Professional Supervision

• is a formal arrangement for professionals to work regularly with someone who is experienced in counselling and supervision.
• is a process to maintain adequate standards of professionalism and a method of consultancy to widen the horizons of an experienced practitioner.
• is a means of passing on skills, attitudes and knowledge to newer members of a profession.
• ensures that clients receive adequate support whilst a trainee is training.

The supervisor's task is to work together with the supervisee to ensure and develop the efficiency of the supervisee/client relationship. The method by which this takes place is one where the supervisor overseas the supervisee through critically observing and monitoring the supervisees actions and behaviour. The supervisor offers critically constructive feedback and guidance throughout this process.

In brief, a supervisor's role is to ensure accountability, conduct training, and offer professional support.

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to professional supervision
2. Different supervision models
3. Professionalism, ethics, and legal concerns
4. Different approaches to supervision
5. Supervision for different professions
6. Organisational considerations
7. Managing supervision

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

• Understand what is meant by professional supervision, why it is necessary, benefits and disadvantages;
• Define and compare different models of supervision including reciprocal mentoring, group supervision, self supervision, and agency supervision;
• Develop an understanding of professional issues of supervision including confidentiality, ethics, quality control, and legal concerns;
• Understand and define different approaches to supervision including psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioural, solution-orientated, process-orientated and narrative methods;
• Understand some of the different approaches applied to supervision for different professional groups;
• Understand the different requirements of providing supervision in organisations where most employees are counsellors, organisations where counsellors are in the minority, and organisations of non-counsellors;
• Identify the different managerial components of the supervision process including budgeting, monitoring frequency of supervision, selection of supervisors, and the question of standardisation.

• Explain the concept of professional supervision;
• Describe the process of a one-on-one case study of professional supervision;
• Determine the pros and cons of professional supervision;
• Define different supervision models including reciprocal mentoring, group supervision, self supervision and agency supervision;
• Identify ethical concerns to be considered in supervisor/supervisee and supervisee/client relationships;
• Consider the importance of confidentiality and duty of care;
• Identify main legal concerns arising from supervision;
• Discuss problems caused by treating supervision as a form of quality control.
• Explore similarities and differences between psychoanalytic, cognitive behavioural, solution oriented, process oriented and narrative approaches to professional supervision;
• Identify key problems associated with matching theory to practice in supervision.