What to look for in supervision

10/4/2024

We need to look for supervisors at different stages of our career: first seeing people in placements, graduating into professional practice, changing supervisors after 5 years or so, when your supervisor retires or moves….there are all sorts of reasons. So what is helpful to think about?

The obvious question is: Do I feel comfortable with them, do I feel I can trust them? Then there are some more practical questions;

• Do I want to see someone face to face or on line?
• Do I want them to share my modality or come from a different one and offer me a different perspective?
• Do they share my sense of humour? Is this important to you?
• Do they live or work in the same community? Is it OK if they know some of the people, other professionals?
• Do I want someone older than me, more experienced than me, similar age to me?
• Do I want  to work with someone of the same gender? Would it be a good challenge to work with someone of a different gender?
• Would I prefer someone from the same race/community as me?  Is that actually an option? Sadly this one is often not an option as the profession still does not reflect the community we serve well enough.
• Are they more practical or more theoretical? Do you want someone to help you link theory with practice and understand what is happening that way or would you prefer someone who can support you to find good practical steps forward?
• Do I feel that they will challenge me in a supportive way?

In the early days you probably want to find someone from the same or a similar modality. Also look for someone who listens without judging our interrupting, is willing to listen to what has been going on for you. Someone who is able to go with you in thinking situations and experiences through, to think creatively and let you think out loud - experimenting with different options. If they just want to tell you what the right thing to do is you may want to think about whether this is the right person for you.   It can be really helpful to find someone who is willing to get to know you and what you are bringing to this profession. So they have an understanding of what you are good at, what your offer is, and how you want to develop.

The three elements of supervision are accountability, education and support. Accountability to the profession to work within an ethical framework. And if you work within an organisation you are accountable to it’s values and practices. Education is learning from ideas and experiences, their reading and sharing your own reading and training and how it impacts your practice. Support is about working through difficulties, thinking through the issues that arise and feeling supported in this difficult profession.

Another way of looking at it is to think about supervision as a process of learning, reflection and growth. We can’t  cover all of these things in any one session but over time it is important for the supervisor to think about them all.