Increased demand and uncertainty
 Changes to job/employment security
 Service impacts
 Personal impacts
 Trust boards urged to act on staff
wellbeing (HSJ, 28 – 11 -12)
 Professional role shift to broader roles:
Supervision, leadership, consultancy

Clinical task is to support/restore wellbeing in others (individual, groups,
families, teams)
 Restorative role in supervision (Inskipp &
Proctor, 1993)
 Focus on well-being of supervisee in
order to support and care for others
 Supervisor’s well-being and support is
also important

Complexity of workload
 Size of caseloads
 Understaffing
 Job insecurity
 Lack of supportive manager
 Poor role clarity
 Lack of social support
(Burrows & McGrath 2000, Gardner &
O’Driscoll, 2007)

Social support
 Autonomy
 Feedback
 Good supervisory relationship (SR)
(Bakker, et al 2005)
 Self-awareness/monitoring
 Preserving a balance between
personal/professional life (Coster et al 97)

Supportive functions of supervision
 Managing workload, balance
 Space to reflect, self-monitor
 Regular, balanced feedback integral
Shown to buffer stress (Bakker, et al 2005)
 High-quality SR (poor SRs have
detrimental effect)

 The
SR is crucial to effective
supervision
 Not all SRs are effective
 Poor SRs can be damaging (Ladany,
2011)
 Limited research into what contributes
to effective SRs
6 pieces of major research on the quality of
the SR
 Beinart (2002) – mixed methodology 




supervisees
Palomo (2004) – quantitative study - Supervisory
Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ)- supervisees
Frost (2004) – Longitudinal IPA study – supervisors
and supervisees
Clohessy (2008) – Grounded Theory study –
supervisors
Pearce (2010) – quantitative study – Supervisory
Relationship Measure (SRM) – supervisors
Borsay (2012) – qualitative study –supervisees
8
attempts to manage problems in the SR

Core qualities of effective SRs:
› boundaried & safe
› supportive
› respectful
› invested/committed
› open & trusting
› collaborative
› sensitive to supervisee needs
› educative/evaluative
› Influenced by context
9

Importance of establishing a safe base

Influence of context
› Individual characteristics of
supervisee/supervisor (personal stressors,
cultural characteristics)
› Team/service (contributions
to/demands/constraints)
10

Supervisor investment in supervision & in the
supervisee

Supervisee openness to learning &
development

Flow of supervision (virtuous cycle)
11
To build resilience (capacity to withstand
stresses and demands) in self and others
 Linked to job satisfaction, performance,
motivation, social competence
 A good SR supports development of skills
to meet challenges of changing
environments (Rothman 2004)
 Essential to protect clinical supervision
and promote its value in enhancing staff
well-being
