Professional Supervision
Professional Supervision is an empowering process that fuels your journey towards excellence and responsibility. It is a pathway to building resilience and achieving ongoing growth and support in your professional endeavours. The purpose of professional supervision is unequivocally to support and enhance practice and to elevate practitioner well-being. Supervision ensures a safe space for practitioners to thoroughly explore and reflect on workplace issues and their professional and personal impact.
About Me
As a Trainee Professional Supervisor, I cater to a diverse group of supervisees, including those who are Deaf, Deafblind, or new to working with individuals with neurodivergent conditions. I also serve as a Qualified Supervisor of Mental Health, supporting individuals through public funds like the Access to Work (AtW) scheme and Direct Payments. These services are also available for private sourcing and payment.
I take a very natural approach with all my clients; I allow the client to lead the sessions but be guided by me; this could be in terms of prompting topics and timings. It is essential that the client feels heard and gains something from each session, no matter how big or small.
I like to think that each session is their time to tell their story; I am the listener but also the one that helps them hear." what I understand from their story." My key focus is to maintain a safe environment, allow all my clients' stories to be heard and understood, and allow them to discuss their stories' journey with them. I like involving my clients in more interactive ways of working; it does not only work for some; some do not even like to try, but often, many find it helps them offload in ways words could not.
Something I have very much learnt in self-reflecting agrees with a client on a non-verbal communication que they can use when they want more time often; this could be as simple as saying to them if you are finding it hard to say anything, just put hands to getter and ill know, you need time to process and thinks" Non-verbal communication is 80% of what we do, but empowering others to use it as a tool when and if they need it, I believe is an incredible thing.
About Supervision
Supervision takes different forms, and various terms describe the various types of supervision. I explore some benefits from three approaches:
Normative Supervision
Ethical or professional issues may arise in real life, and it can be challenging to identify a clear path forward. Talking about these issues with a supervisor can help clarify the problem and determine appropriate courses of action. Learning how to make complex decisions benefits the supervisor's development. Importantly, this also provides significant organisational benefits by reducing the risk of mistakes and learning from those that occur, thereby improving overall service quality and efficiency.
During normative (or 'practice') supervision, the supervisor offers support and opportunities for the supervisee to reflect on and review their work. By sharing their experience and knowledge, the supervisor supports the supervised development and decision-making. This support enables the supervisees to develop and overcome challenges, making them feel valued and supported. This can improve the quality and speed of their care, benefiting their team and service users.
Formative (Professional) Supervision
Regular formative (or 'professional') supervision is designed to positively impact a supervisee's skills and career progression. It can help them identify professional development opportunities, improve their confidence and critical thinking, know when and how to seek colleague support and feedback and monitor their development.
Encouraging a supervisee to establish and contemplate their development goals is crucial for promoting a culture of ongoing development. This process enables them to recognise deficiencies in their knowledge or training and devise effective strategies to address these shortcomings. By taking this approach, the supervisee gains a heightened awareness of their professional scope and areas for improvement, which ultimately contributes to safe and proficient practice.
Restorative (Personal) Supervision
"Personal supervision, also known as restorative supervision, creates a safe environment for the person being supervised to reflect on and express feelings of failure or concerns about their decision-making. This helps them seek support and guidance and develop strategies to handle those feelings, ultimately building resilience and integrating their learning from experiences."
Regularly reflecting on achievements and affirming positive practices can help improve confidence and job satisfaction. When done consistently, restorative supervision can create a positive and supportive working environment, build team trust, and reduce workplace pressures such as stress, anxiety, and burnout. Importantly, it plays a crucial role in driving service improvements within teams. Emphasising the impact of restorative supervision on service improvements can motivate and inspire the audience, letting them know that their efforts contribute to improving the service.
My Role...
As A Professional Supervisor, I support supervisees in exploring and discovering various aspects of their professional practice. This includes but is not limited to, reflecting on the decisions they make in their daily professional activities and assessing the emotional impact. I also help them navigate complex relationships with colleagues and clients and build confidence and self-awareness. We will acknowledge and celebrate your practice's positive moments and significant achievements.
The Purpose...
The purpose of Supervision is to provide supervisees with dedicated time to reflect on their practice under guidance. Doing so allows them to step back and explore issues in their work. In Professional Supervision, the focus is often on the dynamics of interactions, including the emotional and psychological problems that can arise. Professional Supervision offers the supervisee a safe and protected space to discuss complex work issues. It allows professionals to explore, discuss, and reflect upon the problems, emotions, and dilemmas that can originate from their work and caseload. It encourages skills development, fosters a deeper understanding of the supervisee's work, and allows them to reflect upon the distress and emotional trauma they can encounter in their professional domain.
Getting Started...
The initial session is free, and from then on, the cost for each session will cover the venue, travel, and session rate. If remote, no venue or travel is charged. As agreed, sessions can occur as often as you feel you need, but it is recommended that sessions be between four and six weeks. At any point, these sessions can be reviewed in frequency and duration. The fee agreed is a reduced professional supervision fee whilst in training; this fee may likely be increased once qualified.
A supervision contract is vital as it helps establish ground rules and clear boundaries for the supervisor and the supervisee. It lays a good foundation for developing a collaborative, safe, productive, and empowering relationship that fosters engagement and commitment.
The contract will outline and establish ground rules, such as session frequency, length, venue, punctuality, cancellation, topics to be discussed, and organisational and professional goals for the supervision; it will also include accountability and the boundaries of confidentiality.
It will also explore the supervisees' and the supervisors' hopes, expectations, wishes, and goals for the supervision and what these indicate about the best way for the supervisory pair to work together. It is valuable to know what is discussed and how it is discussed. Proper negotiation of each clause lays the foundations for a collaborative partnership (a fundamental characteristic of a successful supervision relationship) in which the parties work together, share the responsibility for learning and attend to process and content issues.