Publications from ODSW Social Work Supervsion | страница 47

Workshop 2: Challenges and Responses of Social Work Supervisors with Managerial and Clinical Roles

Literature reviews on psychotherapy and counselling clearly indicated that it was unethical
for supervisors to play dual roles.
“There is a general obligation for all counsellors, psychotherapists, supervisors
and trainers to receive supervision/ consultative support independently of any
managerial relationships…
Supervisors and managers may form a triangular relationship with a counsellor
or psychotherapist, particularly where services are being provided within an
agency…
The role of an independent supervisor is considered to be desirable in
promoting good practice but, to be most effective, requires clarity in how such
a role relates to line management and the division of tasks and responsibilities
between a supervisor and any line manager.”
* Taken from “Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and
Psychotherapy, 2010
However, social work literature was vague on this. Under the National Association of Social
Work Code of Ethics, the segment “Supervision and Consultation (3.01)” relates to
supervisor’s competence, boundary setting in supervisory relationship, dual or multiple
relationships with supervisees and evaluation of supervisee’s performance fairly and
respectfully. It assumes that social work supervisors have to be involved in dual roles as
manager and clinical supervisor.
In the SASW Code of Ethics, however, there is no specific segment concerning supervision
and consultation, other than the general clauses that indicate the need for social workers
to “provide services and represent themselves competent only within the boundaries of
their education, training, license certification, consultation received, supervised experience
or other relevant professional experience”. This means that a social worker would need to
be supervised but does not indicate who and how it would be achieved.
Thus Dr Wong thought a basic question should be considered: is having dual roles as a
supervisor an unethical position?
Different authors have differing opinions and perspectives regarding this issue. There is
often a conflict between providing professional autonomy and administrative control, as
well as possessing power and providing an empowering experience. For example,
Perlmutter (2006) felt that the dual role causes conflict in supervisors as social work
supervisors tend to be “soft” and “being tough” would be difficult. However, on the other
hand, Shulman (1995) felt that supervisors are in ideal positions to have dual roles as they
could use the third force – a mediating force to manage the systems and bureaucracy while
helping supervisees. A quick poll of the audience indicated that supervisors themselves
were divided on this area.
Objectives of Study
Dr Wong shared the following objectives of her study:
1. To explore the challenges experienced by social work supervisors in their
clinical and managerial roles, with the influences of multiple contexts
(supervisor’s context, supervisory relationship context, organisational context
and wider contexts)
2. To examine the responses of social work supervisors with managerial and
clinical roles in managing the dual roles challenges using the person-processcontext framewor k
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