Publications from ODSW Social Work Supervsion | Page 36

Day 2 Keynote 2: West Meets East: Sharing of Supervisory Strategies and Skills – Dialogue and Demonstration – Part 2

‘what was on top for her’. While she was sharing, he constantly reflected her feelings and
probed her about her concerns and fears regarding what she was sharing. He let her share
for approximately 3 minutes, without interrupting her with the exception of his use of
attending skills and listening responses. After she had finished her sharing, he then moved
on to ask her to set the agenda and goals for the day. They would later process the things
she had identified for the day.
A/P Kieran then paused the video and posed 4 questions to the participants. He asked:
1. What did you notice about how the session started?
2. How was the supervisee engaged?
3. How were the focus and the agenda clarified?
4. What skills and strategies were used?
The participants expressed that they liked how the supervisor caught up on how the last
session had left off at the start of the new supervision session. This helped to allow both
supervisor and supervisee to catch up with the agenda. Another participant expressed that
he appreciated the supervisor helping the supervisee to scope the session.
Exploring the Use of Practice Theory and Models: The Supervisee Tells the Story
In the next part of the session, the supervisor went on to get the supervisee to tell her
story and experience. The supervisor then started to summarize her experiences and
helped her to reflect and process them. He tried to explore with her the different practice
theories and models that she had used in her work. He then continued to probe and
explore with her the skill sets that she had used in her work. Once again, reflection and
other attending skills were paramount in his interaction with his supervisee.
Again, A/P Kieran paused the video and requested the participants to consider several
points.
1. What did you notice about the skills and strategies used in the session to assist
the supervisee to reflect?
2. What did you notice happen to the supervisee as she began to process her
experience?
The participants expressed that the supervisor had gotten his supervisee to talk about the
models and justify and evaluate her usage of them. He then took a step back to look at the
processes with the supervisee. The participants also noted that the session was well
regulated through the posing of good questions. A/P Kieran responded that it is important
to keep in touch with the supervisee and slow her down if she needs it – this is so that they
will be able to process the important issues.
Exploration of an Issue
A/P Kieran showed a second recording of a supervision session with a different supervisee
to illustrate how to explore an issue with a supervisee. He expressed that in exploring an
issue, the supervisor should help the supervisee first give an outline of the issue before
eliciting the details of the story. In this segment of the recording, the supervisor helped the
supervisee to tell his story and to clarify, categorize and highlight the main points he would
like to cover for the supervision session. A/P Kieran then paused the video and asked:

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