Reflective Practice / Supervision Groups
Reflective, supportive spaces where staff can explore the emotional impact of their work and develop their practice
Reflective Practice / Supervision groups are a regular (normally monthly) activity for staff in certain roles within an organisation.
They are particularly useful for staff who are not mental health professionals, but who nonetheless work directly with people in distress, crisis or conflict; living with mental ill-health or experiencing a mental health crisis; experiencing housing/financial/welfare difficulties; or otherwise going through an emotionally turbulent time.
how can this support help?
Regular sessions offer staff a safe, confidential space to process and reflect on how aspects of their day-to-day work impact them personally and emotionally. They enable open consideration of how teams are working among themselves, with service users / stakeholders, and with the wider organisation. Staff are supported to develop their professional practice through reflection and support from others, using a model that differs from formal training.
Reflective practice / supervision groups are best facilitated by an external practitioner as this enables a neutral, safe space for staff, which is entirely separate from management structures and processes. As the external practitioner is outside the organisational culture and dynamics, this more effectively enables new perspectives and ways of thinking about the nature of the work and how staff experience it.
workplace roles and settings
I have extensive experience of working with professional services and academic staff within the university sector, where these groups are particularly beneficial for staff in student or staff facing roles such as student support, appeals and complaints, student welfare, disability, mediation, staff well-being.
I also run these groups in the private, public and third sectors, where these groups are popular with staff in front line roles.
delivery
A maximum of eight members per group works best, and group members should remain the same each month, apart from individuals joining or leaving from time to time.
Organisations can arrange groups for existing teams of staff within their organisation, or for staff in broadly similar roles who work in different areas of their organisation. Equally, staff working in similar roles but in different organisations can form a group. This option is particularly beneficial for staff who have a role that is not shared by others in their home organisation.
Groups can run face to face within your organisation, or online via Zoom.
summary of aims
A confidential and supportive space for staff to share aspects of their day-to-day work that have an impact on them emotionally and personally
To encourage staff to reflect on how their own life experience might connect with aspects of their work, and to consider ways of processing and managing this
To support staff well being and mental health in an embedded way, as a core and ordinary part of their work role
To enable staff to discuss and share skills and thinking, and to consider how people in similar roles might think about and approach their work differently but equally effectively
To encourage ordinary workplace thoughts, feelings and behaviours to be openly discussed and made sense of rather than potentially being played out, which can lead to workplace conflict and unhealthy work cultures
To identify systemic issues that might be relevant to the wider organisation and management in terms of supporting staff and delivering high-quality experiences for staff and service users.
Please contact me to discuss reflective practice / supervision groups for your organisation, and for my fees.