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Supervision guide for mental health and addiction Kaiwhakahaere/ managers
Summary
This guide aims to make sense of this and provides some general guidelines to ensure organisations and the community they serve have the benefit of effective supervision. It provides information about how to set up, review and evaluate a structured supervision process, and overviews the different requirements of the different professions that may be part of a team. The guide brings recommendations, guidelines and templates together in one place to make sense of the diverse types of supervision and professional requirements.
Key Findings
Key findings related to emerging/promising principles for engaging PWLLE:
The following principles ensure high-quality clinical supervision:
- a safe, trusting working relationship that promotes a learning alliance
- a counsellor-centered program with a culturally and contextually responsive focus
- active promotion of professional growth and development
- shared clinical responsibility ensuring that the client’s treatment goals are addressed
- a rigorous process that ensures ethical and legal responsibility
- an individualized approach based on the learning needs and style of the supervisee
- congruence with the values and philosophy of the agency
Key findings related to emerging/promising practices for engaging PWLLE:
Article was highly focused on the clinical supervision role for mental health and alcohol workforce.
Identify, engage with and understand key stakeholder needs:
- need to identify who the supervisees are likely to be, what professional affiliations they have and what their different supervision requirements may be.
- Cultural supervision should be provided by a person who has extensive lived experience within the culture and is knowledgeable about elements such as cultural values, beliefs, roles, practices and language. Ideally the supervisor will also have knowledge and experience relevant to mental health and or addiction. If there are no identified supervisors in a team, this may be the time to look externally – either in the wider organization or in the community.
It is recommended that supervisors be selected on the basis of the following criteria (remember different professions will have different requirements and this is some baseline criteria only):
- experience in the relevant sector (at least 2-5 years)
- up-to-date knowledge, skills and a willingness to keep up to date (proven though engagement with relevant professional development opportunities)
- some supervision training and or qualifications (this will depend on professional requirements of the supervisee)
- willingness to supervise and perform according to the requirements of your organization (for example the supervision policy)
- culturally competent with regard to the population
- not performing in a line management role (if a supervisor is also the supervisee’s manager, independent support should also be available)
- being willing to undergo evaluation of their supervision.
Key finding on policy:
A supervision policy should be written in consultation with the team and identified stakeholders and should:
- be consistent with the organization’s mission, goals and philosophy
- have a specific purpose or direction
- clearly support the newly developed structured supervision process
You should:
- Express importance of clinical supervision: Anticipated benefits and value of supervision to the organization, workers and clients is clearly stated
- Develop policy statements: Information related to the organization’s commitment and contributions must be communicated. In addition, the conditions of supervision must be articulated
- Communicate the aims of the policy: The goals and intended direction of the policy are communicated. These must be consistent with the organization’s philosophy.
- Obtain outcomes: State the standards the organization hopes to achieve as a result of the programme.
- Establish an evaluation protocol: The process for determining the efficacy of the programme is described
- Identify all key stakeholders in the policy: All parties affected should be included in a policy which is relevant to all professions and areas within the organization. The roles and responsibilities of these different parties also be clearly outlined.
- Clinical arrangements: Articulate the specific agreement for supervision (for example location, frequency, area of focus).
Key Findings Related to Implementation Approaches:
Forms of clinical and professional supervision
- One to one supervision
- Group supervision (authoritative models – supervisor works with individual practitioners and other group members observe, participative models – supervisor facilitates the process but group participants also contribute).
- Peer supervision (conducted by two or more practitioners
Models of supervision
- Developmental models – moving the practitioner from novice to expert
- Functional models – have supportive, educative and/or managerial components
- Training models – focus on the experience of learning
- Therapy models – use therapeutic techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy
- Kaupapa or other cultural models – use cultural concepts to support practitioners.
Limits, boundaries, ethics and regulatory guidelines
- Structured supervision process design needs to consider liability (when supervisor neglects their supervisory obligations)
- Dual relationships need to be identified in contract (ex. Supervisor is also the supervisee’s manager etc.)
- Supervisors must ensure supervisees have given their informed consent to be involved in the supervision process
