Publications from ODSW Social Work Supervsion | Page 21

Day 1 Keynote 2: Research and Knowledge Building on Social Work Supervision

in relation to themselves, and their supervision practice skills and knowledge. Two others
ways for supervisors to develop their practice wisdom are to seek feedback from
supervisees towards the end of each session and to discuss their supervisory practice in
their own supervision.
In regard to the use of practice theory and models, supervisors use these to: a) frame their
general approach to supervisory practice; b) to make sense of the material presented by
the supervisee particularly through using their personalised assessment checklist; and c) to
facilitate the interactive problem-solving process that occurs within session (O’Donoghue
and Tsui, 2012). This highlights the importance of supervisors being current with the latest
practice theory and models, as well as, asking questions concerning how particular theories
and models might apply to situations raised by supervisees in supervision. Supervisors can
develop their use of practice theory and models in practice through discussing this topic in
their own supervision with their own supervisor and by making entries in a reflective journal
describing how they used practice theory and models in a particular session and how this
might be further developed.
The development of a specific model or approach for supervisory practice is important
because it forms the basis of how supervisors work with supervisees and how supervisors
explain their approach to their supervisees and supervisors. Reading books which outline
supervision models and approaches is one way to aid this development (Davys and
Beddoe, 2010; Shulman, 2010; Weld, 2012, Wonnacott, 2012), while other ways involve
identifying one’s own model through reflection on one’s practice over time and discussion
with one’s supervisor. Another pathway to supervisory model development would be
through formal social work supervision education and training.
For supervisors, the use of empirical research in supervisory practice is challenging,
because this research is not easily accessible and often its application for supervisory
practice is often not clear (O’Donoghue and Tsui, 2005). The development of evidencebased or evidence-informed approaches within the clinical supervision field is still in its
infancy. In clinical psychology, Milne (2009) has produced an evidence-based approach for
clinical psychology supervision based on a best evidence synthesis. While in social work
O’Donoghue (2014b) made the case for an evidence informed approach for clinical social
work supervision which was derived from the evidence pertaining to the supervision
relationship or alliance, the supervision process, the supervision of practice, and the
supervision of the practitioner. In this approach, the supervisor is mindful of ensuring that
they are attuned to supervisee’s needs and priorities within the supervision relationship
and create a safe relationship characterised by trust and support. In terms of the
supervision process, this mirrors the social work interview which means that the session is
structured in terms of engaging and orientating the supervisee to supervision, establishing
the agenda for the meeting, then interactively processing the issues through a reflective
dialogue that assists them. The session concludes with a review that identified the actions
and learnings and the practicalities of setting another session and finishing the notes.
Applying an evidence-informed approach to the supervision of supervisee’s practice with
the client involves, firstly, keeping the focus on the client, their issues, and outcomes
(O’Donoghue and Tsui, 2015). This is followed by an exploration of the supervisee’s
awareness, understanding, and consideration of evidence-informed interventions and may
involve Google Scholar to search for evidence. A discussion could then follow on the
selection and how the selected research evidence could inform the supervisee’s practice
with the presenting situation. The fourth dimension of an evidence-informed approach
concerns the supervision of the practitioner and pertains to attending to the supervisee’s
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