Professional Supervision

What is Professional Supervision, and why is it so important?

Professional Supervision provides a safe, confidential space for those in the helping professions to discuss what’s happening in their work, with someone who is trained to provide this support. It is a vital part of maintaining health and wellbeing to be able to function successfully in your professional role. It helps to identify core values, to understand yourself better and to reflect on your responses to situations. Time is taken to consider things from a different perspective.

Supervision helps people to thrive in their role, to discover what they love to do, how to make good choices, have good boundaries and practice holistic self-care. One of the great flow on effects of this is the health of our workplaces.

What has encouraged organisations to recommend Professional Supervision?

There are many benefits of having supervision which include receiving support, having a non-judgmental place for accountability, a place to debrief as required, and the provision of a rich learning environment. Identification of learning needs and preferred learning style all add to the personal and professional growth and development of the supervisee.

Supervision also helps to maintain best practice and ensure professional standards and duty of care issues are being addressed. It provides a place to work through ethical dilemmas and assistance in accessing vital resources. Developing of a good relationship between the supervisor and supervisee is an important part of the process.

What sort of feedback are you getting from people who receive supervision?

A supervisee said to me recently, “I don’t know what I did before I had supervision. It just gives me so much clarity and perspective regarding situations in my work. Thank you…”.

Another supervisee at the end of a recent session said, “I hope you realise how important what you are doing is. This is life-changing. I don’t know why I didn’t see this in this situation before, it seems so clear now”.

Photo by Andrew Paton used with permission

Pastoral Supervision

A model I created to explain Professional/Pastoral Supervision. 

Supervision has a focus on your work life or profession or ministry.

We also work in the overlap between your work life and your personal life but it doesn't go so far that it becomes counselling or therapy.  

Looking at work/life balance, holistic wellbeing and confidential support is all part of supervision. 

As supervisors we also work in the overlap between your work life and your spiritual life but don't go so far that it becomes spiritual direction. 

Identifying your values, worldview, what's important to you, what you believe and how that impacts on your work and vice versa. 

The context you are in is also part of the bigger picture. 

Supervision has a focus on providing support, best practice and learning - learning around both what you do and who you are. 

Using process models we assist the supervise to engage in reflective practise and to discover your unique purpose and passion.