Publications from ODSW Social Work Supervsion | Page 72

Workshop 6: Teaching, Empowering and Discovering Supervision: Supervision Ideas Worth Sharing

Conclusion
To end off her session, Melanie shared that she would share this framework with her
supervisees at the beginning of the supervisory relationship and will make a contract with
them on what goes into each session. This helps her to avoid spending too much time on
managerial supervision, which was the part of the supervision that she used to hide behind
when she did not have a supervision model of her own to work from.
Speaker 2: “When Supervision Goes Wrong”
Natal ie Lim, Cheng San FSC AMKFSC Community Services Ltd
Natalie started off her sharing with an introduction of herself. She shared that she has been
a supervisor for about 6-7 years and expressed that as a supervisor, she has been FINE:
Freaked out. Insecure. Nervous. Emotional. She often has feelings of inadequacy with
thoughts and questions like: “Am I ready and good enough to start supervising? Do I have
to know everything as a supervisor to be able to help the staff grow professionally?” She
shared that senior colleagues and trainers tried to comfort her by telling her that it is
impossible and unrealistic for the supervisor to know everything and that she has to
journey collaboratively with her supervisee to find the best answer for the case. However,
she expressed that these answers did not give her much comfort because in reality, she
places a certain amount of expectation on herself in order to give good advice to her
supervisees. As such, for her sharing, she decided to think about what happens if a
supervisor makes a mistake and gives the wrong answer which may impact the case and
the supervisees themselves. She explained that this will be the trajectory of her sharing.
She shared a “hard” conversation that she has had with one of her supervisees which
involved taking relational risks – requiring her to hold her own anxieties as well as the
anxieties of her supervisee. She shared an occasion where unexpected decisions were
made which led to her supervisee feeling inadequate for the outcome of a particular case.
As a supervisor, she felt guilty as she took it on as her responsibility to have super-vision,
and to see and predict what was going to happen. In such situations, her insecurities as a
professional would start to arise.
She asked participants to consider what their first response would be when things do not
go well during supervision (eg. a mistake made or a hard conversation with the supervisee).
She shared that in any interpersonal relationship, there are bound to be breaks
(misattunements or misinterpretations of thoughts or feelings). According to Daniel A
Hughes’, whenever there are breaks, one can always repair it. Breaks and repairs help to
form a secure relationship with the supervisee. Breaks are something natural, it is not
something wrong, and no one is to be blamed for it. It is common especially when
emotions are intense, when the demand on one’s attention span increases, when the topic
is difficult and when intentions are ambiguous or ambivalent. (eg. how to help clients go
through grieve and loss when the worker is not going through it well herself)
She brought them to the Attachment Focused Family Therapy by Daniel A Hughes and
applied it to the supervisory relationship.

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