forum for reporting on their work. The supervisor offers a vital value system for the functioning of the practitioner-client alliance.

Competency Evaluation

Competence has many definitions and meanings depending on approach. Our approach is that competence develops through experience and the extent of an individual to learn, assimilate, adapt and function effectively. A practitioner in a supervisory relationship can explore their own ability, knowledge, and skill to negotiate their way through on-going evaluation. This reflective process protects the practitioner from taking on work beyond their current competence.

Legal Liability

This is a complex area and needs to be carefully considered, and the supervision forum is an appropriate space for this. In addition to subscribing to a good professional civil liability insurance, it is advisable that the practitioner be appropriately supervised in order for them to demonstrate that they adhere to good practice.

Ethical Duty

Practitioners seeking supervision create a dual ethical duty. Firstly, the practitioner consults another professional to evaluate and comment on the practitioner's evolving proficiency and this supports the on-going development of the practitioner. Secondly, the supervisor becomes an external mediator in encouraging the practitioner to think about complex situations which may occur in the practitioner-client alliance, and thereby protect the client from having poor practice lived out on them.

Duty of Care

The supervisor's duty of care is to the practitioner, whereas the practitioner's is to the the client. The supervisor also has an ethical duty of care to the client. The supervisor's respected and competent opinion is important for the interpersonal development of the relationship alliance between practitioner and client. A functioning duty of care from supervisor and practitioner also helps support the client's own intrapersonal communication.

Practitioner Well-Being

The supervisory relationship is a safe forum where concerns, challenges, and worries can be confidentially shared and stored. Where the practitioner has a heavy case load, the supervisor is able to get the practitioner to think about their own well-being and to pace themselves accordingly. Working with limiting belief systems can also begin to affect the practitioner adversely.